University College Oxford Record 2020

welcome Baroness Amos as the new Master of
University College from September. Valerie began
meeting Old Members in 2019, and though many
of the planned introductions were delayed due
to Covid, she has now started actively speaking
to the community via video. She has appreciated
hearing your thoughts and getting to know the
special Univ family.
The second major milestone was with Univ
North. Developing and expanding “Stavertonia”
into a complete second community has been a
long-term, strategic undertaking for the College.
Old Members and friends of the College have
been advising from the beginning, and we are
grateful for all your support in getting us to this
point. This is a once-in-300-years project, and we
will be keeping you in touch with its development
over the coming years. Regarding our fundraising
for it, the Univ community has been exceptionally
generous. As of August there remains a gap of
£4 million on the fundraising target. Please get
in touch if you would like to hear more about
the project, and, when it is safe to do so, have
a tour of the site. The Development Team itself
has undergone a restructure to make it more
representative of the work we are now doing.
Alex Sigston heads up a new Operations Team
to support what we hope will be an improved
and more efficient administrative function. This
includes, from September, Pip Cull working
entirely on providing regular and informative
updates to all our generous donors. I am also
delighted to let you know that Hattie Bayly
is joining the Development Office from the
University Humanities Department. She will be
Univ’s Head of Development – Special Projects.
This restructure will help us to deliver on what
I promised last year – improved communication
on the impact of your gifts. This has been a
significant initiative, more so than I could possibly
have imagined when I made this promise. Due
to the historical nature of generous philanthropy
to the College, we find ourselves on a long
journey, and I thank you for your patience as we
build an all-encompassing programme. A College
as ancient as Univ has, for example, wonderful
paper archives on historical giving – but sadly we
are not currently in the College to access them!
Some aspects of the project will have to wait.
But we are delighted to have produced a new
donor impact mailing, which should have arrived
with donors and friends in August. We are also
planning our first Donor Day in February 2021. I
hope you can join us.
Another area of Development that has had
a challenging year is the Annual Fund. We have
now cancelled or curtailed two telethons. I am
exceptionally grateful to the 20.28% of our Old
Members who have contributed a combined
£719,227 to the College, in spite of these difficult
circumstances. With the loss of the telethons the
College participation rate and Annual Fund have
seen notable falls. We hope that those who have
been unable to support the College this year
will return and support us in 2020/2021. Your
gifts really do make a difference, and add up to
significant sums. Many of those who donated
chose to support the College with unrestricted
support, and this has been particularly useful as
we prepare for the safe return of students. This
includes unexciting, but essential, purchases
such as hand sanitisers. We have also replaced
the keypads around the College, and have
even purchased some garden furniture and
marquees, so that people are able to meet
outside at a safe distance.
Considering the tumultuous year everyone has
faced, it is truly remarkable that so many of you
University College Record | October 2020 51