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Find out about the University of Bath telethon

By answering the phone to our team of student callers, you can help us raise vital funds, provide useful career insights and share your experiences of Bath.

A group of students smiling to camera standing outside in front of a lake
For each telethon, a team of student callers come together to engage with our alumni community.

The Advancement Office runs annual telephone fundraising campaigns – known as telethons – that are an extremely valuable part of the University of Bath’s fundraising and engagement activity.

The purpose of a telethon

During our telethons, all-student calling teams conduct hundreds of conversations with alumni, not only to raise essential funds for the University but to gain insights into potential career paths and generally share experiences of studying at Bath.

"I thought she was excellent, like all the Bath students I’ve received calls from in the past. Confident, polite, enthusiastic and a good listener. Really thoughtful and engaged on the call and it was a very good conversation. I’m sure she will go on to have a successful career in her chosen field. These calls are an important job, good experience and she is effectively a very good ambassador for the University." — Mark, alumnus called in summer 2024

The calls also provide a valuable opportunity to update details of our alumni to ensure we can send future correspondence including details about forthcoming events and University updates.

Our fundraising focuses on raising money for the Alumni Fund – our centralised source of invaluable financial support – usually through regular gifts via direct debit or one-off donations.

On average, our telethons secure approximately £150,000 to £170,000 each year to support our scholarships, innovative research, Students' Union clubs and societies, and the student experience. We focus on allocating support wherever the need is greatest.

Upcoming telethon dates

The last telethon took place during autumn 2024 and the dates for the next telethon are yet to be confirmed.

Opting-out of calls

You can opt out at any time by contacting the team via advancement@bath.ac.uk.

We do our best to give you advance notice of the telethon by sending an email approximately two weeks before a campaign starts. This provides the option to confirm the phone number we hold, in order to receive a call, or opt out altogether.

Call times

During a typical three to four week campaign, our students call:

  • on weekday evenings from 6.00pm to 9.00pm

  • Saturdays from 9.45am to 5.00pm

  • Sundays from 1.45pm to 8.00pm.

Training and payment for our student callers

As Bath students, our callers know the University well but receive two full days of training before calling, as well as ongoing training and support during the shifts.

Our callers receive an hourly rate for shifts worked.

Contact details for feedback or further questions

We welcome feedback on our telethons. We’re very proud of our students and the great job they do, but we equally want to know any areas of possible improvements. We will also follow up on any complaints as a matter of urgency.

Please contact John Richardson at advancement@bath.ac.uk with any feedback or concerns.

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