There’s been a lot of talk recently about university funding cuts and the implications for students, jobs, and the future of higher education in the United Kingdom. Cambridge University has begun employing a quasi-American model to fix this problem – donors… lots and lots of donors.
In 2005 (in an act of prescience, no doubt) Cambridge University began their largescale fundraising drive, calling upon alumni and friends to donate to keeping the institution a, ‘world leader in teaching and research’. And my has it paid off.
Since the beginning of the campaign (which marks Cambridge’s 800th anniversary), the university has raised over £1bn and is the first institution outside of the United States to have done so. More than 45,000 alumni have contributed to raising the funds, with many making regular financial gifts.
But there are other factors to consider. While commercialisation and gifts can help to pull universities out of some inevitable funding problems, Cambridge attracts a lot of international attention and high-earning alumni. They also distinctly outspend other organisations. From what we can tell from their recent Annual Reports, this level of funding is equal to the net expenditure for the organisation for just one year… and it took 5 years to obtain!
While there are merits to fundraising in this way, it is safe to say this won’t wash across the board.
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