The Annual Fund

THE ANNUAL FUND by Heather Weightman

The Somerville Annual Fund always plays a vital role in helping College address its immediate funding needs – but this year it did more than ever, supporting our entire community as we navigated the challenges of Covid-19.

The year began happily enough, in a hubbub of conversation as our student callers caught up with alumni and friends about what they had been doing since graduation. Through such conversations, our annual Telethon raised more than £263,000 in cash and pledges, inclusive of a generous Matched Fund worth c.£50,000.

Then, just before lockdown, we launched a crowdfunding appeal to support our new Somerville Sanctuary Scholarship. Honouring Somerville’s promise to include fully-funded scholarships to young people who have the potential to excel at Oxford yet have been forced to migrate from their home country or live in a dangerously unstable political climate.

The campaign raised over £12,000 from 44 donors, inclusive of a matched Funding from alumna Libby Ancrum (PPE, 1978) and her husband David Skinner. Of their donation, Libby and David said, “We were delighted to have this opportunity to support education at the highest level for individuals from a refugee background, particularly following our recent work in Bangladesh,

the excluded, this project will offer where David served as Team Leader for Save the Children’s Rohingya response and we sought to protect the right to education for refugee children.”

The appeal was paused in March due to Covid-19, but the amazing generosity of several more friends enabled us to close the funding gap and fund five years of living costs. As a result, our first Sanctuary Scholarship student, Marwa Biala (2020, Radiation Biology), joins us this year – you can read her story on p16.

Yet it was after College closed its doors in March that the Annual Fund showed its true potential. Directed towards the area of greatest need, it provided support to students facing hardship, financed essential IT equipment to ensure equality of online learning and accommodated 50 students who could not return home throughout Trinity and in some cases the entire summer.

The support of our donors made this possible. Now, inspired by your example, we have established a dedicated Covid Hardship Fund to support members of College impacted by the pandemic. As ever, your belief that all students should be able to make the most of their time at Somerville lights the way.

Achievements supported by the Annual Fund last year:

Conserving and improving buildings Buying essential technology for remote learning

Supporting 50 students who couldn’t go home during lockdown