Universities net £18m as income from gifts soars

University income from philanthropic gifts in Yorkshire increased by 60 per cent to £18.5m in 201/11 while the number of donors reached an all-time high of 11,256 – an increase of 25 per cent on the previous year.

The figures come from the annual Ross-CASE Survey, the only comprehensive source of information on higher education philanthropic income in the UK.

The £18.5m figure includes donations to Bradford, Huddersfield, Hull, Leeds, Leeds Metropolitan, Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam, York and York St John universities along with Askham Bryan College near York, Leeds College of Art, Leeds College of Music and Leeds City College.

This year a match funding donor scheme for higher education, which was launched in 2008, has come to an end and students will face higher tuition fees which could take them up to 30 years to pay off as graduates.

Fundraisers at Yorkshire’s biggest university are confident, however, that donations from alumni will continue to grow.

The Footsteps Fund uses alumni donations to support around 50 students a year with scholarships for Leeds University students.

Fund manager Adrian Salmon said the Government’s match-funded donation scheme – which meant a £30 donation resulted in the university getting £50 – had been a “significant selling-point” when contacting graduates.

He said: “For each three pounds which people donated we were able to claim an extra pound in matched funding and an extra pound in Gift Aid.

“It gave a powerful message to donors that every £3 of their gift was worth £5 to the university.

“In the three years before the match funding scheme our alumni donations were £600,000. In the three years it was run it has increased to £1.2m

“However I don’t expect it to drop back down because it has helped us to really build a base of support.”

The Footsteps Fund has received more than £2m since it was launched in 2004 and has attracted gifts from around 8,000 Leeds University alumni.

Mr Salmon said they had received support from graduates from as recent as five or six years ago as well as those who were students at the university during the 1940s, 50s and 60s.

He said: “We had a look at the figures and the most generous year was actually people who graduated in 2005.”

The Footsteps Fund is used to provides different types of funding support to current students.

It runs a Centenary Alumni Scholarship, launched in 2004 to mark 100 years since the university was formed, which is awarded to straight A A-level students from deprived backgrounds.

There is also a research and leadership scholarship which aims to provide funding to support academically able students to carry out their own research while doing a degree.

This was originally started with funding provided by the late Sir Jimmy Savile aimed at medical students.

It subsequently proved so successful it has been rolled out across the university with the backing of donations made through the Footsteps Fund .

Mr Salmon said he hoped university scholarships would help bridge the cost of living for students to ensure they did not need to work up to 25 hours a week to make ends meet.

He said: “We want to be able to give them that time back to focus on their studies because that extra work could be the difference between a 2:2 and a 2:1 or a 2:1 and a first and at the end of the day this is what young people come to university to achieve. To get a good qualification.”

Mr Salmon believes that graduates’ positive experience of being a student in the city is one of the major factors behind people wanting to donate.

The Footsteps Fund employs a team of students who work in a call centre in the evenings contacting alumni.

Nationally those universities taking part in the matched funding scheme saw a sharp increase in the gifts they received.

The average income raised from philanthropy, per university, in the three years before the scheme began, was £223,000, but during the scheme it had risen to £608,000. Nationally, these universities saw an increase of 40,000 donors over the same period.

At the same time, the amount spent by universities on fund raising continued to fall, relative to the amount received. On average, universities now spend around 22p in fund raising for every £1 that they receive in gifts, a figure which is broadly in line with other UK charities.

Kate Hunter, executive director of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Europe, said: “This report tells a positive story about the culture shift toward philanthropy in universities.

“It’s fantastic to see an increase in cash income over the past year and a growing number of former students and other donors getting involved.

“But we are concerned that after years of hard work to grow a genuine culture of giving to higher education, the plans announced in the Budget to introduce a new cap on income tax relief could be a disincentive to some donors. We feel this sends entirely the wrong message to donors about the need for and value of their gifts to the sector.”