Walker helped run a session at last year’s CASE Europe Annual Conference with three fellow former graduate trainees. Titled “Fly on the Wall—Fundraising Meetings You’ll Have in Your First Five Years,” the session drew on what they had learned in their first years in higher education development. 

For Walker, that meant talking about his traineeship at the University of Bristol following undergraduate work as a telephone fundraiser. The CASE program appealed to him because he wanted to build on his interpersonal communication skills to “support projects making a genuine impact in the world, addressing global issues as varied as climate change, social mobility, and health care.”

“The level of mentorship and support offered by the program and the wider CASE network was unparalleled compared to other sectors I had researched and considered,” he says. 

He learned about an opening for a philanthropy manager at University College London through a contact he made at CASE’s Spring Institute in Educational Fundraising. He got the job and has subsequently been promoted to Senior Philanthropy Manager.

“I feel particularly proud of the gifts I’ve secured to support students from disadvantaged backgrounds. I’ve had the privilege of meeting many talented recipients of scholarship gifts I’ve been involved in facilitating. It’s always deeply inspiring to hear their stories, and it gives me great satisfaction to know that I’ve played a role in changing someone’s life for the better,” he says.