More Partnership and Richmond Associates have been commissioned by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) to review the higher education fundraising workforce.
In 2012 HEFCE published More Partnership’s report Review of Philanthropy in UK Higher Education, which proposed a target of raising £2bn a year for UK universities by 2022.
And now More Partnership, together with recruitment consultants Richmond Associates, has won a tender to write a further report that will make recommendations on the future career development and training options for the higher education fundraising workforce.
To meet the £2bn goal, author Professor Shirley Pearce recommended in the 2012 report that the workforce of educational fundraisers needs to double – or preferably triple.
Pearce, chair of the Philanthropy Implementation Group set up by HEFCE to implement the recommendations of her 2012 ‘Pearce report’, commented:
“UK university fundraising is increasingly professional but not yet well recognised as a profession. Our goal is to unlock even greater philanthropic support for our universities. To do this we need to find ways to build a respected profession that attracts, develops and retains the very best staff.”
Scheduled to report early in 2014, the evidence-based review will draw on both qualitative and quantitative inputs from a wide range of experience in the sector and beyond.
It will focus on: how career paths in the voluntary sector can be made attractive for the most high-quality candidates; developing training recommendations for the philanthropic workforce; identifying the skills required for successful fundraising; and creating guidance to help institutions recruit the best talent.
Harvard targets $6.5bn
Further afield, Harvard university in the United States announced on Saturday it is seeking to raise $6.5bn (£4bn) in donations to boost bolster its financial aid program, as well as fund new academic initiatives.
If successful, this would top the $6.2bn Stanford University raised last year.
Arts Council England planning philanthropy conference
And elsewhere, Arts Council England has announced its plans to start a new annual philanthropy conference, designed to “encourage a culture of giving”.
Sir Peter Bazalgette, chair of Arts Council England, announced in a speech given last week at the UK Community Foundations conference that the organisation is planning to start the event from next year. Its working title is ‘Why Give to Culture?’
Bazalgette said that the intention is to get the legal and accountancy professions together with charity advisers, investment advisors, business CSR leaders and the CEOs of community foundations.
