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The Advancement team is led by the Vice-President (Advancement) and comprises six areas of work: Alumni Relations, Campaign & Supporter Engagement, Development, and Strategy & Operations.

UCL Advancement

UCL Advancement is responsible for managing our relationships with our supporters, donors and alumni community, for the benefit of the university and our students. In 2020 we closed the ‘It’s All Academic Campaign for UCL’, which raised more than £624m.

We have huge ambitions for the next phase of UCL’s Advancement journey.

Vice-President (Advancement)

UCL Vice-President (Advancement) Angharad Milenkovic


Having joined UCL in 2009, Angharad Milenkovic was appointed as Vice-President (Advancement) in October 2021.

Find out more

Alumni Relations

The Alumni Relations Team work to build and sustain a strong, lifelong relationship between the university and its global community of over 250,000 former students.

The team plays a key role in encouraging alumni and supporters to give time and money in support of UCL’s life-changing work and has won a number of Advancement awards for their work. In particular, the team works in close partnership with Faculties and Schools to help support alumni engagement efforts, thereby ensuring alumni are able to maintain a connection to their particular school or department of study.

Notable engagement programmes include a comprehensive volunteering and advocacy programme, a professional development series, ‘UCL Connect’ and extensive programming for international alumni communities from Beijing to Athens to New York.

Campaign & Supporter Engagement

The Supporter Communications team supports the amplification of UCL’s fundraising efforts and alumni community through targeted communication. Our overarching mission is to tell the story of philanthropy at UCL. But we also work to foster public understanding of the work of the Advancement office – including the work of UCL’s fundraising and public engagement campaign and the alumni community. Our activities cross a range of marketing and communication efforts including brand and visual identity, digital marketing, editorial, graphic design, social media, video and audio, and websites.

The Donor Relations team seeks to develop, sustain and nurture lifelong relationships between UCL and all its donors – before, during and after their gift. We work closely with academic and clinical colleagues across the university to produce compelling and bespoke proposals and communications for donors and prospective donors, build dynamic donor visits and events and meaningfully thank and steward every philanthropic gift UCL receives. Everything we do aims to build a sector leading donor experience that acknowledges, recognises and reports on the transformational impact of philanthropy at UCL.

The Events team design and deliver exceptional experiences and events for all of OVPA’s key audiences – donors, prospects, alumni and influencers based in the UK and across the globe. Events vary in scale and complexity but are always engaging with relevant content to support the key priorities and strategic vision of OVPA. Ultimately our events showcase the breadth of expertise at UCL, our philanthropic projects and the impact UCL has, which in turn encourages engagement from new and existing supporters.

The Philanthropy Writing team create bespoke content for key fundraising projects at UCL, engaging a range of prospective supporters in our mission and enabling us to achieve greater impact for students and society.

Development

The Principal Gifts team builds highly strategic relationships with UCL’s most generous global donors including individual philanthropists, family trusts, foundations and corporates. The team seeks to align the ambitions of current and future donors with UCL’s senior academic and clinical community in order to strengthen and transform UCL through philanthropy at the multi-million pound level. Our approach is forward-thinking and collaborative. We make connections and build sustainable relationships with individuals and organisations who will be a part of UCL for the long-term, supporting the University to solve global challenges, challenge convention and think differently.

The Major Gifts (Health) team builds meaningful relationships with academic and clinical colleagues, alumni and senior volunteers in order to raise five, six and lower seven figure philanthropic income to support the strategic priorities of UCL. We are specifically focused on the Health campaign priority area; working with individuals, patients and families, foundations and corporates who wish to advance UCL’s world leading medical research and enhance the impact our research has on patients and their treatment.

The Major Gifts (University) team works in partnership with academic colleagues, alumni and senior volunteers in order to raise five, six and lower seven figure philanthropic income to support the strategic priorities of UCL. We are specifically focused on the three campaign priority areas of London, Disruptive Thinking and Students. We work to ensure the university continues to thrive as one of the world’s most exhilarating learning and research environments by securing philanthropic gifts which add excellence to our core activities and support our students, academic posts and programmes and infrastructure.

Strategy & Operations

The Alumni and Supporter Care team is the first point of contact for OVPA, dealing with enquiries by phone, email and in person. The team provides stewardship for Alumni, Donors, and provides support for teams across UCL. We also process and disburse all OVPA income, and can provide support with receiving donations, claiming Gift Aid, and setting up donation pages.

The Donation Services team plays a central role in supporting fundraising at UCL. In addition to providing support to the OVPA fundraising team, we can help you with advice on ways a donor can give, including tax-efficient giving options, as well as help preparing gift agreements. The team also manage all legacy gifts on behalf of UCL, liaising with executors to ensure the gift value is maximised and that it reaches its intended destination.

The People team in OVPA attract, develop and retain outstanding talent to deliver UCL’s ambitious targets for philanthropy and alumni engagement.

Advancement’s greatest strength is its people and the People team focuses on enabling our colleagues to perform to their full potential, supporting an environment where people feel valued and inspired. We’re committed to the inclusivity and wellbeing of our people, and their career development.

The Planning & Performance team is responsible for overseeing OVPA’s planning cycle, financial and information management and performance measures to aid decision making, inform strategy and support OVPA surpassing its Campaign goals. We coordinate and lead on reporting, internal planning, budgeting and forecasting, performance management and data visualisation.

The Prospect Development team is an integral element of OVPA, driving Strategic Philanthropy to deliver on financial targets and Alumni Relations to deliver on engagement targets through proactive and responsive work around four key streams:

  • identification of opportunities
  • knowledge management and research into supporters, volunteers, alumni and prospects
  • prospect management and engagement strategies
  • due diligence and gift acceptance.

The team has seven members who are all specialists in specific areas of prospect development activity including fundraising, alumni relations, prospect identification and our prospect management systems.

The Supporter Systems & Data team ensures that our CRM system, MySupporters, is at the heart of all of our engagement and stewardship activities, enabling staff to do their best work. We lead on system configuration and governance, training and support, reporting and data quality. 

We ensure that Alumni and Supporters can interact with our systems in a user friendly manner, and that data and processes are robust and meet relevant legislation.