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A gift for the future: How legacy pledges are supporting the next generation of Sussex students
By: Daniel Weismayr
Last updated: Tuesday, 10 January 2023
Saradha Krishnamoorthy speaking to legacy pledgers at the Helena Normanton Society event
Sussex alumnus Laurence Benson
Saradha Krishnamoorthy, a recipient of the Margaret Sharp scholarship, spoke to legacy pledgers and those considering making a legacy gift at the Helena Normanton Society event in April 2022. She related how the Covid pandemic had brought about a severe health crisis for her family, which led to her parents' retirement funds dwindling due to paying medical expenses.
Saradha said: “If I didn’t get a scholarship, I would have had to use the remaining funds of my retired parents’ pension savings and more loans on top. It was only through a scholarship that I was able to pursue my dreams and study at Sussex”.
In January 2023, Saradha will graduate with a Masters in Sustainable Development from the University of Sussex Business School.
Legacy gifts enable the University to invest in its world-leading research, to fund scholarships and support students. For many alumni, a legacy gift is their way of giving back to Sussex, recognising the important role that Sussex played in their lives.
One such legacy pledger is Laurence Benson, who graduated from Sussex in 1982 with a BSc in Biochemistry. He too has pledged a legacy gift to Sussex in his Will.
Laurence says: “As a single man, I have thought carefully about what happens to my money when I die. Most of my money is in my home and my pension. A recent stroke made me more alert of the need to plan. Will-making is deeply personal, and for me it was a time to take stock of what had been the critical decisions and influences in my life.
“I see Sussex as having opened the pathway to my success in life, building bridges across differences between arts and science, research and learning. Sussex equipped me with the values to challenge to make a difference. I believe that Sussex still equips students with those values, and Sussex students and researchers will change the world for the better. Leaving a legacy to Sussex is my way of paying back and helping future students to benefit”.
Thank you
Thank you to all those alumni who have included a gift for Sussex in their Will. Your foresight and kindness is immeasurable, and your generosity (when the time comes) will provide a brighter future for Sussex, supporting our research and students in creating a better world for all. Thank you.
If you would like an informal conversation about how a gift in your Will could support Sussex in the future, please contact robert.yates@sussex.ac.uk.
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Helena Normanton QC was the first person to pledge a gift in her will to the University of Sussex. She passed away in 1957 and left the capital of her trust to help found the University. Helena Normanton was inspired by a scholarship she received as a young woman to what is now Varndean College in Brighton. Having lost both her parents at a young age and needing to provide for her younger sister, education provided a way out of poverty. She became one of the most radical and forward-thinking lawyers of the 20th century: the first woman to practise at the Bar in England, the first woman to lead the prosecution in a murder trial, and the first woman to conduct a trial in America.
The next Helena Normanton Society event will be hosted on Tuesday 18 April 2023. If you would like to attend as well as hear more about how your legacy gift could support Sussex, please email robert.yates@sussex.ac.uk.