Cash donations to universities totalled a record £659.8m in 2012/13, up 23 per cent on the previous year, according to the latest Ross-Case survey.
But the annual report on philanthropic giving to higher education institutions, published today, found that total new funds secured, including pledges and cash donations, had fallen by £81m to £681m over the same period.
The report, Giving to Excellence: Generating Philanthropic Support for UK Higher Education 2012-13, is based on a survey of 136 higher education institutions in the UK.
It puts the increase in cash donations down to large pledges made in previous years being paid up in 2012/13. Universities including Oxford, Cambridge, King’s College London, Nottingham Trent and London Business School received the largest cash gifts in 2012/13.
The report says the decline in overall new funds secured does not appear to be due to a single cause, but a few of the universities that received very large pledges in 2011/12 did not repeat the same performance in 2012/13.
It shows the number of donors to universities increased to 223,352, compared to 209,404 the previous year.
The survey also reveals an increase in the number of alumni giving, which has risen steadily over the last three years, with 174,000 donors giving to their alma mater in 2012/13, compared to 168,000 in 2011/12.
Alumni giving has increased 60 per cent over the past six years, but as a percentage of total alumni, just 1.9 per cent give to universities.
The survey shows a variation in fundraising between universities, as it previous years, with very high figures reported by the largest and most established universities. The universities of Oxford and Cambridge accounted for 49 per cent of the total new funds secured in 2012/13.
The Russell Group of large public research universities, excluding Oxbridge, saw a decrease in their share of total new funds of eight percentage points to 30 per cent.
For the first time the survey asked universities about the sources of gifts. In total, 59 per cent came from organisations and 41 per cent from individuals.
Alumni account for around 60 per cent of individual giving, with other sources including parents, staff and patients at partner hospitals. Around two third of the gifts from organisations came from trusts and foundations.
Fundraising cost on average was 27p per £1 donated, which is down from 36p the year before.
Universities hired 44 more fundraising staff to work in the sector in 2012/13. They now have 1,198 staff.
A recent report by HEFCE found the higher education workforce needs to grow by at least double, if not triple, its current base to meet the sector’s ambitious goal of raising £2bn a year in gifts from 640,000 donors by 2022.
Kate Hunter, executive director of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (Case) Europe, said: “Organisations and individuals are giving, in growing numbers, to support the work of universities across teaching, learning and research. Universities deliver benefit to the public in many ways and fundraisers are becoming increasingly professional and persuasive in making their case to a range of supporters.
“The survey also demonstrates the correlation between the size of the fundraising workforce and the amount of philanthropy raised. For this figure to continue to rise, further investment in professional staff and broader engagement with the academic community is needed.”
