Endowment
Project aim
- To grow Bristol’s general endowment, providing independence and flexibility for the University into the future.
Target
£1.8 million.
Recognising significant support
Any appropriate opportunity across the Campaign may be offered to endowment donors, who will also be listed on a special board in the Royal Fort House.
I know that my endowment gift will give the University the ability to benefit Bristol students and staff for many generations to come. I’m proud to help Bristol University build towards the future – and to give it the strength and flexibility to respond to special opportunities when they arise.
Colin Green
CGE FREng (BSc 1971, Hon Deng 1997)
Former President of Rolls Royce Defence Aerospace
Growing endowment income will rebalance the mix of income away from dependence on government and tuition fee income. It will enable Bristol to compete more effectively with its international peers and will support future needs we cannot begin to foresee.
Importance
The University of Bristol General Endowment Fund’s philosophy is that “from small acorns large oaks grow.” Worth over £200,000 now, the long-term aim is to start building up a substantial, undesignated endowment fund which generates significant and predictable income for the University going forward. This income will help to provide independence and flexibility for Bristol University into the future.
Additionally, Bristol has a range of existing designated endowment funds – worth in total about £45m – which are tied to strategic initiatives, scholarships, professorships, and other programmes. Augmenting these endowment funds is another way to ensure that Bristol’s long-term success is better secured.
Finally, the Centenary Campaign portfolio includes some specific aims to create new targeted endowments – these are listed below.
Because endowments are invested for the long term, sources of revenue secured today will benefit Bristol University long into the future.
Impact
Supporting the endowment is the single greatest opportunity for a donor to have a lasting influence at Bristol. Endowed gifts speak volumes about one's priorities and values as they remain with Bristol University!
To keep growth rapid while the sums held are relatively small, both income and appreciation of the undesignated University of Bristol General Endowment Fund is currently being returned to the fund corpus rather than being spent. In time, when the funds are significant, income will be used each year to fund strategic imperatives across the university – providing Bristol with the flexibility to respond to key opportunities quickly.
Funding existing or new designated endowment funds will help to provide Bristol with a permanent source of funding for scholarships, professorships, investment in new buildings, new technologies and other components of a Bristol education.
Goal
Early in 2007, Alice J Harris (BA 1952) left a legacy to the University of Bristol, with no prescription as to how the gift should be spent. The Vice-Chancellor asked that £100,000 of the gift be set aside to create a University of Bristol General Endowment Fund. Shortly thereafter, Colin Green (BSc 1971, Hon Deng 1997) then gave a further gift of just over £100,000 to this new Fund. A £50,000 donation has also been gratefully received from the Perivoli Trust.
Our aim is to raise as much as possible towards the University of Bristol Endowment Fund; to augment existing designated endowment funds; and to create new endowment funds associated with specific Centenary Campaign objectives.
Other Centenary Campaign areas with endowment fundraising objectives include:
- Scholarships and bursaries
- Sports scholarships
- Global Change and sustainability
- Enterprise – venture philanthropy fund
- Bristol Institute of Greece, Rome and the Classical Tradition
- Bristol Heart Institute (Cardiovascular Research)
- Neuroscience
- Stem Cell research
- Our building projects welcome endowments