Imperial College has disbanded its department responsible for fundraising and merged it with communications, in a restructure which sees Judy Beard, current director of development, leave the university.

At a time when many universities are building their development, or fundraising, departments, Imperial has decided to move its alumni activities operations – which include individual giving and data support – into the communications division. The major projects team too will be shifted into communications, the changes came into effect on August 1.

Civil Society can reveal that the restructure of the development office has put nine positions at risk, but the College said that it will be consulting with staff about redeployment and voluntary redundancy in order to avoid compulsory redundancies. The decision follows a 30-day consultation.

The disbanding of the department will see fundraising legend director of development Judy Beard depart and her role abolished. Beard does not have any immediate plans for work, but is said to be exploring other opportunities.

While the alumni relations and development office has been dumped, the college will create a new ‘development board’ in September, which will be a sub-committee of Imperial’s governing council. The board will meet in the autumn to map out the focus of the college’s first fundraising campaign.

A spokeswoman for Imperial told Civil Society that the consultation and restructure is designed to “maximise the effectiveness of the two functions in the most efficient way”.

Facing a reduction in government funding in the future, universities across the UK have stepped up their development and fundraising activities in the last few years. The latest figures on record, produced by the Ross Case Survey, show that as a result of this, 18,000 more individuals and organisations gave to higher education in 2008-2009. The financial year saw a significant rise in philanthropic income to universities, from £430m in 2007-2008 to £511m in the most recent year.

Meanwhile, Imperial College’s financial accounts for 2008-2009 show an annual income of £672.8m, but do not account for any individual philanthropic income within the report. Research grants and contracts accounted for the largest proportion of the College’s income, at just under £287m.