Development Report - Magdalen College Oxford

TH

E

MA

GD

AL

EN

C

OL

LE

GE

D

EV

EL

OP

ME

NT

R

EP

OR

T

20

11

Development Report

The M

The College F

The Saking a differ

1

At Magdalen our aim is to achieve excellence inteaching, learning, scholarship and research. We arefortunate to attract outstanding students, who cometo Magdalen to benefit from the exceptional teachingprovided under the tutorial system. With a wide rangeof extra-curricular activities and a wonderful learningenvironment, our students enjoy the full breadth ofthe Oxford experience and the opportunity to excel.

Each year Magdalen admits around 118undergraduate students, and our recent examinationresults have been outstanding. In 2010 Magdalencame top of the Norrington Table (which ranksundergraduate final examination results for eachcollege), with a record score for any college in anyyear. Over the past three years the College has beenin one of the top four positions in the table. Thenumber of graduates taking Masters and ResearchDegrees has increased significantly in recent yearsand they now form about one third of our students.This is a very international group with over 60%coming from outside the UK.

Tutorial teaching at the highest level is the priority. Allour undergraduates are taught by Fellows withinternational research reputations in very smallgroups. This allows them to develop skills that areessential not only for academic study, but are alsotransferable in their subsequent careers. However,maintaining the tutorial system is difficult financially.Some Fellows are funded jointly by the College andby the University, and the University is finding itincreasingly difficult to fund such posts. Raising fundsto support our Tutorial Fellowships is now a majorpriority.

Access and outreach to all prospective students isessential, so that we can offer places to thoseapplicants who our tutors feel will excel at Oxford. AnOxford education is expensive and the average totalcost of educating a student has recently beenestimated as £16,000 per annum. Our needs-blindadmissions process requires generous provision ofbursaries and scholarships, so that any student cantake up a place at Magdalen, irrespective of theirfinancial circumstances. This need will increase withthe proposed sharp rise in student fees.

Many members of Magdalen have already beenexceptionally generous in their donations towardsstudent support, tutorial fellowships and otherprojects. In doing so you are playing a major role inthe College’s continued success, and I want to thankyou for all you have done. However, it is vital that thissupport continues, if the College is to meet the newchallenges we are facing, whilst maintaining ourstandards of academic excellence.

The President

2

The M

I am very pleased that this Development Report isbeing produced for the first time, as it is important forold members to see that there is full transparencyand accountability in the College’s activities. Ourmembers need to understand the College’s vision, itsaims and aspirations, the challenges it faces, the stateof its finances, its needs and its strategy for the future.At the same time they need to be assured that theCollege is managing its existing resources efficiently,that it is raising money for the right reasons and thatany money raised is being used effectively and asdesignated by the donors.

The Development Trust, which was set up in 1977, isresponsible for assessing and monitoring the College’sdevelopment activities and for assisting theDevelopment Office in fundraising. There are currently20 Trustees, including five Fellows and 15 old members.Four of the non-Fellow Trustees sit on the College’sDevelopment & Alumni Relations Committee and threeold members sit on its Investment Committee, whichenables external advice and views to be accessed. Allgifts to the College are received and disbursed by theDevelopment Trust and a summary of the AnnualAccounts for 2010 are shown on the opposite page.The College pays for virtually all the costs of theDevelopment Office and fundraising, so that everypound donated goes entirely towards the cause.

Since 1977 the Development Trust has raised over£32 million to restore the Great Tower, the Chapel

and New Building, to build the Grove Quad with itsAuditorium and to provide additional rooms inCollege and Holywell. All undergraduates can nowlive in College accommodation throughout theirdegree course and graduates can live in for at leasttwo years. The Trust has also increased the size of theStudent Support Fund to enable the brightest tocome to Magdalen regardless of means and it hasadded to the Academic Fund for the futureendowment of Fellowships. The support that theCollege has received over the years from its oldmembers has been fantastic, averaging £2 million perannum over the past five years.

But, as always, new challenges are looming and it isclear that a larger endowment will be necessary foreven more student support, for the maintenance ofthe tutorial system and research, and for the upkeepof the ancient buildings. If Magdalen is to remain oneof the finest Colleges, and Oxford is to remain one ofthe great universities of the world, as it has for over800 years, then our generation is going to have tostep up to the mark yet again to enable futuregenerations to benefit as we did in our day.

i. The D

3

Calleva Research Centre 3,015

Fellowship Funds 897

Student Support Funds 456

Buildings and Grounds Funds 197

Academic Funds for Current Use 75

Other Grants 59

Unrestricted Funds Pending Designation 54

Chapel and Choir Funds 25

Sports and Societies Grants 17

Boat Club Funds 7

4,802

Trust Governance/Other Costs 3

*This includes a major gift of £3,015,000 from an old member and his

wife to establish the Calleva Research Centre for Evolution and

Human Science, an interdisciplinary research centre which bridges

the humanities and the social, cognitive and evolutionary sciences.

*Donations 4,485

Legacies 314

Investment Income 6

ustees of The M

�Mr Mark Loveday (1962), Chairman�Prof David Clary, President

Dr Viva Bartkus (1989)�Dr Paul Beckwith (1979)

Dr Barbara Domayne-Hayman (1980)

Mr David Foxton (1983)

Dr Toby Garfitt, Fellow & Vice-President�Mr Simon Haslam (1975)�Ms Judith Hibbert (1980)

Mr Antony Hichens (1956)

Prof Adrian Hill, Fellow

Dr Jan Hruska (1979)

Lord Jay of Ewelme (1965)

Mr James Joll (1957)

Mr Mark Mussared (1976)�Dr John Nightingale, Fellow

Mr Trevor Pitman (1977)

Mr Anthony Todd (1979)

Ms Felicity Toube (1990)�Mr Charles Young, Senior Bursar

�Members of The Development and Alumni Relations Committee

Mr Jeremy Palmer (1974), Chairman

Mr Stephen Butt (1969)

Prof David Clary, President

Prof Alison Etheridge, Fellow

Mr Peter Davies (1990)

Mr Bertie Ross

Dr Nicholas Stargardt, Fellow

Mr Charles Young, Senior Bursar

Of the grant to the College of £4,802k, £4,382k (91%) was restricted by

donors for a particular purpose and £420k (9%) was unrestricted.

Unrestricted funds are designated by the College’s Development and

Alumni Relations Committee.

The College

On the opposite page is a summary of the Accountsfor the year ending 31 July 2010, in which the Collegereported a small surplus of £85,000 on income of £11.2million. The charts show the sources of income and ananalysis of the breakdown of expenditure in the year.

Fees and accommodation charges for Collegemembers, the revenue streams which flow from theCollege’s primary function of teaching and research,account for only 43% of total income; 8% comes fromconferences and associated activities; 9% from othersources including donations. The single mostsignificant source of income, accounting for more than40% of the total, is transferred from endowment.

The heart of the College is the people who deliver allits services, and the environment in which they do this.It is therefore not surprising that 56% of expenditure isabsorbed in employment costs and a further 8% onupkeep of the buildings, grounds, and environment ofthe College. For a number of reasons expenditure onbuildings in 2009/10 was lower than normal, and lessthan is required in the medium term to keep the fabricin good repair.

The endowment (which at 31st July 2010 was valuedat £135.5 million) is managed for total return,irrespective of whether that return is derived from rentand dividend income or capital growth. In 2003 theCollege adopted a Policy Document to governexpenditure from endowment. This caps expenditureat no more than 3.5% of the average rolling five-yearvalue of the relevant endowment assets. In the seven

4

years from 2004 to 2010 actual draw down fromendowment has averaged 3.27%. Over the sameseven-year period annual total return from theinvested assets has averaged 6.35%.

The broad asset allocation of the endowment is GlobalEquities 49%, Private Equity 12%, Hedge Funds 7%,Commercial and Agricultural Property 15%, OxfordScience Park 12% and Cash 5%. Specialist managersare appointed for day-to-day management in eachasset class. The Investment Committee monitors theperformance of managers and also advises the Collegeon issues of investment strategy and asset allocation.

Maintaining equilibrium between income andexpenditure is becoming more difficult. Lookingforward we anticipate there will be increased pressureon academic and tuition income resulting from cuts bycentral government, and a reduction in conferenceincome which will be eroded by the economicslowdown. Without sharp upturns in world markets inthe next couple of years the draw down fromendowment will be limited by the College’s own long-term spending policy, as the poor returns of 2008 and2009 replace the buoyant years of 2006 and 2007 inthe rolling five-year average upon which distributionsare based. Meanwhile, employment costs continue torise and the buildings must be kept in good repair toavoid bequeathing major problems with the fabric toour successors. All of these forces are pulling theCollege towards economic disequilibrium andreinforce the need to strengthen income flows toprotect the core activity of teaching and research.

Academic fees, tuition income &HEFCE support 21%

Endowment return &interest receivable 40%

Residential income from College members 22%

Conference &function income 8%

Donations5%

Other income 4%

Academic 32%

Accommodation, catering & conferences 27%

Premises 16%

Administration 11%

Endowment management4%

Fundraising 3%

Other 6%

Contribution to other colleges 1%

5

Academic fees, tuition income and HEFCE support 2,347

Endowment return and interest receivable 4,515

Residential income from College members 2,491

Conference and function income 903

*Donations 565

Other income 391

Academic 3,543

Accommodation, catering and conferences 2,967

Premises 1,812

Administration 1,181

Endowment management 469

Fundraising 354

Other 634

Contribution to other colleges 167

*In addition to these

donations, we also

received new

endowments of £4,068k

as gifts from old members

and friends of the College.

The full accounts for

Magdalen College for the

financial year 2009–10

are available on the

Oxford University Website

(www.ox.ac.uk) under

Facts and Figures:

Financial Statements of

the Oxford Colleges

Philanthropy has played a defining role throughoutMagdalen’s 553-year history. Over the centuries manythousands of old members and supporters have madedonations during their lifetimes and in their wills whichhave erected buildings, endowed posts, fundedscholarships and shaped every aspect of life atMagdalen.

This philanthropic tradition continues at Magdalen andduring the past year the College received its largestever donation with a £3 million gift from an oldmember and his wife to fund the Calleva ResearchCentre for Evolution and Human Science. Over the pastten years Magdalen has raised close to £8 million fromold members and supporters to endow a StudentSupport Fund which in the last academic year providedmeans-tested support to over one-quarter of ourstudent body. We are currently trying to endow anumber of academic posts to enable the College toguarantee the continuance of the tutorial system in theface of dramatically reducing government support. Weare very close to securing the £2 million required toendow a Tutorial Fellowship in PPE as well as another£2 million to endow a History Fellowship. It is hopedthat we will be able to attract enough support from oldmembers in the coming months and years to endowone further History Fellowship, a Law Fellowship and aFellowship in Classics so that we can guaranteecontinued teaching in these subjects through thetutorial system.

Magdalen is entering a period of great financialuncertainty and the College will require the broadestpossible support from its alumni community. We aretremendously grateful for the support we havereceived, and continue to receive. Last year 19% of

6

contactable old members made a donation to theCollege and this percentage figure has beenincreasing gradually over the past decade. This figurecompares favourably with many other Oxford Colleges,but lags considerably behind University and CorpusChristi Colleges who both regularly enjoy alumnisupport exceeding 30%. Indeed, while Magdalen hasone of the largest alumni bases of any Oxford college,recent indicators make it plain that there is much workto do to match the fundraising achievements of manyother Colleges.

Over the next few years Magdalen will need to doublethe money it raises each year from around £2 million(based on the average income of the last five years) to£4 million. The College will require this level of supportto meet the challenges of maintaining the tutorialsystem and providing help to the increasing number ofstudents experiencing financial difficulties, as well aspreserving its historic buildings. This will be no easy taskbut we are confident that this can be achieved with thebacking of the Magdalen community. If you areconsidering making a donation to Magdalen please docontact me at the telephone number or email addressbelow to discuss how your philanthropy can bestsupport the work of the College and its students.

Sean Rainey01865 [email protected]

Photo: Helen Burt

7

0

£5million

£10million

Target£10million

Target£4million

Target£2million

Target£2million Target

£1million

StudentSupport Fund

History TutorialFellowshipEndowment (two posts)

PPE TutorialFellowshipEndowment (one post)

Law TutorialFellowshipEndowment (one post)

Freeman JuniorResearch FellowshipEndowment (one post)

Funds still to raise

Funds raised

The table belo

The Saking a differ

Studying at university is never cheap and with a six-year medicine course ahead of me, and three siblingsat home, it was becoming increasingly difficult to relyon my parents to support me. The money I’vereceived from the Student Support Fund at Magdalenhas made a huge difference to my time at university.First and foremost it has allowed me to concentrateon my studies, particularly during the Christmas andEaster vacations, without having to worry aboutgetting a job to earn money. The money has alsoenabled me to get the most of what college anduniversity life has to offer. I’m able to lead weekendtrips with the walking club, run with the cross-countryclub and play in a university orchestra. I hope that thesupport I’ve had in completing my studies will meanthat one day I’ll be fortunate enough to be able tohelp students at Magdalen myself.

8

We are grateful for the regular support of over 1200members who contribute to the Annual Fund, raising£240,462 in the financial year to 31st July 2010. This isa remarkable sum in view of the present economicdownturn and compares well with the averageincome over the past four years of £269,241. TheAnnual Fund is for current use, and supports projectswhich will benefit current students. This includesgiving our undergraduates the opportunity to doresearch during the vacation, providing grants tostudents in need, providing book tokens to freshersso that they can afford to purchase essential readingmaterials, and ensuring our students can enjoy awide range of sports and extra-curricular activities.The Annual Telethon is now in its 10th year and raisessignificant donations to the Annual Fund. We hopethat members enjoy talking to students about theCollege and the opportunity to ‘keep in touch’.

In addition to the Annual Fund, Magdalen membersfund a wide variety of distinct projects that directlysupport areas of College life. Examples includeproviding academic prizes and commissioning worksfor the Choir. This year two Magdalen alumni fundedthe purchase of six viols, giving students theopportunity to learn to play this instrument andparticipate in the University’s consort playingprogramme. This project provides a remarkableopportunity – very much in the Magdalen spirit – toachieve something brand new at the same time thatwe revive and cultivate a venerable tradition. Anotherarea of College life that has benefited from thegenerosity of old members is the work of theDevelopment Office. Donations have helped to fundalumni events and publications (including this one),as well as contributing to personnel andadministrative costs.

9

The

first time I was surr