Gillian Orrell on making a gift to St Peter's
“I give a small amount each month to St. Peter's and I also contribute to specific appeals that have personal resonance such as the restoration of the chapel organ, which accompanied many hours of entertainment for me as an undergraduate in the chapel choir. However, I have wrestled hard with my decisions to give money to St. Peter's. Why should I give money to an Oxford college while insufficient action is being taken around the world with regard to the environmental issues about which I am passionate, and while the world is full of people far more in need of basic sustenance and support than the average Oxford undergraduate? Wouldn't my charitable donations be better used elsewhere?
I found the answers in my own knowledge and experience of St. Peter's College, of Oxford University and of the wider world. In order to change the whole world for the better, we need knowledge, research, critical faculties, informed debate and - above all - intelligent, well-rounded individuals who have been encouraged to challenge themselves and been given the confidence to step out in the world and challenge others. St. Peter's does this for its students - and for more and more of them, from diverse backgrounds. Moreover, I know that the people who run St. Peter's constantly and efficiently stretch inadequate funds to their limit in order to pay for it all - fresh books in the library, fellows and tutors whose research breaks new ground and who can inspire students to do the same, non-leaking roofs over heads... and all this without an endowment of vineyards across half of France or adequate government funding. Of course I also give to other charities that I hope will have a more direct impact on pollution or severe deprivation. But I know my money is desperately needed and very well used at St. Peter's too.”
- Gillian Orrell, History, 1991