The role of alumni and the changes in university structures, key to increase the fundraising

The seminar continued with Theo Schuytʼs intervention, professor of the University of Amsterdam and president of the European Research Network on Philanthropy, which gathers around 250 researchers from twenty-five European countries. Schuyt talked about some successful factors regarding philanthropic funding, such as considering the most susceptible contributor to collaborate with the institution. He highlighted the importance of internal organization of the university to get more philanthropic funds, as well as the institutionʼs commitment, having financial and human resources and using a good contact database. “We need time to create a philanthropic networks”, he warned. Schyut finished the speech with an optimist message: we only need to change the university a bit to “make friends and then get funding”.

Carmen Pérez Esparrells, from the Autonomous University of Madrid, started her intervention noting that “public universities are starting to depend on private funding and that shouldnʼt be worrying”. “If these are well used, they are welcome”, she said. She continued saying that public universities have to innovate and should do it now. She went through the situation in the United States, where public universities receive most of the funds from private contributions (in particular, about 55 % of their funding comes from private sources). Both corporations and foundations and particular individuals take part in this funding. She also mentioned some of the ways American universities work, such as promoting the relationship between former students and following a customized design when contacting every potential contributor.

Montserrat Casanellas, lecturer from the Department of Administrative Law, Procedural Law and Financial and Tax Law, showed the juridical and fiscal framework of philanthropic fundraising. She went through the Spanish and Catalan legislation and the ones from other countries such as France and the United States, on patronage and fiscal incentives. She noted contributions are not only about money but also goods, work, services, debt relief, among others, and claimed the Spanish legislation to foresee some of these cases. She said the type of fiscal incentives in other countries and noted that the ones in Spain “are not making donations attractive”. Last, she remembered the patronage law considers other formulas, apart from donating, such as collaboration agreements.

Manuel Palencia, from Pompeu Fabra University, started his intervention provocatively, saying that strategic plans in the universities do not predict philanthropic fundraising. He noted that getting these funds “is not a simple process of demanding, but about transmitting the importance of a project to a contributor”. Regarding the collaboration with companies, he said it is important to be in contact with those that share “elements with the universities, which share aims and objectives”. He defended a “revolution of the alumni”, since the university can benefit from the donations but also the way to manage and their contacts too. Palencia, however, said this revolution should start with the students that enter the university, and instead of treating them as clients, including them as people who can decide in the institution.

In the afternoon, the session continued with a debate with the participation of Juan Mezo (IL3-UB), Juan Salvador Pérez (Jaume I University), Núria Vilamajó (Clínic Foundation) and Joan Corominas, president of the Board of Trustees of the UB. The session treated management aspects related to fundraising, as well as the role of the Boards of Trustees. The general manager of the University of Barcelona noted that the UB is working on a fundraising project to be carried out soon. The closing ceremony has been held by the secretary of University and Research of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Francesc Xavier Grau.