Corpus welcomes the UK Government's matched funding scheme to encourage philanthropic donations to English universities.

Under the terms of the scheme, collegiate Cambridge will receive £1 for every £3 raised in eligible donations during the three-year period of the scheme (1st August 2008 to 31st July 2011).  All donations received from "new donors" are eligible, be they from individuals, companies, trusts or foundations in the UK or overseas. "New donors" are defined as donors who have not made a gift to a Corpus or to the University in the three years before the start of the scheme. A previous donor to Corpus can be counted as a "new donor" to the University and vice versa.

The matched funding received from the government will be used by the College for student support, to ensure that Cambridge remains at the forefront of teaching, learning and research.

How will the scheme work?

At the end of each year of the scheme’s operation, each College and the University will be asked to provide a total for the funds given by new donors during the previous 12 months including appropriate allocations of gift aid. The qualifying value of any one gift will be capped at £250,000 to prevent a few very large gifts distorting the figures for either the Colleges or the University.

The total funds received by Collegiate Cambridge from new donors will then attract government matched funding at the ratio 1:3 (£1 from the government for every £3 raised by Collegiate Cambridge from new donors).

There is a maximum cap of £2.75 million in matched funding available to Collegiate Cambridge during the lifetime of the scheme. It is possible that Collegiate Cambridge will reach its cap (i.e. £8.25 million in eligible donations) before the end of the scheme. The precise timetable for payment of matched funding has yet to be determined by the Government.