Giving something back makes an impact. You may not know it but financial gifts from alumni and staff run like threads through the rich tapestry of University life enhancing experiences for all those who are touched by the Annual Fund.

If you’ve donated to our University’s Annual Fund then there are many people who would like to thank you in person for your help in transforming their lives; like the disadvantaged children of Jourberton in South Africa who happily now learn and play in a new nursery designed and built by our School of Architecture students; or the award-winning financial credit scheme helping Ghanaian farmers work their way out of poverty; or the Any-Body Month University initiative in Nottingham, which raised awareness of barriers faced by those with a disability – a scheme now recognised with the Olympic and Paralympic Inspire 2012 mark.

And on the facing page there are more examples, such as the five student midwives who put their theory to the test when they visited Tanzania as part of their nursing elective, thanks to a grant of £7,500 from the University of Nottingham’s Annual Fund. The two-week visit, organised through the Work-the-World organisation, was spent working for one week in a hospital in the city of Mwanza, Lake Victoria and for a second week staying in a tribal village. You can see footage of the trip at: http://bit.ly/iN4Yrz.

And, thanks to £11,380 from the Annual Fund, 27 students from the University, together with 37 other prospective MA and PhD research students, joined the Dobri Dyal archaeologicl dig in Bulgaria. The dig was part of the Transition from Antiquity programme, one of Europe’s largest projects of its kind.

Each of these life-changing and transformative projects and many more like them have at least in part benefited from Annual Fund money – donations from alumni, staff, students and friends of the University ensuring that the Annual Fund makes an impact on someone every day in some part of the world.

The Fund is administered by the University’s Regular Giving Team at King’s Meadow Campus. Already, in this financial year alone they have raised £165,000 from more than 1,900 alumni, staff, students and friends. Some feel able to give one-off gifts of thousands of pounds, others are happier giving a monthly sum of say £5. But what they all have in common is that they all play a vital part in transforming the lives and experiences of our students, staff and communities all over the globe.

During term time, a dedicated team of student callers take up nightly residence in the Trent Building to talk to thousands of alumni and staff members. But in the last calling session,
even before they picked up a phone, the students donated the first hour of their wages to the Annual Fund.

In the latest round of applications, £164,926 was awarded to 16 student-led projects and in the coming months we will report more on how these new projects are making a difference. Annual Fund monies are available to staff and students across the University and you can find out more about how to apply for a grant at: www.nottingham.ac.uk/supportus/guidetogiving/informationforuniversitystaff.aspx#TheAnnualFundGrantsPanel

Alternatively, if you would like to support the Annual Fund and the projects it supports through a donation then please visit: www.nottingham.ac.uk/supportus/makingadifference.aspx.