Examining the Impact
LMH has had a Development Office, working with its alumni and friends, for the last 25 years. Together you have helped us to develop and enhance the beautiful College site and its facilities, and helped to establish and build an increasing number and variety of funds to support undergraduates and graduates with their studies.
Some donors are able to give large sums, some contribute brilliant ideas, and others have given a lot of their time. However, attention must be paid to those of you who are able to give modest sums on a more regular basis. Your gifts add up over time, making a significant impact to LMH over years to come.
We are incredibly fortunate to have an ever-growing community of donors who choose to make gifts to the College regularly. There are currently 856 donors giving monthly, annually or quarterly via direct debit or standing order, and a number of other donors who give regularly, sometimes varying amounts, by cheque or via the Charities Aid Foundation. Your donations are an incredibly important source of support and are vital in helping us to plan ahead for the future, with the advance knowledge of this income. They add up to make a huge difference to the lives of LMH’s students and fellows - an impact which will be felt not only at the time of the gift, but also in years to come. For example, in 2018-19, 892 alumni made a regular gift, and the combined value of these donations was £545,000[1].
We would like to take this opportunity to reiterate our sincere thanks and appreciation for these gifts, and celebrate the value of your regular donations. Although not everyone is in a position to make what they might consider to be a ‘substantial’ gift, more modest but regular gifts often add up to equal some of the larger gifts we receive and are therefore just as important. For example, a donor giving £20 per month with gift aid for 10 years, adds up to £3,000. However, regular gifts which vary in size year to year are also very welcome. It is important to give in a way that suits individual circumstances, and 'little and often’ and ‘large and small’ works well for LMH too.
We are delighted to report that 658 donors have been giving regularly to LMH for between five and nine years, and 750 donors giving for 10 years or more, some even as long as 28 years. Those who have given for more than ten years, and have given within the previous 18 months[2], become members of our Souvent me Souviens[3] donor circle. This group was established in 2003-4 when LMH was celebrating its 125th Anniversary – to recognise those who choose to give over the long-term. The number of alumni and friends joining this group increases year on year and we are thrilled to report that there are now 608 current members of Souvent me Souviens.
As you know, alumni support helps us to maintain and improve every aspect of day-to-day- life at LMH, from our buildings and facilities, financial support for students, to teaching, welfare and social activities – which, together, create a transformative College experience for all our students. Your regular donations have also formed the bread and butter contributions to some of our larger projects, for example, more than 300 alumni made a regular gift specifically towards the New Buildings campaign which ran between 2007 and 2017, helping us to build Pipe Partridge, the Clore Graduate Centre, Donald Fothergill building and new Porters’ Lodge. Another fantastic example is the support for current and future Outreach activities, totalling nearly £81,500 raised through regular gifts – enough to fund 8 Open Days at LMH.
We would like to express our deepest thanks to all LMH donors, but particularly those of you who give regularly. We greatly appreciate donations made at all levels and hope that others may, in the future, be inspired to support the College in this way. THANK YOU!
27 March 2020
[1] Some choose to give for a fixed term. The difference of 36 donors since the end of our last financial year relates to 36 gifts which have now ended; following contact from Development team, many donors will happily renew. You can of course give on a never-ending basis!
[2] Following a review of regular gifts, and by way of a response to those disappointed to have ‘fallen off’ the Souvent me Souviens list, we will include people who give within an 18 month period.
[3] The name of this donor circle is taken from the motto of Lady Margaret Beaufort, after whom LMH is named, and means ‘often I remember.’ See the upcoming 2020 issue of LMH News for further information.