The second Scholar Calling programme, in which current Rhodes Scholars in Oxford telephone senior Scholars in the two weeks at the end of Michaelmas term, came to a successful conclusion on 13 December. After last year’s pilot when calls were made to Scholars living in the US, Canada and the UK, this year’s Scholar Calling circled the globe. Scholars in 50 countries around the world, from Antigua to Zambia, were called.
Over three hundred conversations happened between current scholars and their senior scholar predecessors. Feedback from both sides has been very positive with dialogue continuing among scholars with mutual interests.
“One of the aims of Scholar Calling is to facilitate intergenerational dialogue among Scholars. I have been delighted with the new connections which have been kindled during the course of two weeks of calling,” said David Mungall, Deputy Director of Development.
During the course of Scholar Calling many senior scholars also gave generously to the campaign. Nearly £100,000 was raised from over 200 donors. Over 100 were first time donors to the campaign, a great boost to achieving one of this year’s fundraising goals – to reach the point were 50% of all Scholars have made at least one gift to the campaign.
“Every Scholar who received the advance email about Scholar Calling was called, though not everyone was available when we called. If you were looking forward to a call then please let me know and one will be scheduled for 2016,” added David.