Anniversary Giving
An idea pioneered in Trinity Hall by Peter Hill, the year rep for 1958, was for year groups coming back for their 50th anniversary to donate collectively to support an initiative within College.
This began as the ’58:08 fund’: the class of 1958 collectively donating to support the students starting in 2008 throughout their time at College. Over £20,000 was raised to provide funds to support hardship grants for those facing unexpected financial difficulty and funds to help with travel for those undertaking research or attending conferences relevant to their studies. The fund also enabled the College to provide book tokens to that year group to help with their academic work.
Different year groups have donated to support initiatives that have meant something to them. 1959 chose to add to the Graham Storey Fund for humanities and raised £79,000.; 1960 supported the class of 2010; 1961 supported the refurbishment of a staircase and more recently members of 1966 donated to be able to buy the 2016 freshers a book token.
“I, and many of my friends, could not believe the kindness and generosity of the year group to not only give each of us a gift but a substantially expensive and useful one at that. None of us felt as though we deserved this at so early a stage in our degrees but I can say for myself that already it has helped lessen the mental burden of spending so much on study materials within my tight budget. I by no means take the present for granted and did not expect anything of the sort, so am incredibly thankful to all who donated and organised it, and hope that they thoroughly enjoyed their 50th year anniversary celebrations!”
Sophia (2016)
Year group giving is an effective way to collectively make a difference to the Trinity Hall community. Encouraging everyone to participate in whatever way they can, is our aim to ensure we can continue to support the College and our students.
Knowing that we had a whole cohort of Trinity Hall alumni 50 years our senior supporting us through our education was an incredible feeling. From surprise book vouchers in our pigeonholes to sponsorship to study in places as far-flung as Ukraine, Jordan and Nepal, the support from the 58:08 fund was noticed and appreciated by everyone. We’re looking forward to setting up our own 08:58 fund in a few decades’ time!
Madeleine Fresko (2008)
We are grateful for the springboard given to us by Trinity Hall and that is why we have made our gift, to say thank you and help you [the class of 2008] in your great leap forward.
Peter Hill (1958)
