Giving
Causes you can support
100% of your donations go to the causes you choose to support.
The University has three key strategic strands which inform our philanthropic priorities: Research-Inspired Education, World-Leading Research, and Our Citizens.
It's easy to ensure that your gift can be put to good use in an area you care about, from enabling talented students from underrepresented backgrounds to achieve their potential as a Citizen of Change, to delivering cutting-edge space missions, or applying research into empathic healthcare to inform how we train the next generation of doctors.
If you have a specific cause or philanthropic interest in mind that's not listed here, please get in touch with us.
Below are just a handful of the causes you can support:
Greatest Need Fund
A great way to support us is by making a gift to our Greatest Need Fund - you will support the areas that need it the most and help us respond quickly and meaningfully to changing circumstances as they arise. Your gift, combined with those of others, has a significant and immediate impact upon the quality of the Leicester experience for our students and staff.
Student Support Fund
The University of Leicester is committed to attracting the very best students from across the world, to study and learn at all levels, regardless of background or circumstance. In a global context of reduced public funding for higher education, we are more dependent upon the generosity and support of our alumni, friends and donors than ever before.
The Student Support Fund is specifically designed to assist students facing significant financial challenges. Contributions to this fund empower the University to provide additional resources, helping these students reach their full potential.
Fees do not cover the total cost of educating a student. Philanthropic support helps to cover that gap and ensure that students facing financial hardship do not have to forgo their education.
Research Excellence
Transformational research, learning and teaching is happening across campus. Teaching and research of the highest quality underpins the University's goal to benefit society on a national and global scale. With the help of philanthropy, we aim to support the University's work in advancing world-leading research and in making life-changing discoveries while conserving the special features of the educational system.
To ensure that the University of Leicester remains a research-driven institution, we are committed to securing the resources to attract and retain the very best academics from around the world and to support established and emerging academic programmes and research. Your gifts will support frontier research and provide our academics and students with the resources and freedom to explore and make the next great breakthrough.
Attenborough Arts Centre
The Attenborough Arts Centre offers performances, contemporary art exhibitions, activities for children and families, courses, workshops and more. We champion emerging talent and disability-led artists, supporting those starting their careers.
The Centre prides itself on being accessible and inclusive. Their work is inspired by Richard Attenborough – world renowned filmmaker, actor and lifelong patron of the arts. Richard was a pioneering thinker and the Attenborough Arts Centre’s founding patron. Richard’s son Michael is now patron and continues his father’s legacy, striving to include everyone in great art, culture and learning.
Your support is critical to their ongoing engagement with the University of Leicester and the wider Leicester community.
Leicester Endowment
Growing the University’s Endowment will help to balance the University’s mix of income and lessen its dependence on government funding and tuition fees. The Leicester Endowment is an unrestricted, permanently endowed fund, which operates much like any savings and investment portfolio to form a stable, ongoing regular source of income.
Making a gift to the Endowment is one of the best opportunities for donors to achieve a lasting influence on the work of the University.
For more information please contact:
- +44 (0)116 252 2354
- philanthropy@leicester.ac.uk
As we approach the Centenary of our School of Chemistry and School of Physics and Astronomy in 2025, you can also support our Chemistry Centenary Appeal and Physics and Astronomy Centenary Appeal. The centenary funds will help us to honour the achievements of students, staff and alumni, and raise money to support continued, ground-breaking research and teaching excellence in each of these Schools.
School of Physics and Astronomy
The School of Physics and Astronomy merges world leading scientific exploration with a culture of excellence in teaching and learning physics. Drawing from pioneering research and global collaborators, Leicester's scientific community explores the deepest corners of the cosmos, spearheads robotic expeditions to our solar system, and enlightens us on the delicate balance of planet Earth's climate
School of Chemistry
In 2025, the University of Leicester’s School of Chemistry will be celebrating their Centenary. Recognised on an international level for our research, the School of Chemistry have a positive reputation that produces highly skilled graduates. In the latest Research Excellence Framework in 2021 (REF2021), the School of Chemistry was judged very positively with 100% of their research assessed as 'world-leading' (4*) or 'internationally excellent' (3*), one of only six universities in the UK to achieve this distinction.