From the Nominator

When the world needed UCL to step up to the challenge of COVID-19, the UCL community took action. 

Our expert academics mobilised rapidly to look at the virus and its impacts from every possible angle and through the lens of every discipline. We needed a philanthropic response to match our community’s commitment and ambition.

UCL was one of the first UK institutions to establish a comprehensive, coordinated COVID-19 philanthropic response. We recognised the urgent need to support our clinicians and researchers, to communicate the impact of UCL’s rapid response to our external audiences, and provide supporters with a giving mechanism so they could play their part. In partnership with faculties, research services, and communications teams, the Office of the Vice-Provost (Advancement) launched a multi-strand COVID-19 fundraising programme with the Coronavirus Response Fund at its heart. 

Supporters showed absolute confidence in our response. They gave more than £500,000 to the unrestricted fund, opening the door to other donor conversations that would result in more than £3.8 million to support UCL’s targeted COVID-19 research activity. 1,000 new donors joined us in the period from March to September 2020. 

Donations enabled us to mobilise around three areas:

-- Virus sequencing and vaccine development 

-- Monitoring and surveillance of the virus, its progression, and its impact 

-- Managing the unprecedented challenges to society

While other institutions followed suit, UCL’s comprehensive early response enabled us to lead one of the most successful COVID-19 initiatives in the country.

From the Judges

We were impressed with the mobilization of community members and fundraising results to help address the consequences and impact of COVID-19 within the UCL community, specifically leveraging philanthropy to help with virus sequencing and vaccine development, and monitoring and surveillance of the virus, its progression, and its impact.