Gearing up for Giving Day to support our students

St Catharine’s is preparing the way for its first ever Giving Day from 9am on 16 November to 9pm on 17 November to build a new Student Support Fund. The Giving Day is being organised by the College’s Alumni & Development Office over a 36-hour period to reach different time zones as life has taken many alumni all over the world since graduation.

Professor Sir Mark Welland (2016), Master of St Catharine’s, commented:

“My focus has always been on ensuring that everything we do at St Catharine’s is for the benefit of our outstanding students. When reflecting on what there is left to achieve in my final year here, I inevitably think about what else we might be able to offer to help our students more directly. The newly established St Catharine’s Student Support Fund will sustain the present and future community at St Catharine’s by allowing us to offer generous support through bursaries for our students, widening participation projects, and health and wellbeing initiatives.”

The entire St Catharine’s community is being encouraged to come together to support students. Donations in advance of and during the Giving Day will be matched £1 for £1 to double their impact for students, thanks to the thousands of pounds of matched and challenge funding already pledged by alumni and friends of the College.

Mindful of the extent of the barriers facing current and future cohorts of students, St Catharine’s has set itself an ambitious goal of reaching 360 donors by 17 November. £55,970 has already been given by over 76 donors.

Deborah Loveluck (2007), Fellow and Development Director at St Catharine’s, explained:

“Together, during our first Giving Day, we can enhance the financial backing that is both essential for our current students to excel, and reassuring to applicants hoping to study with us. Having a large number of donors encourages others to support us too, so we would love as many Members of our community as possible to participate in the first ever St Catharine’s Giving Day. All gifts, of every size, will make a real difference.”

For further information and to make a donation to the St Catharine’s Student Support Fund, watch the video below and visit https://givingday.caths.cam.ac.uk.