Philanthropy, community and social mobility

and no clear evidence of what works and what doesn’t. It could easily have flopped, and few fails are as painfully public as throwing a fundraising party and having no one show up.

We spent months explaining to everyone in the schools, from senior leadership to junior students, what we were planning to do and asking for their help in putting it together.

This was the fun bit. We wanted to cause as little disruption as possible to the school day, so we pegged our main giving day activity to the Habs Dash, a popular 3.5 kilometre run around campus for students and staff that is held every Tuesday lunchtime during term time. We set challenges for the runners that, if achieved, would unlock additional funds pledged by donors.

We also asked prefects at each school if they had a special project they would like us to raise money for, fully expecting them to suggest something like a coffee machine for the common room.

Instead, they suggested a travel fund for bursary students. They knew that students on full bursaries received support for academic trips, but their families often could not afford the fun, optional trips available to those from better-off families. They did not want any of their schoolmates to be left out. And that is the cause they run to support on Habs Giving Day each year.

We have held two Habs Giving Days so far, the most recent in March. On a typical Tuesday, a Habs Dash attracts 150-200 runners. This year’s Habs Giving Dash drew 1,529. That included 300 parents who showed up on a freezing morning to run alongside their children. Together, those two days have raised enough money to fund 13 full bursaries, and we now have a permanent, growing travel fund that is allowing more and more excited young people to join special trips.

Two memorable gifts from this year’s giving day illustrate the progress we are making in bringing our disparate communities together for something more important than which side of the wall we’re from.

The first was from a former boys’ school parent, with no current ties to the school. She made a gift of £30,000 so more students could have the opportunities her son enjoyed. The other was for £10, from a Girls’ school alumna. We noticed it came from a care home, so we looked her up: she is a member of the Class of 1938. She turns 104 this December. ●

BILL FRIAR is Director of Development at Haberdashers’ Elstree Schools.