University leaders who want to raise money need to get out and ask, according to Eric Thomas, chairman of a 2004 inquiry that is widely credited with kick-starting a fundraising culture in Britain.

“The one message I would give to vice-chancellors is that they must lead,” the Bristol University vice-chancellor said.

Professor Thomas is in Australia to attend alumni celebrations for his institution’s centenary.

In Britain, philanthropy generates more than “£500 million a year and, while Oxford and Cambridge collect a large share of that, the growth in philanthropy has helped across the system.

Fundraisers are helped by a “£200 m government scheme to match donations. Professor Thomas said this “makes the ask a lot easier”, but universities were still widely seen as a state responsibility, which meant “there is still a message to be got out”. Vice-chancellors were the people to do it.

Professor Thomas regularly devotes 40 working days a year to fundraising, a commitment he increased 50 percent this year to support Bristol’s centenary.

It is work that connects him to his university’s origins. Bristol’s early growth was assisted by large gifts from a local businessman. It is a tradition that continues with the largest personal contribution to the present “£100m campaign coming from an individual who gave “£250,000 “cash out of their pocket”. The donor was not an alumnus but wanted to assist the university’s classics department.

It’s a sentiment Professor Thomas understands, having himself donated “£100,000 to classics at Bristol: “I wanted to invest in my own university. There is no reason to ask for donations if I don’t.”

From Stephen Matchett at the Australian