Library campaign boosted by substantial gifts

24 July 2023

We are thrilled to announce that Hertford has received two generous gifts in support of our project to transform the college library. Thanks to these gifts and that of many other alumni and friends of the college, we are now halfway to our target.

We are grateful to May and Fouad Makhzoumi for their pledge of £500,000. We also thank the Wolfson Foundation, which has awarded a grant of £250,000.

The Hertford College library is at the heart of the student experience. This ambitious project will double the number of study spaces and increase capacity for our modern and special collections. Among many benefits, the project includes a lift that will make Hertford’s OB Quad wheelchair accessible for the first time in our history. The design will also incorporate sustainability and biodiversity measures, contributing to our goal to dramatically reduce the college’s carbon footprint.

May Makhzoumi is a pharmacist and the President of Makhzoumi Foundation in Lebanon. She is also a member of the boards of other NGOs and business entities. She has received many awards, and participated as a speaker in many conferences worldwide. Fouad, a chemical engineer, is a global industrialist. He is also a philanthropist and a politician. He sits on international boards, centres and institutes. He has earned many awards and is a commander of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy and of the Kingdom of Spain.

The Wolfson Foundation is an independent charity, which supports and promotes excellence in education, science & medicine, heritage, humanities & the arts, and health & disability. Since 1955, the Wolfson Foundation has awarded over £1 billion (£2 billion in real terms) to projects across the UK.

We would like to express our gratitude to the Wolfson Foundation and to May and Fouad Makhzoumi for their extraordinary support.

For more information about the library campaign, or to make a donation, please click here.