Learning from the American Fundraising Model: A European Perspective March 2014 | Page 15

Vrije Universiteit
Brussel
The Vrije Universiteit Brussel is the offshoot of the
French-speaking Université Libre de Bruxelles,
founded in 1834 by Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen, a
Brussels lawyer with Flemish origins who wanted
to establish a university independent from state
and church and dedicated to academic freedom.
The Dutch-speaking university broke away from
its French-speaking counterpart in 1969. Of the
university’s annual budget, 86 percent is currently
made up by local, regional, national and European
government organizations. The institution is now
working to re-balance its funding sources.

Of course, all these activities require the support of fundraising experts. So as well as appointing dedicated staff, De Knop is working
with EmoLife, a Dutch consultancy.
The passions of individual faculty can also be
harnessed, says De Knop. Through a new program managed under the responsibility of the
university’s vice-rector, faculty can propose
projects, which are submitted to a selection
process by the university board. If selected, the
faculty member receives help with fundraising,
but he or she must remain personally involved
in its success.
De Knop is also looking overseas for sources of
funding. The university has set up an ‘American
friends fund’ at KBFUS to tap into the generosity of Americans who have studied at the university. “And we’ll try to get them involved in
our fundraising program,” he says.
But while De Knop has been driving innovations
in fundraising, he also recognizes the importance of a fundamental principle – the need to

ask for money. The desire to find better ways
of doing this was among the reasons he decided to join the KBFUS study visit. And it was a
theme that emerged strongly during the sessions. “I learned that everyone is looking for
money and the biggest mistake you can make is
not to ask,” he says. “If you don’t ask for money,
you won’t get it.”

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