£120M University fundraising campaign to shape global development of the future

Posted on Thursday 6 June 2019

The York Unlimited campaign aims to unlock 120,000 volunteer hours and capture the insights of York graduates around the world to help improve access to education, mental health services and jobs, as well as enhance the UK creative economy and the York campus environment.

The campaign will be announced at a special event at the York Festival of Ideas on Saturday, 08 June, hosted by University Chancellor Sir Malcolm Grant.

Next millennium

Acting Vice-Chancellor Professor Saul Tendler said: “This is our most ambitious fundraising initiative to date and we are excited to be sharing this campaign with our students, staff, graduates and the people and business of the city of York.

“With the help of our generous donors, partners, and University community, we aim to shape and influence some of the world’s biggest challenges, mapping a way forward into the next millennium. 

“We want to make more discoveries in researching the future technological needs of society, create real opportunities in the job market for our students, and make further breakthroughs in understanding mental health issues.”

Anna Kpikpi received a scholarship with the support of University donors ‌

The campaign is split into six areas – student opportunities, mental health research, entrepreneurship, creativity, global challenges, and the campus experience. 

Fundraising opportunities to support students include new undergraduate and postgraduate scholarship programmes to help students overcome barriers to education and gain access to the type of learning that matches their ambition.

Building on York’s Enterprise Fellowship scheme, which enables the University research community to develop commercial ventures from their ideas, the campaign will support students, staff and alumni in starting their own business by creating a network of investors and mentors.

Health solutions

Mental health issues impact 450 million people globally and costs the UK economy £23bn a year in workforce absences. York research in mental health involves collaborations across psychology, medicine, social work, digital technologies, economics and many more diverse areas. 

Fundraising in mental health research will aim to create PhD scholarships to help in the design and evaluation of potential health solutions, as well as further improve the mental health workforce through supporting more opportunities in mental health nursing.

The campaign seeks to bolster the creative economy in the UK by providing Creative Fellowships and Residences for writers, artists and filmmakers to work with students and the local community.

Global challenges

Working closely with York’s Interdisciplinary Global Development Centre, the campaign team will work with community NGOs, activists, businesses and international organisations to tackle issues of global health, conflict, livelihoods and environmental risks, and create a Global Development Centre Summer Programme for in-field development workers and practitioners.

Fundraising efforts focused on the University’s campus environment will help create new virtual learning, teaching, and research facilities to better provide for the future of education and the diverse communities that will access it, wherever they are in the world.