The Adventure of Giving

The last academic year has proven to be the most successful for fundraising in the history of Lord Wandsworth College. Director of Philanthropy & Alumni Relations, Sam Corfield, reflects on how LWC’s inherent culture of adventure has inspired the giving.

 

Philanthropy often begins with an appeal. A campaign. Maybe a carefully crafted email.

 

But as I’ve reflected upon the last academic year at Lord Wandsworth College, I’ve realised that giving begins somewhere else entirely. It starts with belonging.

 

When people feel part of something bigger than themselves, there are no limits to what they can go on to achieve. Giving becomes more than a transaction. It becomes an expression of who they are, their aspirations, what they value and the community they’re keen to be a part of.

 

When people feel part of something, then the adventure can begin.

 

Over the last few years at LWC, we’ve watched our parent, staff and alumni community come together to cross the shimmering Sahara Desert, navigate the gorges and geysers of Iceland and summit the rugged beauty of Yorkshire’s Three Peaks.

 

Thousands have run or walked through our 1200-acre campus during The Beckwith, attempted to cover 100km in a single day as part of our annual Stern Challenge, or they’ve taken on more deeply personal challenges. Next week, three members of the LWC community will be separately traversing the length of Britain on a combination of two feet or two wheels. All will experience the adventure of a lifetime, driven, in part, by the experience of raising money for a cause that they care about, such as the Lord Wandsworth Foundation. 

 

But the fundraising isn’t the most significant outcome; The real success is the culture that has emerged around this.

 

We didn’t set out to create a new fundraising model at Lord Wandsworth College. We were simply creating opportunities for people to share experiences at a school that had adventure at its heart. What has since emerged is Adventure in Philanthropy.

     

Increasingly, people aren’t choosing to only support our Foundation through donations; they hope to experience the act of supporting it. They want to invest emotionally, physically and collectively, along with financially. They want to challenge themselves as part of this journey, creating stories, friendships and memories that become inseparable from the purpose they’re supporting.

 

What’s created is a philanthropic experience that’s deeply authentic to LWC; In feeling a sense of belonging, our supporters feel comfortable to push themselves and their ambitions.

 

Our mission as a College is to Widen Worlds. We were founded in 1922 to provide an education for children who had lost one or both parents. These were young people who had seen their lives contract in the blink of an eye and needed the promise of broader horizons to look out to in the future.

 

Since then, and guided by what we call our LWC Waymarkers, our young people have been encouraged to navigate life with character, compassion, imagination, adventure, connection and in the pursuit of leaving a legacy for future generations.

 

Why should the experience of philanthropy be any different?

 

The generosity of our community and beyond has emerged through challenge, shared endeavour and a belief that some of life’s most meaningful moments happen beyond the edge of our comfort zones.

 

We’ve discovered that Adventure in Philanthropy instigates real and meaningful change. It not only transforms the lives of those who benefit from the giving, but also of those setting out to make that difference. Confidence is boosted. Perspectives are widened. Empathy is super-charged.

 

For one person, adventure is completing a 5k without stopping. For another, it’s running the length of Britain. The context is almost incidental. What matters most is the sense of challenge and the promise of changing lives in every conceivable way.

 

For those of us working in schools, an added joy is watching the domino effect. Students witness parents training together, staff and governors embracing ambitious challenges and alumni returning to support. Generosity is no longer an abstract concept. It becomes something visible. Something active. Something lived.

 

The adventure may belong to today’s community, but the impact belongs to tomorrow’s.