Tuition fees inflate, means-tested government support ends and caught in the middle are exceptional minds without the financial ability to fund their studies at undergraduate, postgraduate and research levels. St John’s College of the University of Cambridge offers a way forward by filling funding gaps for scholars and scholarship through Free Thinking, a groundbreaking campaign seeking to raise £100 million.
The launch event at Soho’s Ham Yard Hotel hosted a specially invited VIP audience of donors and alumni. This was the College’s headline event and best opportunity to achieve immediate impact. The centrepiece of the event was the launch film, a conceptual piece in which beneficiaries tell their stories of how college grants break through barriers to extraordinary futures, drawing the audience directly into the emotional heart of the campaign. After week one the campaign had its first £10 million.