# University of Leeds launches £60 million fundraising campaign

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2013/12/01/university-leeds-campaign/
- Published: 2013-12-01T23:25:49+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

The University of Leeds is embarking on a £60 million fundraising campaign, its 
first major fundraising campaign since 1925. The funds will be used to create new
student , push forward its research and support its vision of a place among the 
world’s leading universities.

The [Making a World of Difference Campaign](http://campaign.leeds.ac.uk) is structured
around five key areas of the university’s people and research – Arts & Culture, 
Climate Change, Global Society & Business, Human Health, and Students.

## First stage of the campaign

The first stage of the Campaign has already attracted over 10,000 gifts so far, 
and these are already helping hundreds of students and supporting research.

## Advertisement

The University has also received its biggest ever donation, a gift of **£9 million**
which will support the creation of its new library on its city centre campus. The
library will be named after the donor, Irvine Laidlaw, who studied economics at 
Leeds in the early 1960.

The four-storey building, due to open in the spring of 2015, will also provide a
new home for some of the University’s outreach work with the local community.

Lord Laidlaw has been a donor to the University for some time, providing scholarships
for students from less privileged backgrounds and supporting the brightest undergraduates
to join major research projects.

He said:

> “I came from a quite privileged background and at that time Leeds was very much
> a working class university. As Grants and Welfare Secretary for the students’ 
> union I was able to help people who were facing serious money issues – and I found
> out about deprivation in a way I’d not experienced before.
> “This experience showed me how privileged I was and it stayed with me. I have 
> been very fortunate; my business has been a great success, but success is not 
> just about talent or ability. It’s also about encouragement, whether from the 
> family, school or University, and we need to do more to nurture people’s ability”.

## Other major donations

The Campaign has already received a number of other large donations:

• A £2.5 million gift from Bacteriology and Biochemistry graduate Peter Cheney and
his wife Susan has established a programme of fellowships

• A donation from Economics and Politics graduate Michael Beverley enabled the University
to build a Super Resolution Light Microscope

• The Liz and Terry Bramall Foundation is funding the University’s Reach for Excellence
programme for five years, supporting work in local schools and communities to encourage
more local young people to aim high and achieve their full potential.

University Chancellor Melvyn Bragg explained how these donations revive a tradition
of philanthropic support for universities:

> “In the post-war era, state funding for universities grew and the need for philanthropy
> declined. But now the state is pulling back, and I don’t see how we can be an 
> ambitious university, creating inspirational opportunities for our students and
> growing our research to tackle the major challenges of the modern world, without
> the support of our donors”.

 * **[Leeds alumni pledge £11,000 in one night](https://fundraising.co.uk/2009/10/28/leeds-alumni-pledge-11000-one-night/)**(
   28 October 2009)
 * **[Anatomy of a Twitter hashtag campaign for university fundraising](https://fundraising.co.uk/2009/11/18/anatomy-twitter-hashtag-campaign-university-fundraising/)**(
   18 November 2009)
 * **[King’s College London launches £500 million campaign](https://fundraising.co.uk/2010/11/03/king039s-college-london-launches-500m-campaign/)**(
   3 November 2010)