Younger universities ramp up fundraising as alumni ‘less engaged’

One of Australia’s younger universities has achieved its nine-figure fundraising target in a sign that large-scale philanthropy is no longer the preserve of the country’s sandstone institutions.

Griffith University has reached a goal of raising A$125 million (£66 million) through its “A Brighter Future for All” campaign, thanks to multimillion-dollar contributions from wealthy donors and a surge in giving by staff and alumni – with the latter bucking a wider pattern of declining engagement across the sector.

The achievement marks an emerging phase in higher education philanthropy, which has long favoured institutions with history – particularly the oldest pair, the universities of Sydney and Melbourne, which pioneered mass fundraising in the sector by snaring over A$1 billion each after setting targets of A$600 million and A$500 million respectively.

Sydney has since launched a new campaign, buoyed by a A$100 million donation from a tech entrepreneur.

Fellow sandstones Monash University and the University of Queensland followed suit, pocketing A$1 billion and A$600 million after each announced A$500 million targets. UNSW Sydney, the University of Western Australia and the Australian National University have also amassed hundreds of millions of dollars in recent donations.  

Philanthropy of similar scale is reaching newer institutions, as their research captures the attention of wealthy locals. La Trobe University has set a goal to raise A$200 million by next year, after meeting its earlier A$100 million target in 2022 – largely thanks to late actress Olga Tennison, whose donations to the university’s autism research culminated in a A$45 million bequest.

Deakin University is the latest to take a campaign approach to fundraising, announcing a A$150 million target.

Griffith’s seven-year campaign was initially conducted behind the scenes, fostered by vice-chancellor Carolyn Evans – who had contributed to Melbourne’s fundraising success as its deputy vice-chancellor – before launching publicly in October 2023.

A year later, Griffith’s announcement of clinical trials of a therapy to repair damaged spinal cords through transplanted nasal cells proved a “catalyst for donor engagement”, according to the university’s annual report.

Griffith earned twice as much from philanthropy in 2025 as it had in 2019, bolstered by individual seven-figure donations towards spinal cord research, an endowment for early-career researchers, a private trust supporting coastal conservation and professorial chairs in cancer and archaeology.

The university’s fundraising efforts also relied on thousands of alumni and staff donations to the Brighter Futures Scholarship programme, which subsidises scores of disadvantaged students by up to $40,000 each. Griffith says 15 per cent of its staff contribute to the scheme, with the university matching their gifts dollar-for-dollar.

Marcus Ward, Griffith’s vice-president for engagement, said over 110,000 alumni had “engaged” with the university since the campaign’s outset. This flies against the prevailing trend, however, with the latest Council for Advancement and Support of Education (Case) survey finding that 32 per cent fewer alumni donated to Australasian universities in 2024 than in 2023.

While the institutions responding to the survey collectively received A$690 million in contributions in 2024, this figure was inflated by the A$100 million commitment to Sydney, and median tallies at each institution declined by about 16 per cent. “Transformational gifts, while powerful, can mask wider challenges,” noted Case CEO Sue Cunningham.

“Higher education institutions are navigating shifting enrolment patterns, policy changes affecting the movement of international students and economic pressures tied to the cost-of-living crisis. Against this backdrop, philanthropy is not just welcome – it is increasingly essential.”