Learning from the American Fundraising Model: A European Perspective March 2014 | Page 2

Executive
summary
For anyone involved in fundraising at one of
Europe’s museums, theatres or universities,
life is far from easy. Institutions that could
once rely on government funding are finding
that this support is diminishing. Some face
tougher fundraising challenges than others.
However, all recognize the need to diversify
their sources of funding, in particular by increasing the proportion of donations from private individuals.
European cultural institutions and universities have recognized the necessity for increased fundraising for many years, driven
by the need to support new capital projects
and rising operating costs, as well as by the
intensifying of global competition for excellence, talent and funding. The financial crisis
of 2008, tough economic conditions and the
austerity policies introduced by many national administrations only served to intensify
this pressure.
Dominating the thoughts of many of the university professionals we interviewed for this
paper is the impact that fiscal austerity has had
on government funding for their organization.
In some countries, new policies have placed
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

additional restrictions on funding, as is the case
in Hungary, where stricter limits have been imposed on the number of state-funded undergraduate places.
And there are exceptions. In Sweden, for example, where the government is concerned to
rebuild the country’s traditional strength in life
sciences, the Karolinska Institutet, a medical research institute, has seen state funding actually
increase.
Meanwhile, the effects of austerity have been
felt keenly in the cultural sector as well. In a
2010 overview of cultural funding in Europe,
the Dutch Centre for International Cultural Activities (SICA) highlighted a UK announcement
of cuts for culture and sport over four years of
25 to 30 percent, and a plan in the Netherlands
to reduce the state budget for culture by 20
percent, among others.
Even those institutions that still receive strong
government support are planning for a different future. This is the case at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, where Paul De Knop, the university’s rector, is working to reduce its proportion
of government funding – currently around 86