Thank you from our 2022 Telephone Campaign callers

A HUGE thank you to everyone who donated to our 2022 Telephone Fundraising Campaign, helping to make it a resounding success. Together we raised an incredible £102,056! Thank you so much to the 390 of you who picked up the phone. Matthew Cresswell (2021) and Tami Olorunfemi (2020) tell us more about their experiences of working on this year's campaign.

Matthew Cresswell (2021)

Hello to all the donors reading this! My name is Matthew and it was a true delight to be a caller in Pembroke’s Telephone Fundraising Campaign this year.

Thanks to your generosity, this year’s fundraising efforts were incredibly successful: over £100,000 was raised across a two-week period, which is overwhelming. With funding allocations for college societies and various student support initiatives having been announced in the last few weeks, I certainly feel lucky to have been privy to the process, and witness to the kindness, which makes schemes like these possible.

As I’m sure came across in our calls, we really did enjoy talking to you! There were some particularly humorous standout moments in this campaign, including multiple separate instances where we phoned people who were, by complete coincidence, actually walking around Pembroke at the time (we welcomed them inside for an in-person chat, of course!).

The atmosphere in the calling room was really upbeat and positive. There were, of course, some challenges to be faced in the campaign: making the first call – to real alumni after two days of role plays and training in groups – was definitely a hurdle to be overcome! Thank you to all the kind donors who definitely put us at ease when we called. 

To everyone I was fortunate enough to speak to: it was such an honour to be granted an insight into your lives. Thank you for taking the time to speak to me, and for sharing your wise advice and fond memories; you might not believe quite how reassuring and fascinating it is to speak to people who’ve been in the exact same position as me! I know all my fellow callers echo these sentiments – I live in the same house as another caller, for instance, and we often spend our evenings reminiscing over just how lovely it was to speak to such friendly, approachable and engaging individuals as yourselves.

I’d like to end with a thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who donated towards the Annual Fund (and the Reunion Bursaries schemes) as part of the telephone campaign this year – whether it was your first time giving, or you’ve been donating for decades! The money really does get put to good use, especially in challenging and uncertain economic times such as these, and the empathy, warmth, generosity and humanity evidenced by your conversations and donations were nothing short of staggering. Thank you.

Tami Olorunfemi (2020)

Hi! My name is Tami and I was a caller in this year's Telephone Fundraising Campaign at Pembroke College.

I first wanted to say a massive thank you to all of the alumni who I had the pleasure of talking to this year. From fun anecdotes about your time at Pembroke to incredibly helpful life advice (which is always welcomed as a third-year student!), I greatly enjoyed the conversations. I feel confident in speaking for the rest of the callers when I say that the conversations were what we all most looked forward to and we will carry golden nuggets from them for many more years. This was my second stint as a caller and I still smile when I think back to certain conversations from my first time. 

I would also like to say thank you to all of the alumni who donated. It was a privilege to be able to help the college in this aspect of its fundraising and I know several friends who have personally benefitted from the schemes that this money goes towards. 

I hope you enjoyed the conversations as much as we did and thank you once again for contributing towards our Pembroke community.