Have you ever heard of Giving Days? If you’ve lived or studied in the US, the chances are that you might be familiar with them. If not, Giving Days are big, fun, digital fundraisers run over 36 hours bringing communities together to raise as much money as possible for a chosen fundraising priority – all against the clock. It’s about participation and the collective power of giving. There is a sense of urgency as the clock counts down and the stakes are raised with Challenge funds waiting to be unlocked once particular donor goals have been achieved. It’s a great way to reach people around the world and allows everyone, no matter where they are located, to feel a sense of belonging and celebration.
We want to bring this celebration to the Johnian community, so we are excited to let you know St John’s will be celebrating its first-ever Giving Day on 23 and 24 June. Our chosen fund will be Dobson Free Places, our ground-breaking initiative to secure world-class, means-tested student support in perpetuity.
The Dobson Free Places scheme is a pioneering leap for St John’s student support offering. The fund will sustain 40 free places across the College at any one time for talented UK students from low-income backgrounds, covering all tuition fees and maintenance costs. This comprehensive support will be life changing for many young people who are considering accepting a place here. Your gift will enable St John’s to take on responsibility for means-tested support, releasing us and our students from the pressures of potential government policy changes in this area.
On Giving Day we will be asking Johnians from all over the world to join together and give what they can. Thanks to the incredible match funding that is available on all gifts to the Dobson Free Places fund, your donation will have twice the impact; no gift is too small to make a difference. As the fund will be endowed, your gift will continue to create life-changing chances for generations of Johnians.
Along with the match funding opportunity, thanks to several donors we will also have Challenge funds which need unlocking through the day. There are a number of milestone challenges, the first being supported by a generous gift of £2,000 from the Johnian Society for our first 25 donations. Once 25 donations are logged (of any size) the £2,000 will be released into the total and doubled to £4,000 thanks to the match funding. All gifts will help towards our milestone challenges and perhaps your gift will also help to unlock a matriculation year challenge or our North American challenge. Check out our Challenges page on the website on 23 and 24 June.
You can make your gift early and still take advantage of the match funding, plus your donation will go towards any of the challenges that go live on the day. There’s never been a better time to give!
Visit our Giving Day website to find out more, watch our film to see the impact financial support makes for our students today or just track the progress of the event. Follow us on social media using #JohnsGives and hear from all corners of our community about why they are supporting Giving Day. We will be keeping you up to date over 23 and 24 June with emails and on social media – you will receive more emails than usual over this period but don’t worry, business as usual will resume from 25 June.
You can also help by sharing our Giving Day with your Johnian network. Please share our emails, website or social media posts.
We need you to help make the Giving Day a real success. Together we can change lives forever.
For more information, please contact Jo Beatty, Senior Development Officer, at jo.beatty@joh.cam.ac.uk or on 01223 760988