From the Development Director

Matthew Moss MVO, Director of External Relations and Development

What distinguishes an institution from a community? It was an easy question to answer this year, because Homerton-as-a-community has been on daily display.

As everywhere, the pandemic has had some effects that are the same for everyone (every current student, Fellow and staff member sorely misses the camaraderie of lunch in the Great Hall, for example) – but in other aspects, Homertonians have been affected very differently. Some report feeling more connected than ever, since it has become natural to use video calls to meet colleagues and friends regardless of distance. Others have felt totally cut off from support.

A strong community connects all its members, and the Development Office team set about providing that connection to Homertonians in new ways and with a new sense of mission.

Communications Our External Communications Manager, Laura Kenworthy, found that social media in particular gained in importance during the pandemic. She uses Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep alumni, staff and students connected to Homerton, and found a great appetite from alumni to learn about how the College was responding to the challenge.

As a forum to share our concern and support for students, to update the community on how we were responding to the challenges of self-isolation, and to celebrate news of the extraordinary work of Homerton researchers, social media allows for an immediacy and an intimacy which filled a real need.

“Social media has enabled us to connect, casually and regularly, with the College community as a whole,” says Laura. “At a time when everyone has been scattered and isolated, it has allowed alumni, however long ago they left, to be in regular contact with the College and to know that they are part of a wider network.”

Over the Spring, realising that the intellectual life of the Homerton community could continue and reach new audiences despite being scattered, we devised the Homersphere (www. homersphere.org), an online magazine carrying articles from Homerton researchers, senior and junior, on topics that take their fancy. The result has been a delightful variety: everything from the stories behind Fitzwilliam Museum artworks, to the conservation of rhinos, via cricket and plumbing and David Foster Wallace. Ease of encountering ideas from other disciplines is the defining feature of a Cambridge College, and we are proud that, necessity being the mother of invention, Homerton now has this terrific new forum to share ideas. Do have a look.

Alumni Relations Also in the front line was our new Alumni Relations Manager, Sally Nott. Sally joined Homerton a matter of weeks before the first lockdown in March (there are still many colleagues she has not seen outside a square box on her computer monitor!). We were very conscious that not every one of our alumni used social media, and that this was the group most likely to be feeling isolated – not just from Homerton, but from everything else. Using our database, she quickly began calling our alumni aged over 70, with no email address listed. By the end of the first lockdown she had had 190 conversations with alumni – not only a sign to our alumni that

Homerton was thinking of them, but a brilliant way for Sally, newly in post, to get a crash course in the College and its recent history.

“Without exception everyone I spoke was deeply touched that Homerton was thinking of them at such a difficult time and felt uplifted to have received a call,” she says. “It was a joy to speak to so many of our alumni and to get a sense of the great warmth and affection which they all feel for the College.”

Sally has also launched an online series of seminars and talks, providing the opportunity for alumni to engage with multiple aspects of College life, from wherever they may be.

Fundraising Just as we want to help our alumni, our alumni want to help our students.

Christopher Hallebro, Deputy Director and the ‘head gardener’ of our annual fund, was bowled a googly when the planned first day of the annual telethon at Easter turned out to be the day that all Cambridge students had to return home. The telethon was duly wrapped up before it had started, and knocked back to the end of the year.

Students’ need for financial help, on the other hand, spiked. Overseas students had to book immediate flights; some had to quarantine in

hotels; and the ‘level playing field’ of our student rooms at Homerton was replaced by the hugely varying conditions that students encountered while learning from home. ‘Study at home’ was barely feasible for students with elderly computers, poor network connection, no private space to study, and rowdy young siblings. Alumni contributed magnificently to our Covid-19 Emergency Fund, turning a handsome lead donation of £20,000 from Siobhan Cassidy and her husband Adrian into a fund of some £40,000 to address immediate need. Thank you, sincerely, to all those who were able to help. And in our telethon, when it finally happened in December 2020/January 2021, alumni gave more generously than ever before. In the most exceptional circumstances – with students mainly calling from home, and knowing that they were calling alumni who had been thumped by Covid-19 just like everyone else – the community of alumni stepped up magnificently to support current and future students. “We can’t thank our alumni enough for the support they’ve shown over this telephone campaign,” says Christopher. “It will make such a difference, just when it is needed the most - and almost as importantly, the student callers had a great time talking to you all!” This year more than ever, the point is made: we don’t fundraise for the sake of having money, but for the good that we can do with the flexibility that donations provide. The Principal says to every new student “you are a Homertonian for life”. 2020 has shown the power of that simple idea, and the Homerton community is stronger Development Director Matthew Moss and Deputy Development Director than ever before n Christopher Hallebro at the Donor Reception, October 2019