Impact of giving

From bursaries, scholarships, and new academic posts to new initiatives, buildings and facilities, philanthropy ensures that we continue to lead and inspire the world in our teaching and research, nurturing exceptional minds and driving the discoveries of the future.

Impact of giving

From bursaries, scholarships, and new academic posts to new initiatives, buildings and facilities, philanthropy ensures that we continue to lead and inspire the world in our teaching and research, nurturing exceptional minds and driving the discoveries of the future.

Philanthropic impact stories

Find out how Cambridge is working to solve the challenges we face in today's world. None of the examples described here would be possible without Cambridge’s philanthropic supporters. Their philanthropy sets the brilliant minds working at Cambridge free to pursue new ideas and change the world.

decorative

Daniel Baumann is first Stephen W Hawking Professor of Cosmology

Daniel Baumann has been appointed as the inaugural Stephen W Hawking Professor of Cosmology at the University of Cambridge.
decorative

“Where you come from does not define where you go”: the Ghanaian women breaking barriers at Cambridge

Three young women from Ghana who grew up thinking that finishing high school, let alone going to university, might be an impossible dream are preparing to graduate with Masters degrees from Cambridge.
Find out more
decorative

Gates Cambridge Class of 2026

This year's scholars research everything from the treatment of Crimea’s Tatars to gravitational waves.
Find out more
decorative

Cambridge's pop-up planetarium will take school pupils to the stars for free

New immersive experience will help University astronomers inspire the next generation of scientists.
Find out more
decorative

All roads lead to Widening Participation

Abigail Williams (Homerton 2022) firmly believes that education should be accessible to everyone. Inspired by her own experiences, she now aims to empower young minds and inform wider education policies.
Find out more

Read more impact stories

Gift announcements

Cambridge owes its world-leading excellence in research and teaching to the generosity of its supporters. Our history is synonymous with a history of far-sighted benefaction, and the same is as true today as it has ever been.

decorative

Businessman donates £10m to name Charlotte Lockhart Precision Breast Cancer Institute after his partner

Businessman and philanthropist Andrew Barnes ONZM is donating £10 million to the University of Cambridge to establish the Charlotte Lockhart Precision Breast Cancer Institute, named after his beloved partner, who has terminal breast cancer.
decorative

Virgin Media O2 supports new Digital Wellbeing Observatory at Cambridge 

A generous philanthropic gift from Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) will support a major new research initiative at the University of Cambridge’s Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (LCFI), focused on understanding how emerging technologies, including generative AI, are shaping digital wellbeing across the UK. 
Find out more
decorative

Cambridge to establish Rokos School of Government

Record-breaking donation will enable new School to prepare tomorrow’s leaders to tackle the world’s biggest problems.
Find out more
decorative

Tech leader Niccolo de Masi delivers a quantum leap at Cambridge

Thanks to Niccolo de Masi (Clare 1998) and his visionary idea, Cambridge has recently launched a groundbreaking project.
Find out more
decorative

Lady Mireille Gillings renews generous Fellowship funding that supports public health researchers to develop leadership skills for real-world impact

Launched on 3 March through the Institut Pasteur and Pasteur Foundation, the 2026 Lady Mireille & Sir Dennis Gillings Global Public Health Fellowship is a distinguished two-year postdoctoral programme based at Institut Pasteur in Paris.
Find out more

Read more gift announcements

Donor stories

Discover why philanthropy matters and how it makes Cambridge better still. Hear from our donors about their philanthropic motivations and from those who have been supported by such gifts during their time at the University.

decorative

Changing lanes

Following a recent launch event at the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) at the legendary Silverstone motor racing circuit, we find out more about Will’s story and how his family has joined forces with Cambridge University Hospitals and the BRDC to raise money for an intra-operative magnetic resonance imaging (iMRI) facility.
decorative

For the love of Peterhouse

Peterhouse, Cambridge’s oldest College, has seen waves of progress sweep through its halls in the past few decades. Sarah Ransome (Peterhouse 1987) and Sophia Ewulo (Peterhouse 1996) share their experiences of this time of transition and how, decades on, they have continued to champion progress as members of the Peterhouse Society Committee.
Find out more
decorative

Visionary philanthropist Stephen Stahl invests in psychiatry’s future at Cambridge

An endowed professorship at the Cambridge Department of Psychiatry promises to pave the way for aspiring clinicians and researchers to do research that will ultimately illuminate the mysteries of mental illness and treatment for generations to come. Dr Stephen Stahl and his wife Shakila made the gift this year. 
Find out more
decorative

A powerful cycle of giving

Victoria Ayodeji’s (Queens’ 2018) experience with social mobility organisations began before she became a student at Cambridge. Victoria has made a career out of Social Impact and continues to inspire students across the country through her outreach work
Find out more
decorative

How ‘the business of philanthropy’ brought Peter Bennett full circle back to Cambridge

With the Bennett School of Public Policy newly launched, donor and leading light Peter Bennett (Churchill 1975, Economics) shares his philosophy of giving and his ambitions for the School's impact. 
Find out more

Read more testimonials

Legacy stories

decorative

Footsteps across the Land of Fire and Ice

How the Lasting Legacy of Dr Brian Dodsworth is inspiring a new generation of Icelandic Studies scholars.
Decorative

The art of giving: how legacies are helping widen access to art

At the University of Cambridge, our eight Museums and Botanic Garden are about far more than the pleasure and enjoyment of science and culture; they are tools for teaching, research, insight, and innovation.
Find out more
decorative

Angela and Derek Taunt: funding the future of Kettle’s Yard, from first Friends to legacy donor

Forty-two years ago, artist Angela Taunt and her husband Derek (Jesus 1936) led the setting up of the Friends of Kettle’s Yard, which is still going strong, financially supporting the gallery each year through its activities.
Find out more
decorative

Where the need is greatest: how a legacy is helping to uncover and build Black Cambridge narratives

To mark International Legacy Giving Day, we are pleased to share a story of a legacy gift which has helped promote race equality at the University of Cambridge
Find out more
decorative

The Youngs and the Whipple: An imaginative legacy from an unusual family that honours people, place, and mission

‘We all see the artefacts in a different light after hearing the stories behind them.’
Find out more

Read more stories