Regular giving
Project aim
- To support education and provide an exceptional university experience for our outstanding young people.
- To advance vital research to find solutions to the worlds biggest problems and enable a better tomorrow for us all.
- To provide a cutting-edge learning environment
Recognising significant support
Membership of the Bristol Pioneers; a group who give donations of £1,000 or more in an academic year.
A good education is the best chance anyone has of being able to do what they want to do and improving their chances in life, so it is important to support high-class institutions like Bristol that are capable of providing it.
Euan Major (MSci Physics 2001)
Bristol donor
Regular giving adds value across the University. Vigorous growth will enable us to act on new opportunities to improve the student experience further and provide them with an extraordinary education; and fund crucial research projects that allow Bristol's academics to tackle critical issues the world over.
Importance
Regular giving of £1 million per annum provides as much income as a £20 million endowment. It raises vital funds year on year to add value and excellence to the Bristol education. Each year thousands of alumni and friends make donations ranging from five pounds to £25,000 and more to ensure that the next generation of students benefit from a university experience that will change their lives forever and we can all benefit from pioneering discoveries that change the world in which we live.
Last year, Bristol received more support from alumni then ever before, and as the number of alumni who generously support us each year increases, so does our credibility with major funders. Together your small gifts go so much further when they help to unlock larger ones.
Impact
Regular giving makes a big difference at Bristol as it helps to take advantage of new opportunities, allows planning for the future and supports urgent priorities. Whether providing the start-up resources for a new course, or covering the travel costs for a postgraduate student to attend an important conference, or funding innovative, blue skies research projects, regular gifts are crucial to making the difference at Bristol today.
Goal
Regular giving supports bright young minds, academics and projects across the University. It provides funds for departments that are in need of refurbishment and up-to-date online facilities, new and additional books for the library, student societies needing new equipment, and for individual students through scholarships and bursaries. They are vital in giving the University the flexibility to respond to its areas of greatest need.
Areas supported in 2011/12
- A first-class education needs first-class facilities. Your donations, totalling over £135,000, now enable more students than ever to access Bristol’s libraries at peak exam times, with extended evening and weekend opening hours from Easter to July. More new and replacement books, journals and publications are purchased each year, thanks to your support.
- Students sometimes face unexpected financial challenges during their education. Thanks to your generous donations to hardship funds, postgraduate students in the Departments of History, Law and Chemistry are able to continue with their studies and to benefit from the opportunities that Bristol offers.
- Gifts totalling £10,000 have helped the School of Veterinary Sciences develop an online teaching tool. eBiolabs helps students prepare for laboratory or practical-based classes using interactive exercises, introducing them to diagnostic and therapeutic procedures before they encounter them in a clinical setting.
- Funding for early-stage research is difficult to find. Research Councils often only award funding once initial data has been gathered. Donor support is essential in enabling exploratory, innovative research projects to get off the ground, so that they can attract major grants at a later date. Last year, gifts totalling £25,000 went to pump-priming grants in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry for projects such as analysing thrombosis caused by mouth bacteria.