Philanthropy: togETHer
This philanthropy column by Donald Tillman was first published in ETH Zurich’s Globe Magazine in September 2020.
The success of ETH hinges on the endeavours of many researchers and students. Likewise, the ETH Foundation achieves a huge impact by combining many small contributions, as well as larger sums, from donors and partners. When people who share the same goal join forces, great things are made possible.
The campaign we launched in June to promote health research garnered support from many quarters within the first two months, including hundreds of alumni and alumnae. The donations included many two and three-digit contributions and even larger sums. This joint effort will now help drive forward a number of coronavirus-related research projects.
One example is a serological study that will regularly analyse the immune status of several thousand test subjects over the course of a year in order to heighten our understanding of the spread of the infection and the extent of immune protection. In future, each and every donor will be able to look back with pride on the part they played in opening up these insights.