Donations tumble by £150m in double funds blow

New research shows universities across the UK were handed 532m in philanthropic funds and pledges in 2008/09, compared with 675m given a year earlier.

This figure shows the sum of all pledges, future commitments, new cash gifts and gifts in kind.

But while overall goodwill donations have declined, there has been a rise in actual cash income. Universities received 511m in

philanthropic cash in 2008/09, up from 430m the previous year.

There has also been an increase in the numbers of donors. A total of 163,547 people gave to universities in 2008/09, a 12 per cent increase on 2007/08 and a rise of 24 per cent on 2006/07.

Some 80 per cent of donors were former students, according to the new figures.

Universities also saw a rise in the numbers of cash gifts worth 500,000 or more – 165 in total up from 119 two years ago.

The findings show that the UK's top universities received the biggest amounts of donations. More than half of charitable cash income was received by Oxford and Cambridge and a further 24 per cent went to other members of the Russell Group of leading research-intensive universities, which include Leeds and Sheffield.

Joanna Motion, vice president for International Operations at the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) said: "We are greatly encouraged by the steady increase in the numbers of people getting involved in giving to universities.

"Of course, wealthy philanthropists who can give millions make a big impact.

"But building the habit of giving through lots of us making smaller, regular donations creates the essential pipeline for the future."

The Yorkshire Post revealed earlier this year that the region's universities were increasingly turning to former students for cash to help them to bridge the gap between the costs of providing higher education and the shrinking budgets they receive from Government.

Bradford and Leeds Metropolitan Universities have both launched new funds to allow graduates to donate while Leeds University has seen its graduate donors increase tenfold since it launched an annual fund five years ago.