At its worst, giving days, telethons and other mass giving movements can feel a bit like flat-pack fundraising. Insert screw a into slot b and hey-presto you have a giving day.
This very much neglects why you are doing it in the first place – to help young people access the best possible education at your institution. That might be bursaries, that might be facilities. In each institution’s case, the case for support will be subtly
So it is with great care that we have selected the following projects
Bursaries
Wellbeing
Music
Art and Design
Sport
Rowing
And of course
Where the need is greatest
Now, this may seem like a lot, and in a way it is. There is huge clarity to be had by picking one, say bursaries, and sticking with it – particularly in highly selective schools, where the number of bursaries and the number of applicants are highly mismatched. Durham is non-selective and while it has a long tradition of offering bursaries, it is not the only need we have. Our music, art, rowing etc all rely on the support of our school community not to happen, but to have that additional edge.
So how did we come to these? Well, after my train journey mentioned previously, I took my list to the Head, at my weekly meeting, then we played about with a couple of ideas, and then we took a recommendation to the Governors Development Committee.
They were broadly supportive of the list of priorities, most of which were already identified in our campaign plan. Then, where necessary I started to work with the Heads of Department and team leaders of these projects on creating or revising the case for support. Further discussion in the office helped boil these ideas down to the 100-250 words or so we would use on Giving Day.
I should say my office is right next to the Heads, we share a coffee machine, which is important because it means I have good access to him to talk about Development. Again, this is a privilege I have not had in previous roles, and something I am grateful for. I am also less noisy than the previous occupants of the office, which very much helps!