Exceptional Campaign
The London Institute has secured a lead gift of £20m in its drive to raise a £60m endowment. The Exceptional Campaign will propel us into the first rank of physics and mathematics centres globally, and secure our mission to accelerate basic science for generations to come.
Endowment · Many of the greatest centres for knowledge creation have been built upon endowments. In the case of institutes—which unlike universities cannot rely on tuition fees and state support—endowments have been nothing short of transformative. The legacy of the BlackBerry company is the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. The Institute for Advanced Study was brought to life with an endowment of $5m in 1930, which has since grown to nearly $1bn.
Lead gift · The London Institute’s Exceptional Campaign is building a £60m general purpose endowment. The fintech founder and philanthropist Ben Delo has pledged a lead gift of £20m: £10m now and £10m in matched funding. This is one of the biggest donations ever to a UK research centre outside Oxford and Cambridge.
Impact · A general purpose endowment is our path to long-term financial security. At our present size, an endowment of £60m will cover our costs in perpetuity. But its real power lies in what it unlocks. First, it makes our young Institute a stable and permanent home for the world’s best theorists to do their life’s work. Second, it allows us to recruit the critical mass of scientists necessary to cover our four research themes: the elegant universe; life, learning and emergence; mathematics that unifies; and AI-assisted discovery. Third, it empowers us to tackle foundational research directions that governments are no longer willing to support, as they shift away from curiosity-driven research towards incremental, outcome-led advances.
Exceptional · We’re calling our £60m ($78m) fundraising drive the Exceptional Campaign partly for mathematical reasons: it is named after the exceptional Lie group E₆, which is 78-dimensional (shown above). It is also because the London Institute for Mathematical Sciences is itself exceptional. We are a new kind of research organisation that is dedicated to speeding up discovery. Our focus on peak performance, our full-time commitment to research and the level of support we offer our scientists empower them to make the biggest breakthroughs.
Royal Institution · Founded in 2011, the London Institute is young. Yet we are housed in the world's most storied scientific building: the Royal Institution in Mayfair, where we occupy rooms that were once home to Michael Faraday. The organisation, which was created in 1799, lays claim to 15 Nobel prizes as well as the discovery of 10 chemical elements and, thanks to Faraday, the principles of electromagnetism. But as experimental science got too big for the confines of a London townhouse, that tradition of discovery declined. Now we’re adding a new chapter of theoretical discovery to the building’s extraordinary history.
Give · Our endowment is structured such that 10% of contributions is released for current needs, with the remaining 90% invested with the aim of preserving the capital value. We already have £20m pledged towards our £60m target. Now we are on the look-out for visionary philanthropists to join us on this journey. If that’s you, or you would like to know more, please contact Sarah Myers-Cornaby at smc@lims.ac.uk.
Press
Science funding3 Mar
A better way
In The Spectator, our director Thomas Fink launches our £60m endowment campaign, which aims to change how the world does science.
Philanthropy3 Mar
Gift to science
Ben Delo has given the London Institute one of the biggest donations ever to a research centre outside Oxford and Cambridge, says The Times.
Philanthropy3 Mar
Pledge of faith
The entrepreneur Ben Delo has pledged £20m towards the London Institute's £60m endowment campaign, reports the science editor of the FT.
Philanthropy3 Mar
Nobel endeavour
Times Higher Education reports on Ben Delo’s donation to the London Institute's endowment, to support its mission to revolutionise academia.
Philanthropy3 Mar
Protecting science
Ben Delo's £20m pledge to the London Institute aims to counter Britain's inconsistent science funding, reports Research Professional News.
Testimonials
“Britain gains from a diverse network of scientific research institutes. They do not all have to be either in the public sector or in universities. The London Institute for Mathematical Sciences is an excellent example, and this independent funding gives it an important boost.”
—Lord Willetts, former UK Science Minister
“Support for fundamental science empowers innovation and discovery, creating knowledge for the ages and technologies to improve people's lives. Ben Delo’s backing of the London Institute makes a welcome statement about the importance of unfettered research at a critical juncture.”
—Prof. Thomas Rosenbaum, President of Caltech
“The London Institute is a genuinely independent institute for physics and maths. Its home in the Royal Institution affords the possibility of significant communication of difficult ideas to a wide audience. The quality of the work is extremely high and the vision extraordinary.”
—Sir John Beddington, former UK Government Chief Scientific Advisor
“The London Institute has made enormous progress in supporting new ideas and independent thinking in physics and maths. It produces numerous cutting-edge results while tirelessly encouraging diverse groups of young scientists to think and prosper outside established boundaries.”
—Prof. Minhyong Kim, Director of the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences
“I am tremendously optimistic about humanity’s capacity for scientific progress. I am confident that with the backing of this endowment—and other funders who I am hoping will join the cause—the London Institute will be in a position to drive forward its cutting-edge research.”
—Ben Delo, tech founder and philanthropist