Important Update – Introduction of Donation administration charge from October 1, 2025

Zug, September 2025

Dear Donors

All donations received by a charity these days involve banking, administrative, operational and compliance costs. We work hard to keep these costs at a minimum, but they are unavoidable. Accordingly, after consulting with the University, we are writing to inform you of an important update regarding the administration of donations to Oxford through SFOU, effective October 1, 2025.

To ensure the continued sustainability and transparency of our operations, SFOU will introduce a modest administrative charge on all incoming donations. This is standard practice for charities; the charge will be as follows:

• For donations up to CHF 250,000, 2% with a minimum of CHF 10
• for donations above CHF 250,000 to CHF 500,000, 1.5%

Donations (one or a sequence of donations) above CHF 500,000 will be subject to a special rate depending on the amount.

The administrative charge will be deducted from the donation before being paid on to the recipient in Oxford. However, the donor can also choose to pay the administrative charge in addition to the donation such that the entire intended donation goes to the recipient in Oxford.

We remain deeply committed to maximizing the impact of your generosity. These charges have been carefully designed to ensure that the vast majority of your contributions continue to directly support the University of Oxford, its colleges and departments or SFOU scholarships for Swiss-based students. Moreover, you will see below a QR code which will make it as easy as possible for you to make donations without using credit cards, helping to keep costs down for the Association and for you.

It continues to be the case that a donor is not required to join the Association as a condition of making any donation (although we would encourage you to do so if you are not already a member), but a donor making donations of CHF 1,000 or more through SFOU is entitled to complimentary membership for the following year  without any additional cost.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss how this may affect your giving plans, please do contact us at info@oxfordfriends.ch.

Thank you for your continued trust and support.

Howard Rosen
President