St John's launches £50m fundraising campaign

Last night, Fellows, alumni, students and staff gathered at the Guildhall in the City of London to launch the St John's College Campaign, with a target of £50m by 2012 making it the most ambitious campaign ever launched by a Cambridge or Oxford college.

The Master, Professor Chris Dobson, delivered a passionate and emotive speech in which he remarked upon the changing nature of education and the challenge that falls to the College as it approaches its 500th anniversary' to be able to provide every student with a more exciting and rewarding intellectual experience than they could obtain anywhere else in the world'.

He went on to say that, 'to remain at the forefront of higher education, we must not merely move with the times, but we must play our part in changing them.  I believe profoundly that the future for St John's has never looked so exciting or so filled with promise'. 

He concluded by announcing that over £20m of the £50m target had already been received, which included two particularly majestic contributions: one from Nick Corfield (BA 1981, Honorary Fellow 2001) and the other from an anonymous British foundation.

Following the Master, Jeremy Marshall, Chairman of the College's Campaign Board and CEO of UK Private Banking at Credit Suisse, introduced Nick Corfield who gave a rousing and inspirational talk about how Johnians could use the College as a vehicle for investing in our future. He explained that having been a beneficiary of an anonymous scholarship during his time at St John's, he felt an enormous responsibility to pay it back by investing in future generations of students'“ both of St John's and collegiate Cambridge. 

The evening brought together members of every constituency of the Johnian community and included entertainment from the world-renowned Choir, to celebrate the beginning of a commitment to a strong and secure future for St John's College . 

For further information about the Campaign or to make a donation, please contact Stephen Teal in the Development Office by telephone, +44 1223 338 760900 or by email, s.w.teal@joh.cam.ac.uk.