Why we need your gift

Legacies provide the foundation stones of a secure future for Clare. The College has been supported by legacies since its establishment.

Samuel Blythe, who entered Clare as an undergraduate in 1652, was elected to the Fellowship in 1658 and served as Master from 1678 to 1713, was perhaps the College's most generous benefactor after Elizabeth de Clare herself. He is remembered principally for his bequest of £6,000 in 1713 for ‘the purchase of perpetuall Advowsons and Livings…'. Today, the Blythe fund represents a significant proportion of Clare's total endowment.

More recently, in 2007 the College received more than £120,000 in legacy gifts.  These funds have been put to immediate use to support current Clare students through boosting funds for teaching and the maintenance and enhancement of facilities.

In the future, too, legacies will be crucially important in helping the College to remain a centre of excellence in education and research, providing individual teaching and pastoral support.

Not only do legacies help to sustain all those aspects of College that are most valuable, but recent research by Smee and Ford has also shown that people who leave a charitable legacy in their will live three years longer on average than those who don't!