Supporting St Mary's College

A message from the Principal...

• Launch of the 1899 Club: If you are in a position to help us in our plans, we would be extremely grateful.  A single gift of £100, £50 or £25 would have real impact, however, an ongoing regular gift of £18.99 per month, per quarter, or even per annum, would allow us to plan ahead more, as we could be assured of this income in future months and years. To acknowledge and thank donors who kindly give regularly to St Mary’s College, helping us build a lasting legacy and provide the best possible supportive environment for our students, we have created the 1899 Club. Named after the year in which St Mary’s College was first established, the 1899 Club awards its members a number of small benefits to thank them for their generous support. Like any donation, the direction of your regular gift can be specified on our donation form (e.g. Student Financial Hardship, Travel Bursaries, Development Fund etc.). We hope the benefits awarded to 1899 Club members demonstrate how much their regular kind financial support for St Mary’s is appreciated. More details about the 1899 Club can be found by selecting '1899 Club' in the drop down menu.

• Student Financial Hardship: We continue to support students in hardship and financial difficulty.   Any of our students who run into financial difficulty whilst they are here are incredibly grateful for help we can provide with the cost of accommodation, books and general living. We provided a number of targeted grants of approximately £500 to students in this position last academic year and are keen to increase the number and size of the awards we can offer.  We are also keen to be able to support our postgraduate students for whom accessing funding is particularly difficult and would like to establish a postgraduate bursary or bursaries that can be awarded on an annual basis.

You can specify to which area you wish to donate using our online donation form.   ‘Student Financial Hardship’ will support undergraduate and postgraduate students who find themselves in financial difficulty through no fault of their own.  ‘Academic Support’ will provide funding for textbooks and other study resources which students can request directly from College.  ‘Postgraduate Bursary’ will target your donation towards our postgraduate students.  We are particularly keen to support our undergraduate students who wish to pursue postgraduate study at Durham.

• Development Fund: Continues to help with funding student activities at St Mary’s. This is our primary fund open to all students and makes a huge difference to our students’ time here in College. Donations to this Fund remain a big priority. Any donation is greatly appreciated as student requests to this Fund can range from £50 to £500 depending on the club or society seeking support.  

Finally, this year we are also launching the ‘Sponsor your old room scheme’. In return for a donation of £150, we are giving Mary’s alumni the opportunity to sponsor a bedroom in College of their choosing (availability permitting) and have this room named after them for a period of 5 years per donation. A plaque bearing the details of the alumnus, including their name and date of attendance at St Mary’s, will be included on the plaque, which will be fixed upon the corridor wall beside the bedroom door. This is a great opportunity to leave a lasting and tangible legacy in College, and at the same time support our students. If you would like to sponsor your old College bedroom, please click on the Sponsor your Old Room' page under the 'Get Involved' section. The money donated through this scheme will go directly to our Student Facilities Fund to help invest in improving the facilities we can offer at St Mary’s College.

If you decide to give, please complete a donation form on the following pages on this section of our website, selecting which area within College you would like your donation to support.

As always, I shall look forward to welcoming you back to your College whenever you can come. With very best wishes.
 
Yours sincerely,

Simon Hackett
Principal, St Mary's College