How you can help
There are a number of ways in which you can help sustain excellence at Merton for future generations. Your support will assist us in providing an exceptional quality of education to students from all backgrounds. It will enable us to maintain our position as a world-class hub of scholarship and learning.
We are enormously grateful to all of our donors and volunteers, and we hope that you will consider helping through one or more of the methods outlined below. If you have any questions, please contact the Development Office by email at development@merton.ox.ac.uk or by phone on +44(0)1865 276316.
All gifts, large and small, add up to make a difference at Merton. Monthly, annual or quarterly donations are particularly impactful, as they help us to plan for the future.
For example, 13 gifts of just £5 will help pay for a book grant, ensuring that every student has access to the resources they need.
Every year, a group of Merton students call alumni as part of our Telethon. The calls give Mertonians a fun, first-hand insight into College life, while providing our students with the opportunity to gain valuable advice for the future. Many new connections are made and interesting stories exchanged.
As part of the call, the students inform alumni about the impact of donations in College and ask if they would consider supporting Merton. The majority of Mertonians we have called decided to donate, and in the last decade, Telethons have raised more than £1.5 million for our students and academics.
If you would like to receive a call in one of our upcoming Telethons, please contact the Development Office team. Our students will be delighted to speak to you.
To recognise generous donors, and encourage sustained support, we have created the 1264 Society, named after the year Merton was founded.
Anyone who makes a gift of £1,264 or above to Merton will be welcomed as a Society member for one year. Those who are under 30 years of age, or who left Merton in the last five years, can join by giving £126.40 or more. Students and those who left Merton in the last year can also become members by donating at least £12.64.
We are very grateful to all of our 1264 Society members. To express our thanks, we provide them with recognition in our Donor Report and invite them to a special event each year. Those who join for the first time also receive a unique and attractive Merton pin badge, as a token of our appreciation.
Since it was founded in 2010, more than 700 alumni and friends have become members of the 1264 Society. We very much hope you will consider joining them. Society members’ gifts add up to make a major difference to the life of the College and impact everything we do. For example, just three donors giving £1,264 per year would fund a full Merton-Oxford Bursary for a student in need.
Our major donors play a hugely important role at Merton. Through donations at the five, six and seven-figure levels, they provide us with invaluable assistance in establishing Scholarships, constructing new buildings, securing our Tutorships for the future, supporting students in need, and much more. We are enormously grateful to our major donors, and to express our thanks, the Governing Body has established a series of dedicated giving circles.
Recent projects that have successfully been completed with the help of major donors include the Roger Highfield Graduate Scholarship in History, the 2015-2019 Reach Scholarship for students from lower income countries, an endowed Tutorship in Law, as well as the construction of the TS Eliot Lecture Theatre.
Major gifts are immensely valued for a wide range of areas within the College. Currently, they are particularly welcome for the following projects:
- Raising £1 million to permanently endow the Michael Baker Tutorship in Physics, in honour of our first Fellow in the subject.
- Establishing new Graduate Scholarships. Each scholarship can either be annually funded, with a gift of £15,000 per year, or set up with a permanent endowment of £1 million.
If you are interested in making a major gift to the College, please contact the Development Office at development@merton.ox.ac.uk or by calling +44(0)1865 276316.
A legacy gift costs nothing during your lifetime but has the power to make a significant difference for future generations at Merton. There is hardly an area of the College which hasn’t been touched by the generosity of a legator over the centuries.
More than 160 Mertonians have informed us of their intention to remember Merton in their wills. To thank them, we have established the Founder’s Society, which regularly hosts events for legators in College.
Would you like to provide careers advice or act as a mentor to our students? Or perhaps get involved with the Merton Society and our wider alumni body? Do you have any other expertise to offer the College?
If you would like to volunteer your time, we would be delighted to hear from you. Please contact development@merton.ox.ac.uk or call +44(0)1865 276316.
You can also help to keep Mertonians connected by becoming a Year Representative or joining one of our alumni societies.