The Annual Fund

The Annual Fund was launched in April 2011 with the aim of meeting the Society’s everyday needs through the regular support of its members.

The Endowment Campaign (the aim of which is first to restore the Waterhouse Building and second, to underpin the Society's general finances and thereby guarantee its financial wellbeing in perpetuity) continues undiminished, but the Annual Fund has a different and complementary purpose: to increase the number of members giving small sums regularly in order to produce a reliable income stream for immediate use. Such a fund will reduce significantly the strain on the Society’s currently meagre endowment.

In addition to revenues derived from membership fees, the Society needs about £250,000 pa to meet the everyday costs of staffing and servicing its premises, running its programme of activities and supporting the student bursary scheme. This sum has traditionally been met through leasing substantial parts of the Society’s premises and by deploying income earned from the Society’s modest endowment. Though the Society has managed, in this way, to hold its head above water, adverse changes in both the general economic climate and student funding arrangements have resulted in increasing pressure on the membership fee and a diminished income from the Society’s investment portfolio. For the first time in many years, the Trustees have been forced to authorise expenditure from capital reserves – a necessary but short-term strategy which cannot be sustained in the longer term.

If just 2,500 members gave £100 pa (a net donation of only £60 pa or £5 per month to individuals paying tax at 40%), the Society would be able to cover its annual costs and reclaim the use of much-needed space hitherto let for non-Union use.

Please visit the donations pages or contact the Development Director if you wish to give to the Annual Fund or to find out more about its purposes.