Fundraising Priorities & Projects

Since its foundation in 1448, Queens' College has flourished thanks to the generosity of our donors. To help secure the future of Queens' as an inclusive and thriving academic community, please kindly consider making a gift to one of our funds. A list of our current priorities can be found below; unless you indicate otherwise, your donation will be allocated to the Unrestricted Fund. 

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Unrestricted Fund

The Unrestricted Fund gives Queens’ the flexibility to continue providing an outstanding academic experience for its students - each year, the College invests over £7 million in our students' education. This fund also enables us to maintain our beautiful and historic surroundings, whilst simultaneously preparing the College to tackle new challenges as and when they arise. 

Student Accommodation & Buildings Fund

Gifts made in support of Student Accommodation & Buildings fund refurbishments and new building projects, subsidise room rent for students, and modernise our social and study spaces. 

Alexander Crummell Scholarships

Queens' is committed to providing financial support for those from under-represented backgrounds at the postgraduate level. The Alexander Crummell Scholarship Programme, an initiative pioneered by Dr Mohamed El-Erian, helps us achieve this aim. Applications are now open for those intending to study a STEM subject for admission in 2025. 

The Mairi Hurrell Fund

This fund was named in honour of one of our Honorary Fellows, Mairi Hurrell, who was the College Nurse for more than 20 years. It provides essential physical and mental wellbeing support to our students, creating an incredibly robust welfare system that is tailored to individual needs. 

Student Support Fund

The Student Support Fund ensures that Queens’ can provide a world-class education in a supportive, diverse, and friendly environment. 

  • Subject fund endowments: £100,000-£400,000 (depending on size of cohort)
  • Undergraduate support: Cambridge Fee Bursaries (£3,500 p.a. for one student for three years) and Queens' Additional Bursaries
  • Postgraduate support: fully-funded (£35,000-£50,000 p.a., endowed at £1m +) and partly-funded (up to £15,000 p.a.) postgraduate studentships
  • Prizes: £5,000 to endow a £100-£150 prize
  • Extracurricular support: travel grants (£500 p.a., endowed at £30,000), named sports bursaries (£25,000 endowment), endowment of any major sports club or society (£100,000+)

Teaching & Research Fund

One of the College's five strategic pillars is to foster our intellectual society by creating depth and breadth within the Fellowship. We are achieving this by endowing University Teaching Officer positions (£870,000 from October 1st 2023), College Teaching Officer positions (£4.2m from October 1st 2023), and introducing new positions (such as The Rokos-Menon Senior Research Fellowship) to help us enrich teaching within the College. We also have numerous PDRA positions to provide a career path for young academics. Gifts to the Teaching & Research Fund are essential to realising these goals. 

Endowment

The College’s endowment provides a degree of financial stability against a backdrop of global uncertainty and change. Although our endowment now stands at £121 million, augmented in large part by philanthropy over the past decade, this sum is not proportional to the size of our student population. We hope to continue growing our endowment in years to come, cementing our status as a world-class, research-led, teaching organisation for the best and brightest students, irrespective of background. 

For further information on each of these projects, please contact the Alumni & Development Office by emailing development@queens.cam.ac.uk.

Donor Recognition

We are incredibly grateful for all gifts received. Our donors are named in the annual autumn edition of Floreat Domus (though donors are, of course, welcome to remain anonymous) and we personally thank each donor.  Those who give towards an endowed fund, spend-down fund, a Fellowship, bursaries and studentships will receive an annual stewardship report where possible.

Regular givers are invited to join The 1448 Society and those who choose to remember Queens' in their Will (and inform us of such) become members of The Sundial Circle. Donors belonging to each of these societies are invited to regular online webinars and an annual Garden Party in the President's Garden to thank them for their kind support. There is also a society for regular givers to the Boat Club (The 1828 Society), with QCBC hosting events for its supporters throughout the year.

We recognise donors who give £10,000 or more in the two years preceding the annual Ceremony of Benefactors and Benefactors’ Feast by inviting them to this unique event, where they will be personally thanked by the President. We celebrate exceptional philanthropy through room naming opportunities, the hanging of portrait photographs in Cripps Foyer, and our Major Benefactors’ Plaque in the Porters' Lodge.

Donors who give £1,000,000 become Fellow Benefactors, who also receive membership of the Guild of Cambridge Benefactors.