CASE Insights on Philanthropy 2022/23 – what can we learn?
What does the 2022-2023 CASE Insights survey tell us about HE fundraising?
For a couple of decades now, higher education fundraisers across the UK and Ireland have keenly awaited the release of the annual CASE-Ross survey on philanthropy. It’s a really useful tool to understand the latest giving trends across the sector and see how your fundraising efforts are shaping up against fellow institutions.
This year, 87 institutions took part in the survey, each classed as one of six ‘clusters’: Elite, Established, Moderate, Developing, Emerging and Fragile.
So, let’s dig into what the recently released CASE Insights on Philanthropy Survey 2022-2023 results tell us about the state of higher education philanthropy.
Where is income coming from?
The total new funds committed in 2022-23 was £1.43bn – a pretty impressive figure, although it’s interesting to note that this is down 3.5% from the previous year. It’ll be interesting to see if this is an anomaly or a new trend.
We see that legacies are having a growing impact, because mean funds given through legacies are up again for the third year in a row (a 28.4% increase since last year’s report). Why would this be? Perhaps more people are thinking about their legacies? Maybe they have less in the way of liquidity to give within their lifetime? Either way, when you’re planning staffing and resource, this is definitely not an area to be overlooked.
Trusts and foundations continue to have impact, contributing the majority (56%) of the total new funds committed (in £). But fragile and emerging groups are flatlining when it comes to new funds committed. We’ve heard from many of our clients that they are considering whether to bring in a dedicated trusts and foundations fundraiser. Others are considering outsourcing it if budgets are tight, or bringing trusts and foundations in as part of a Major/Principal giving role. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, but it’s an important consideration for fundraising teams given the size of the opportunity.
2. We need to work harder to engage alumni
The average number of donors to an institution has increased marginally (by 0.2%). But for the third consecutive year, the mean number of alumni donating to their institution has decreased again – even though the number of contactable alumni has grown by 3% this year. Why would this be? Is it that institutions are not being proactive enough in engaging with their alumni base? Are external factors like the current economic climate to blame?
Whatever the reason, it’s something that is worth looking carefully at. As we all know, alumni are a core asset to their institution, acting not only as donors but also as ambassadors and critical friends too. Philanthropy should always be viewed as something that is more than just financial. Alumni can give their time and expertise, which can be just as transformative as donations, and many more HEIs are counting metrics like volunteering hours in their campaigns.
As an aside, if the trend continues and alumni fundraising is no longer having the impact you’d like, it’s vital to look at ways to diversify income (e.g. from legacies, trusts and foundations etc.) to make up for this.
3. Investment in fundraising is up
The average total investment in fundraising, alumni relations and development services has increased by 17.6% since last year. This is a significant indication that institutions are prioritising these areas of income generation at the highest strategic levels. This can only be good news for the sector as it speculates to accumulate.
These results tend to align with what we are hearing in our conversations with Vice-Chancellors and other HE senior leaders, particularly those in the ‘emerging’ and ‘fragile’ groups. It’s widely accepted that philanthropy plays a key strategic role, but that needs to be balanced with various other financial challenges that face an institution, given the cost-of-living crisis, the reduction in international students etc.
At Cairney & Co., we’re here to help university leaders and fundraising and engagement teams make the most of the resources – financial and otherwise – available to them, wherever they’re at with their fundraising.
“It is so encouraging to see that Higher Education investment in fundraising, alumni relations and development services is on the rise. At the University of Salford, we are becoming increasingly aware of the role that philanthropy can play in achieving institutional strategic objectives. It is through investment in these functions that universities can reap the benefits across student access, experience and success, outreach activity, research, and capital, adding the margin of excellence and accelerating critical projects. With a core purpose of innovating to enrich lives, the University of Salford recognises that philanthropy is more important than ever in enabling the University to achieve its goals.”
- Sophie Thorpe, Head of Philanthropy, Alumni & Supporter Engagement, University of Salford
Download the full CASE Insights survey 2022-2023 and infographic, and get in touch to discuss what the results could mean for your institution.