Celebrating regular giving
Your alumni community give so much back to Durham. Some of you volunteer your time and expertise but the greatest number choose to donate regularly. And it is the collective impact of these many small acts of generosity that is making a massive and long lasting difference to your University.
The regular gifts we receive are helping your colleges and departments to plan ahead with confidence. They strengthen a wide variety and number of causes, and are often the driving force underpinning the projects in our special appeals.
The most significant impact is the difference you make to countless students, enriching their time at Durham with opportunities and experiences that will be remembered for a lifetime, and by ensuring a safety net of assistance in financial emergencies.
We are lucky indeed that so many of you remain loyal to Durham, supporting the colleges and departments you remember so fondly year after year. Some of you have given continually for over 25 years and you are making and enduring difference to generations of students and to the University as a whole.
Areas of SupportAs the chart below shows, most of you this year (2018-19) are choosing to contribute to the Student Opportunities Fund. This ever-popular appeal fund fuels student activity across the broad scope of their interests, including the arts, sports and travel projects. Importantly, it also provides essential support to those facing particular financial need. Support for our colleges is the next most popular area of support, again often focusing on expanding opportunities for students and helping those in difficulty. In recent years many regular givers have contributed to special appeals. Read more about some of the projects behind our special appeals via the link below.
Find out more about our special appeals.
Motivated by Kindness to Others
Passing on the benefits - and the enjoyment - of a positive and fulfilling student experience is a key motivation for giving as David Ellery (French and German, Van Mildert College, 1974-78) a continuous donor of over 25 years describes,
"I had a wonderful time as a student in Durham and my Durham degree has served as a brilliant passport to a fascinating and deeply rewarding professional career". He finds the possibility of enhancing the experience of current students at Durham hugely satisfying,
'long may it thrive!'
Other alumni agree; it is their own experience of Durham and the personal and professional benefits it has brought them that inspires them to give.
David (Geology, College of St Hild and St Bede, 1988-91) and Judith Mellor (Classics, College of St Hild and St Bede, 1988-91) have donated continuously for over 20 years with the aim "[to] help others have the same life enhancing experience we had as students."
They go on to describe, "We met at Hild Bede 30 years ago and made some brilliant friends and had a great time so if our small donation helps others do the same then it is definitely worth it."
Thank YouYour generosity, and the far-sighted kindness behind your commitment to give regularly, is appreciated enormously.
To recognise the loyalty and commitment of those who give continuously we like to send a commemorative pin on the fifth anniversary of your first gift, and then at each subsequent five year anniversary. We also send a modest gift at each of these anniversaries in celebration of the difference you make year in, year out. We hope if you are sent a pin, you wear it with pride!