the annual fund was launched in april 2006 with the aim of meeting magdalene’s everyday needs through the regular support of its members. 

the endowment campaign (the aim of which is to underpin the college's general finances and thereby guarantee its financial independence) continues undiminished, but the annual fund has a different and complementary purpose: to increase the number of members giving small sums regularly in order to produce a reliable income stream for immediate use. such a fund will reduce significantly the strain on the college’s endowment.

the college needs about £1,800,000 pa to meet the everyday costs of educating its students.  This has traditionally been met through the college fee paid on behalf of each junior member by government and by the graduate funding bodies.  however the value of the college fee is decreasing and, if the college is to continue to provide the best education for its junior member, it needs to find other ways of meeting its costs.  income from endowment currently bridges the £600,000 shortfall between the costs of education and the fees the college receives to meet them, but magdalene would be in more robust health as well as more independent if it could pay its own way through other means. 

if half the membership agreed to give, for example, just £16 per month the college could receive, with gift aid added, some £700,000 pa; enough to cover the shortfall between fee income and costs of educating magdalene students.