12 Reasons to be Thankful
In a year that has delivered the most difficult and extraordinary challenges to us all, the University of York is giving thanks for all those who have supported the York Unlimited campaign. Through your support you are enabling us to look ahead with renewed resolve and commitment to our values of access to higher education to all, pioneering research for the public good, and working together with the community to improve lives.
We know that, together, there are no limits to what we can achieve, and this festive season we are bringing some light to these dark days by celebrating our 12 reasons to be thankful...
Reason One
You have supported and enhanced the student experience at York.
Thanks to our generous supporter community, students are being supported to thrive in their extracurricular activities with grants from YuFund.
We are thankful for our generous donors who have supported YuFund, which gives grants to student projects, groups and societies to enhance the student experience at York. In 2020 the fund has supported everything from skydiving to technical theatre to period poverty activism. It has also played a significant role in supporting societies to become Covid-secure, and therefore able to continue operating, when restrictions are allowing, during the 2020/21 academic year.
As well as awarding grants through its usual application process, in 2020 money from YuFund has supported students by contributing to the Emergency Student Support Fund (ESSF), which was set up in March to help students facing unexpected financial hardship due to the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown. Finally, it has supported YUSU to make additional help available to societies that have lost significant income due to restrictions on many of the usual events and activities this year.
If you would like to support YuFund with a gift, please visit the York Unlimited website
Reason 2
You have volunteered to help our alumni community flourish.
In 2020 we launched our International Regional Coordinators programme, recruiting alumni in 30 countries to be a point of contact in their area for alumni wanting to connect with the University and each other.
These extraordinary volunteers are helping to develop a truly global community of York graduates, who can continue to support each other as a network beyond their time on campus.
Working with the Office of Philanthropic Partnerships and Alumni (OPPA), these dedicated alumni are acting as a dedicated point of contact for York graduates, organising events, and helping to promote the University in their regions.
“After graduating from the University of York, I returned to Chengdu, China. I wanted to create a York alumni community here, as there is in Beijing and Shanghai. I decided to become Regional Coordinator for the area because I believe as graduates of York we have many things in common and many shared memories, and I want to expand and grow our community here.”
Seasons Greetings from York’s international alumni volunteer community.
Thank you to our alumni volunteers around the world who generously give their time to support the University. Our volunteers include career mentors, community fundraisers, event speakers and departmental advisory board members.
To find out more about volunteering for the University, please visit our website.
Yingjie Li, Regional Coordinator, Chengdu
Yingjie Li, Regional Coordinator, Chengdu
Reason Three
You have helped break down barriers to education.
Thank you for the vision of our donors to the York Opportunity Scholarships, who recognise the power of education in transforming young people’s lives.
We are so grateful to the 819 who have supported the York Opportunity Scholarships this year. These scholarships were set up with a major donation from a York alumnus, Peter Whelpton (1969, Economics), who recognised that some students, like care leavers, young carers, those with a disability, and those facing other personal and social challenges in their lives, can face significant barriers to entering higher education. Peter also recognised the power that a university education can have to change these young people’s futures.
Thanks to Peter’s generous giving during his lifetime the York Opportunity Scholarships were set up to give an award of £1,100 a year to the recipients over three years of study. Since Peter sadly died in 2016 his legacy has ensured the future of the scholarship programme, and has inspired many other donors to support it. Thanks to their generosity, the University has been able to award 71 of these scholarships in 2020, more than ever before.
“The scholarship will mean that I won't have to rely on my mother at all for money (as she does not earn very much and has my brother to look after) and won't have to worry about getting a job while studying. It also means I'll have money to pay for any medical supplies I need for my conditions (such as joint supports) and for any public transport fees for when I am unable to walk somewhere because of them. Thank you”
To support the York Opportunity Scholarships with a gift, please visit the York Unlimited website for more information:
Reason Four
You have helped keep mental health on the agenda.
Thank you to those who are supporting York’s contribution to mental health research, and helping us to make a practical difference to the mental health of our community
We are thankful for the 653 supporters who have made gifts to the Mentally Fit York fund in 2020, which is playing a key role in supporting mental health research, education and practical initiatives at the University of York. In 2020 supporting good mental health has felt more important than ever as we have lived through unprecedented changes to our lives and significant uncertainty about the future.
The money raised has supported York Unlimited Mental Health Nursing Scholarships, contributed to the Student Psychological Wellbeing Cohort Study, which is tracking the psychological wellbeing of 1,500 students over time, including the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and it has also paid for the University’s subscription to the Togetherall, an online platform that provides 24/7 online access to mental health support, and has helped over 1,500 students so far.
“The research that we’re currently helping to conduct and share will have a massive impact on evidence-based mental health interventions in the years to come. This is a really exciting journey”
To support the Mentally Fit York fund with a gift, please visit the York Unlimited website for more information:
Reason Five
You have made our 2020 Giving Day the biggest and best yet.
Thank you to the 717 people who came together on 4 and 5 November to donate to support student scholarships and Mentally Fit York.
We are so grateful for the success of our second annual Giving Day appeal, which brought together 717 donors over a 36-hour period to raise £171,000 for the York Unlimited campaign. Our wonderful students played their part in the day by reaching out to members of our community on the telephone, and our 299 volunteer Giving Day Ambassadors were busy spreading the word on social media.
As the clock ticked down over the two-day appeal, excitement levels rose as more and more challenge gifts were unlocked, including securing gifts from alumni from 30 different countries, and from at least one member of every graduating class in York’s history. Thank you to everyone who helped us more than double the total from our first Giving Day in 2019!
Reason Six
You have helped asylum-seeking students to thrive through our Equal Access programme.
Thank you to everyone who has supported the Equal Access Scholarship programme, which has led to York being formally recognised as a ‘University of Sanctuary’.
We are thankful that the University of York achieved a 'University of Sanctuary' award in 2020 in recognition of our efforts to welcome refugees and asylum seekers into our community. The award, led by the charity City of Sanctuary, recognises the efforts of the University's students and staff to welcome forced migrants into the community and promote a culture of inclusion.
Our Equal Access Scholarships support asylum-seeking students to access higher education, and we also provide bursaries for refugee students and dedicated advice and support for all sanctuary seeking students and applicants. Departments across the University are involved in research projects which aim to address the most urgent challenges facing sanctuary seekers and create real and tangible change.
During Giving Day our amazing community of staff, students, alumni and friends donated over £22,000 to Equal Access Scholarships so we can keep supporting sanctuary-seeking students and making sure York is a safe and welcoming space for everyone.
To support the Equal Access fund with a gift, please visit the York Unlimited website for more information:
Reason Seven
You responded to the emergency financial needs faced by many of our students.
Thank you to the staff, alumni and supporters of the University who were able to mobilise in a crisis and provide help where it was urgently needed at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
We are so grateful to all our donors to student causes whose regular and committed generosity helped the University to respond quickly to the crisis that many of our students were facing in March this year when the UK lockdown meant many lost income from part-time jobs, faced unexpected caring responsibilities, or urgently needed to travel home. Using donated funds the University could set up the Emergency Student Support Fund (ESSF) within a week of the lockdown starting to make emergency grants to affected students.
We are also grateful to the University staff who mobilsed to support the NHS in York with donations of food and medical supplies from laboratories forced to suspend activity, including surgical masks, clinical waste disposal bags, sharps disposal boxes, disposable gloves and sterile needles.
The Emergency Student Support fund is still running throughout the 2020/21 academic year as students continue to face additional financial challenges due to the pandemic. To support the fund with a gift, please visit the York Unlimited website for more information:
Reason Eight
Rinolsa and Butshilo, Scholars
Rinolsa and Butshilo, Scholars
Anna Kpikpi, Albukhary Scholar
Anna Kpikpi, Albukhary Scholar
You have helped us to create a diverse community of scholars who are the leaders of tomorrow.
Thank you to our donors to scholarship programmes, whose vision and generosity supports a talented and energised group of young people to pursue a better future through higher education, regardless of their backgrounds.
We are thankful for our donors supporting every student to shine this year by giving to scholarships and bursaries, which can make the difference between being able to attend university or not for some young people.
Scholarships at York have a variety of aims and therefore support a diverse group of students, for example the Albukhary Scholarships, funded by the Albukhary Foundation in Malaysia, support international undergraduate students to come to York, the Laidlaw Scholarships, funded by the Laidlaw Foundation, train undergraduates as future leaders, and the Wild Scholarships, funded by York alumnus Anthony Wild, support international students to do PhDs in Chemistry.
You can read more about scholarships at York on the York Unlimited website:
Reason Nine
You have pledged to support the future of the University through gifts left in wills.
Thank you to all members of our Heslington Circle, who have pledged to leave a gift for the University of York in their wills.
The University of York and the Department of Language and Linguistic Science are incredibly grateful for the amazing legacy gift Joan Russell left in her will, which we received in 2020. Joan did her BA and DPhil at the Department of Language and Linguistic Science and then went on to become York’s main lecturer in Swahili until her retirement. Joan had included the department she loved and served through her lifetime in her will.
Her amazing bequest now supports African Studies and the development of the next generation of African scholars at York through the Joan Russell PhD Scholarships in African Studies, with particular focus on those studying languages of Africa from a linguistic perspective.
“I am proud and very very pleased by this award of this scholarship. It is frankly more than I ever could have asked. Of course, I accept it with both hands. I can't find words good enough to express what I feel, and I can only but say I will do my best to live up to the expectations of Professor Joan Russell.”
If you are interested in leaving a gift to the University of York in your will, you can find more information on the York Unlimited website:
Joan at a farewell party in 1971
Joan at a farewell party in 1971
Reason 10
You have supported research that is making a difference during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Thank you to our research community; throughout 2020, academics across the University have been resolute in directing their formidable expertise and experience to tackle the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on many fronts.
Cracking the genetic safeguards of Covid-19: One example is the work of the York Structural Biology Laboratory (YSBL), a specialist research centre dedicated to furthering the fundamental understanding of life at the molecular level needed to develop new medicines and industrial processes to improve sustainability and food security.
In response to the pandemic, YSBL have been at the forefront of research dedicated to analysing the protein structures of Covid-19 in a bid to crack its genetic safeguards. The year has also seen the completion of the Eleanor and Guy Dodson Building, which will house the YSBL, and is named in honour of the academic couple who pioneered York’s approach to structural biology. The new building, which will house one of the UK’s most advanced cryo-electron microscopes has been funded by donations from the Wolfson Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and York graduate Tony Wild.
Protecting human rights defenders in a pandemic: In response to the pandemic, and with a start-up grant from the Open Society Foundation, the Centre for Applied Human Rights (CAHR) has set up the Arctivism project to raise awareness of the implications of the coronavirus pandemic for human rights defenders, activism, and shrinking civic and political space. Through grants of up to £3,000, projects are supported to provide innovative responses to the current emergency, in a reactive, therapeutic or imaginative form and through diaries, podcasts, blogs and other media. Projects funded so far include Re!gnite Africa’s Covid-19 Youth Voices, which is monitoring, analysing and documenting in real-time stories and experiences of youth artists and activists dealing with the impact of Covid-19 government guidelines and measures to their livelihood and wellbeing.
Reason Eleven
You are helping to give care-experienced students at the University a Christmas present from their York family.
Thank you to the University’s staff donors who support our annual Christmas Stocking Appeal, which raises money to make sure students who have left care receive a Christmas stocking from the University.
York alumnus and member of staff, Chris Hoyle, started this appeal to recognise that students who come to university from the care system don’t always have a family waiting to give them presents each Christmas. Donations from staff mean that each one of these students receives a stocking stuffed with small gifts, and a card hand-signed by the Vice-Chancellor, Charlie Jeffery.
This appeal is run annually through our YuStart platform, which allows staff and students to crowdfund projects designed to enhance the student experience. If you would like to support one of these projects, please visit the YuStart homepage:
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