Year in Review
2019/20
IN SUPPORT OF OUR ACADEMIC mISSION
By any measure, this has been an unprecedented year.
None of us could have foreseen how the world would change in 2020. And yet, in the face of a global pandemic, colleagues across the Colleges and University came together, even as we were forced to work apart.
Creativity and resilience were in evidence across Collegiate Cambridge as we pivoted to remote working, Zoom calls and virtual events. We found ways to stay connected to our alumni and supporters, and drew strength from each other as we did so.
I was deeply moved by the outpouring of support from the staff and alumni community for our students, researchers and frontline healthcare workers. Many came forward to donate to research, PPE and student hardship.
It was a difficult year in fundraising and we expect 20/21 will have some turbulence. Despite this, we received a number of gifts towards University priorities in vital areas, including building AI capability in research, scholarships and the new Foundation Year programme. Our foundations remain strong and we continue to build a sustainable platform for philanthropy. Our commitment to securing funding for the University's priorities remains stronger than ever.
On a more positive note, we have seen record-breaking alumni engagement over the past year, thanks to benefit offerings and digital event programming. Alumni around the world have valued the opportunity to hear from Cambridge and we will continue to bring them content that will inform, engage and inspire them to stay connected.
Development is integral to the University's mission and we're grateful to all of our partners across Cambridge for enabling the achievements of the past year.
We've made some changes to the 19/20 Year in Review, going completely digital in our new format. I welcome your thoughts.
In the meantime, stay safe.
Yours,
Alison
Alison Traub, Executive Director, Development and Alumni Relations
Advancing the campaign
At the end of 19/20 the Campaign total funds raised stood at £1.74 billion, with the Colleges and University raising £154 million. In a challenging year, funds continued to be raised for university priorities such as student support and and advancing AI and machine learning in research. Increased engagement with prospective donors and alumni as well as new initiatives such as the Harding Challenge continued to drive campaign momentum.
Beyond funds raised, a number of priority areas underpin how we measure success across Collegiate Cambridge and in the campaign as a whole:
- Increasing the number of alumni donors
- Increasing the number of joint gifts
- Increasing academic engagement with philanthropy
- Improving recognition and stewardship
- Communicating the impact of the campaign
- Creating big gift opportunities
In the past year we have especially focused on improving collaboration across the Collegiate community, communicating the impact of the campaign and enhancing our campaign donor stewardship. We will continue to deliver in all these areas to ensure a sustainable platform for philanthropy in this campaign and beyond.
CAMPAIGN ENGAGEMENT
Academic collaboration is at the heart of our fundraising and and alumni engagement strategy. In the past year we partnered with more than 150 academic champions on everything from fundraising proposals to donor meetings to digital events. These activities are key drivers of campaign momentum.
The campaign's progress has surpassed forecasted expectations
At the end of 19/20, the College and University have raised £1.74 billion in the campaign, with £154 million raised across Collegiate Cambridge in 19/20.
The impact of philanthropy
Philanthropists continue to partner with Cambridge to make a difference. Fundraising for University priorities, developed in collaboration with academic leaders, benefit departments and faculties across all six Schools, Institutions, and museums and collections. Scholarships are helping bring a wider range of students to Cambridge than ever before and new teaching and research posts will help attract the brightest scholars.
Below are just a few examples of the generous gifts received in 19/20.
The Foundation Year and Harding Challenge
The goal of raising £500 million towards student support was announced on 1 Oct 2018 and to date £205 million has been raised across Collegiate Cambridge. In spring 2020, a £5 million gift was made by Christina and Peter Dawson, which will be used to develop and launch the Foundation Year Programme. The programme will help achieve Cambridge’s strategic priority of widening participation and ensuring student success.
In 19/20 the first phase of the Harding Challenge was launched, aimed at increasing alumni giving towards student support. The Challenge engaged 1,589 new donors with qualifying gifts to 30 Colleges and the University, totalling £2.7 million.
The Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy
A gift from the Minderoo Foundation has led to the creation of the new Centre for Technology and Democracy, based in CRASSH. It is the inaugural node in a planned international network of academic programmes established to rebalance power and restore agency in a world dominated by digital platforms. The Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy will develop projects under four themes typically neglected in discussions of technology futures: public discourse, work, environment, and trust. The Centre will place a spotlight on tech narratives about AI, machine-learning, and the deterministic thinking that accompanies them.
"The Minderoo project offers a global network for peers to work together around the world."
Under the leadership of CRASSH Director, Dr Steven Connor, and Advisory Board Chair, Dr John Naughton, the Centre brings decades of experience in leading cutting-edge interdisciplinary research and maximising public engagement.
The Alexander Crummell Fund
Moved by the global protests in the wake of George Floyd's murder, Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr (Clare 1973) and a group of like-minded donors have established the Alexander Crummell fund in honour of the University's earliest Black student, who graduated in 1853. The Fund has already served as a rallying call to convene discussions between academics, staff, and students who are already working towards racial equality.
Schmidt Futures commits to developing AI capability in research
Photo by Maxime VALCARCE on Unsplash
Photo by Maxime VALCARCE on Unsplash
“This programme will help us to close these gaps by training physicists, biologists, chemists and other scientists in the latest machine learning techniques, giving them the skills they need while accelerating the excellent research already taking place at the University.”
THE Challenge of COVID-19
Since March, donors from within the University and around the world have generously supported Cambridge's research into the SARS-CoV2 virus. More than 400 University staff have contributed to research, student hardship and acquiring personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline healthcare workers.
The Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre has been at the heart of Cambridge’s response to COVID-19. Home to the Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease (CITIID), which opened earlier in the year, it has been the site of crucial work to understand this virus and prepare for future pandemics.
A gift from the Victor Dahdaleh Foundation is supporting Professors John Danesh and Sharon Peacock as they lead vital work on health informatics in tandem with the COG-UK genome sequencing project. Their new health informatics initiative brings together an unprecedented amount of data – potentially thousands of variables each from 230,000 patients infected with the virus – to better understand, track and manage COVID-19.
“The insights gained will not only have an immediate impact on the public health response to the Covid-19 crisis, but will also furnish us with the tools we need to be prepared for future threats that require rapid mobilisation of large-scale health data from multiple sources.”
Likewise alumni and supporters found creative ways to give back, through virtual events and crowdfunding. Students generously donated May Ball ticket refunds and held a virtual May Week Mega Event, which benefitted Addenbrooke's and the Centre for Existential Risk.
Get in cambridge
Nurturing aspiration and removing barriers for under-represented groups
Students featured in the first Get In Cambridge campaign
Students featured in the first Get In Cambridge campaign
Get In Cambridge encourages students from under-represented ethnic minority communities to apply to Cambridge.
The first phase of the student recruitment campaign was a success with a reach of over one million views on a variety of social media platforms. Bolstered by the “Stormzy effect”, the campaign attracted increased numbers of Black students to register for open days and the University has seen significant growth in numbers of Black students applying, admitted to and accepting a place at Cambridge.
"To be truly excellent as a university, we need to reflect on the diversity of the culture of the UK and the world. Get In Cambridge is therefore a vital component of our commitment to racial equality, and specifically the need to take meaningful action now to address the University’s historic under-representation of students from ethnic minority communities."
The next phase
The next Get In Cambridge campaign focuses on British students from Bangladeshi and Pakistani backgrounds
Additional funding from several alumni donors has enabled a second phase of Get in Cambridge to launch in summer 2020, aimed at connecting with UK applicants from Pakistani and Bangladeshi backgrounds.
A record year for alumni engagement
The University saw a 130% increase in the number of individual engaged alumni from 18/19
New programming such as the Virtual Alumni Book Club and digital events programming was a significant factor behind the increase, alongside increased takeup of alumni benefits such as online journal access.
The pivot to digital
Through events like the Cambridge Conversations webinars, we have increased our global reach through a commissioned and curated programme of digital communications, events, benefits and resources.
A fresh look for CAM
A new online version the Cambridge Alumni Magazine was launched and a successful opt-in to print campaign was conducted to encourage alumni to update their preferences and get acquainted with the new site. Nearly 37,000 alumni have chosen to read CAM online and nearly 100,000 fewer paper copies are being printed, reducing the environmental footprint of the magazine.
The 2019 Collegiate University Alumni Survey
Photo credit: Lukas Blazek via unsplash
Photo credit: Lukas Blazek via unsplash
As a follow-up to the large-scale survey alumni conducted in 2016 The survey was sent to more than 138,000 alumni, the second-largest alumni engagement activity in Cambridge history. 21,914 alumni participated in the survey, a response rate of approximately 16%.
The survey results provide insight into alumni affinity, communications, events, benefits, volunteering and giving. The results validate a number of activities we have undertaken in the last few years, including an increased focus on providing intellectual content for alumni through events, a marketing campaign for alumni benefits, and increased social media activity.
While responses to most questions in the survey were consistent with those in the 2016 survey, alumni are more likely now than three years ago to get Cambridge news and information from the alumni eNewsletter and social media. They are more aware of a number of alumni benefits and they are more likely to express interest in several of the offered volunteer opportunities.
Building a sustainable platform for philanthropy
Training and professional development for Collegiate Cambridge’s fundraisers reached a new milestone in 19/20 with the launch of the Major Gift Learning Series, developed by the Talent Management (TM) team in collaboration with Colleges. The first session of the series took place in February 2020 with 14 University and 16 College participants. The second session in April was postponed due to COVID-19 but delivered virtually 21-22 July, and the last session of the series took place online 7-8 September 2020.
The Sixth Cambridge Annual Development Conference took place online with speakers from Cambridge, Manchester, London and the US and Hong Kong. Several academics, volunteers and Heads of House delivered 20 sessions over eight days in June and July. Moving the conference online opened up more opportunities for advancement staff in Cambridge and Cambridge in America to join than ever before, making it the largest development conference to date.
The TM team also launched the Careers at Cambridge jobs portal, which features development and alumni relations vacancies in University, Colleges and CAm teams, as well as information about working in advancement across Collegiate Cambridge. The team partnered with three Colleges on their fundraising staff recruitment searches and is becoming a valued resource for advancement learning and recruitment across Collegiate Cambridge.
About this year's annual report
We take our environmental impact seriously. Last year we circulated the Year in Review digitally for the first time with a limited number of print copies available on request.
This year we have taken our commitment a step further by not proactively printing any copies of this report. Too much waste occurs in the production of documents that go undelivered or unread. Instead, we chose to deliver this report entirely digitally. If a printed copy is needed, please get in touch:
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