Fundraising
The University seeks to protect and grow its income streams by diversifying income sources and pursuing an ambitious development strategy which seeks to fund core long-term academic activities. A key source of income is fundraising, led by the University Development Office.
The University of Oxford Development Office
The Development Office is helping to generate philanthropic donations, in support of the University’s strategic priorities.
The generosity of donors helps us to ensure that the most talented students can study here regardless of their background, that our research provides benefit on an international scale and that our expertise is brought to bear on some of the world’s biggest challenges.
There are a range of cross-disciplinary core themes for which the University is seeking philanthropic support. These are:
- shared planet;
- transforming health;
- being human;
- visionary ideas;
- inspiring people;
- accelerating innovation;
- and knowledge infrastructure.
Achievements in 2021/22 include a £50 million donation from Serum Life Sciences Ltd to establish the Poonawalla Vaccines Research Building. The new facility will be built on the same site as the new Pandemic Sciences Institute and together will significantly contribute to global pandemic preparedness and responsiveness. The Poonawalla Building will house the headquarters and main laboratory space of the Jenner Institute, the world-leading academic vaccine institute. The most recent Serum Institute–Jenner Institute collaboration saw the rapid development and global roll-out of the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at scale.
Philanthropic support for students has continued to play a key role in ensuring that talented individuals are able to study at the University, regardless of their circumstances. Examples of student support in the past year include graduate scholarships for students from the Dominican Republic, scholarship and outreach support for students of Classics and support for students from under-represented backgrounds in computer science.
Additionally, donors have supported a range of academic posts and research programmes across all areas of the University. The Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science has been established in the
Medical Sciences Division, while the Jonathan Cooper Chair of the History of Sexualities was created to lead and expand the study and teaching of LGBTQ+ history at Oxford and is the first fully endowed specialist post of this type in the UK.
Across our Gardens, Libraries and Museums, benefactors have provided a range of support. Examples include a significant donation for the Oxford–Multaka project, which utilises the rich and diverse knowledge of people settling in Oxford to help enlighten visitors to the History of Science Museum and the Pitt Rivers Museum. At the Bodleian Libraries, a generous gift has enabled the establishment of the first ever Curatorship of Photography at the University, alongside the Bern Schwartz archive of photographs, negatives and documentary material.
Find out more on the University of Oxford Development Office website: www.development.ox.ac.uk