Trinity’s new Engineering, Energy and Environment (E3) Institute is targeting €40 million in philanthropic funding, as part of College’s fundraising campaign.
While the level of government funding for the ambitious project remains uncertain, the new institute is intended to be one of the major flagship projects for Trinity over the next few years, comprising a major partnership between the School of Engineering and the School of Natural Sciences in Trinity.
Trinity has already received large amounts of philanthropic funding in recent years through the Development and Alumni Office. In the academic year 2014/15, €53.3 million was raised in donations, according to the Trinity Donor Report. Forty-eight per cent of this sum was given by alumni, of which there are 84,501 in Trinity’s global network. Speaking to The University Times, Dean of Development, Gerard McHugh, emphasised the importance of this type of philanthropy in financing large projects, stating that “you would hope that philanthropy would be 20 per cent of something”.
McHugh stated that E3 will be the “flagship project” of a campaign to increase philanthropic funding in Trinity. The E3 strategic report, released in 2012, claimed that this coalition of “aptitudes and specialities will be unprecedented in Ireland and among the first internationally”. However, sustained cuts to state funding and uncertainty over student fees has led Trinity to turn to philanthropic donations to fund its strategic and academic endeavours.
The fundraising body of Trinity – Trinity Development and Alumni – was established in 1990 with the intention of fundraising for Trinity’s projects. According to McHugh, the reasoning behind this venture was “because it was beginning even then to be recognised that universities in the future, and particularly in the public state system, were going to need funding”. Renamed from Trinity Foundation in order to better integrate it into the College, the office is responsible for supporting Trinity’s educational and research programmes. McHugh, as Dean of Development, was appointed to his role by the Provost last year in order to “be the bridge between the professional fundraising activity and the university”.
To further clarify and organise these ventures, the Provost established the Provost’s Council. Composed of leading international Trinity alumni and supporters, the council advises College on a variety of endeavours related to philanthropy and obtaining funding in unique ways. Based in Ireland and abroad, their interests include law, investment, finance, retail and more. McHugh explained that these individuals are “primarily alumni who have achieved well in their lives”, composed of nearly 40 individuals, including Richie Boucher, CEO of Bank of Ireland Group, and John Daly, a partner in Goldman Sachs, who are “geographically well dispersed” and personally invested in Trinity.
On a day-to-day level, the Campaign Cabinet handles philanthropic coordination. Made up of the Provost; McHugh; Vice-Provost, Prof Chris Morash; Director of Trinity Development and Alumni, Nick Sparrow and several others, the cabinet hears pitches from academics on prospective projects, such as E3, making it, according to McHugh, “a fantastic structure giving legitimacy to activities”. While the cabinet was established by Prendergast, McHugh hopes that it will continue to operate beyond his term as Provost.
Trinity has focused in recent years on obtaining philanthropic donations to support its various activities. In 2015, Atlantic Philanthropies gave €138.4 million to Trinity and the University of California, San Francisco to establish the Global Brain Health Institute (GHBI), which is aimed at researching brain disorders and tackling dementia. Indeed, McHugh agreed that “health tends to be attractive philanthropically” but also warned that reaching philanthropic targets will entail a significant “step up” in Trinity’s current funding sources.
