Cambridge: fundraising campaign passes the £1 billion mark

Cambridge University has announced that it is the first university outside the US to raise £1 billion in a fundraising campaign.

The total raised by the 800th Anniversary Campaign has passed £1 billion, two years ahead of schedule. This total does not include more than £250 million of pledged bequests.

The Campaign, launched in autumn 2005 under the banner “Transforming Tomorrow”, has attracted broad support from alumni and friends globally.

To date more than 45,000 alumni, a quarter of the total, have made at least one gift during the campaign to date, with many making regular donations.

Acknowledging this achievement, the Vice-Chancellor, Alison Richard, said, “I am profoundly grateful to our alumni and benefactors who are investing in Cambridge’s future. Cambridge is consistently ranked among the top handful of universities in the world and is at the heart of Europe’s most important cluster of innovative enterprises.

“Money raised has increased the number and level of bursaries and scholarships available to students, enhanced initiatives to encourage applicants regardless of their financial circumstances, funded new buildings for research, teaching and student accommodation, endowed professorships and teaching posts, attracted new academic staff, and strengthened the university’s already capacity to translate research discoveries and scholarship into benefits for society as a whole.”