Make a gift

How to Make a Gift

Gifts can be made as one-off or recurring donations in a number of ways. Please follow the links below for more information:

Do not hesitate to get in touch with Caitlin Tebbit if you would like to discuss the many different ways to support the Department of Chemistry.

Tax-efficient Giving

In many cases your gift can be enhanced by a variety of tax breaks available for charitable action:

Leaving a Gift to Oxford Chemistry in Your Will

Leaving a legacy gift to the Department is a poignant way to support its researchers and students for many years to come. Legacy gifts can create scholarships, support research and capital projects, and help build the Department's endowment, ensuring Oxford Chemistry's stability in perpetuity.

All those who choose to remember Oxford Chemistry in this special way will be invited to join the Alembic Circle, which is named for the Alembic Club; a group founded by students in 1901 that became one of the most prominent scientific societies in the University of Oxford for much of the twentieth century. Members of the Alembic Circle will be invited to special events and will receive updates from the Head of Department to thank them for their wonderful commitment to Oxford Chemistry. 

Recognition 

The University of Oxford would not exist without the generosity and vision of its benefactors. Philanthropic tradition not only enables Oxford to maintain its position as a world-class institution, but also invests in our future. 

Donors to the Department of Chemistry will receive special communications and reports from the Department and will be invited to a programme of events throughout the year. Gifts of every size make a real impact and are greatly appreciated. 

In addition to a special relationship with the Department, the University is proud to offer its supporters the following recognition:

Oxford enjoys ongoing relationships with its benefactors, and will invite them to a variety of events. Major benefactors will receive invitations to project-related events, such as special lectures and opening ceremonies. In the year of their gift, it is hoped that donors may join the University at its biggest celebration, Encaenia. Oxford sporting events include the annual Oxford v Cambridge Boat Race and Varsity matches. 

The University is delighted to explore ways in which it can recognise its benefactors. These may include naming opportunities on buildings, schools, libraries, institutes, chairs, posts, scholarships, plaques and rolls of honour where appropriate. The Ashmolean Museum and Bodleian Library were both named in honour of individuals whose generosity lives on. Some benefactors may wish their philanthropy to be anonymous, or may choose to honour a relative or eminent figure. 

The Vice-Chancellor's Circle was launched in 2009 to recognise those individual, foundation and corporate benefactors who have provided generous support to the collegiate University. In addition to receiving regular communications from the Vice-Chancellor and other senior officers, members will be invited to special meetings of the Vice-Chancellor's Circle. These occasions will showcase the breadth of intellectual talent at Oxford and the significant contribution to society of alumni and friends. The Circle will engage members in the diverse, ever-vibrant life and work of the collegiate University.

For substantial benefactions, the Chancellor may invite the University and the Colleges' most significant supporters to become members of the prestigious Court of Benefactors. The Court meets each autumn in Oxford. This provides an opportunity for benefactors to engage with the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, Heads of Colleges and senior academics, to meet with other members of the Court, and to gain a greater understanding of the life and work of the University and the Colleges. 

A member of the Chancellor's Court of Benefactors may have their generosity to the Collegiate University honoured by the engraving of their name in the Clarendon Arch, near the entrance to the historic Bodleian Library. Names alread inscribed include such historic benefactors to Oxford as Sir Thomas Bodley, Queen Elizabeth I, John Radcliffe, King Henry VIII, Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, Queen Elizabeth II, and Cecil Rhodes. 

The highest honour the University of Oxford can bestow is the Sheldon Medal, reserved for an individual benefactor who has made a strategic difference to the life of the University. The Medal is named after one of Oxford's early benefactors, Gilbert Sheldon, who graduated from Oxford in 1620. It may only be awarded to one person each year, and is restricted to members of the Chancellor's Court of Benefactors. The presentation of the Medal is made by the Chancellor in Oxford's historic Sheldonian Theatre.