Professor Sir Michael Arthur joins Cairney & Company as Strategic Adviser

Cairney & Company is pleased to welcome Professor Sir Michael Arthur as Strategic Adviser. Sir Michael brings a wealth of experience, having previously led two highly successful university fundraising campaigns - the University of Leeds £100m campaign and University College London’s ‘It’s All Academic’ philanthropic campaign, which raised £624m over a ten-year period, becoming the third-largest in Europe. 

For his commitment to fundraising and other elements of university advancement, Sir Michael was awarded the CASE Europe Leadership Award in 2017 and was later awarded Knight Bachelor in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2022.

To mark this exciting appointment, Cairney Senior Consultant Annarosa Muscatelli asked Sir Michael to share his thoughts on fundraising in HE, and specifically how to foster a successful working relationship between an Advancement Office and a Vice-Chancellor.

AM: The role of Vice-Chancellor is pivotal in ensuring the success of fundraising, particularly during a campaign. What is it that makes a great working partnership between the Advancement Team and the Vice-Chancellor’s office?

Sir Michael: Right at the core of it is the relationship between the academic leader and the Head of the Advancement Office. That relationship has to be built on mutual trust and respect, earnt in both directions, as they will spend a lot of time together planning and developing ideas.

There needs to be excitement about the institution itself, in terms of its strategic direction. If you get the strategy right, then everything comes in behind it. I think that’s what we achieved at UCL.

The Vice-Chancellor should be heavily involved in the appointment process of the person leading on advancement to ensure the right person is appointed and the right dynamic in their relationship. The converse is also true; when the Vice-Chancellor is changing there needs to be input from the advancement team on the candidates. This is crucial, but not always the case.

AM: What is the role of academic leadership more generally (VPs/Deans/Senior Level Academics) in the context of advancement? Why is their buy-in pivotal?

Sir Michael: There is still a lot of room for improvement in the UK, compared to the US. If you look at some of their very successful fundraising universities, the academic leaders and all the deans are very involved in fundraising and have targets to meet.

We are getting there in the UK. Certainly, in my time both at Leeds and UCL I spent a lot of time with the academic leadership and their teams, explaining campaigns, fundraising, and enthusing them about this activity. We also brought in consultants to facilitate away days centred around intense discussion and bringing forward the importance of fundraising.

Academic leadership is going to be increasingly important in the UK; we are heading in the direction of the US in this regard. Academics know their faculties much better than the advancement team, or the Vice-Chancellor can possibly do, so it is crucial that they are involved in fundraising and that their voices are heard.

AM: What other thoughts and reflections do you have on the progression of advancement from your experience?

Sir Michael: A lot of institutions underinvest and over-expect. I think we were successful at Leeds and UCL because we made a clear and deep investment to build a team of sufficient strength, knowledge, and expertise.

The biggest mistake an organisation can make is trying to raise too big a figure with too small a team. It’s a numbers game. The more fundraisers you have building those relationships and asking for money, the more successful you will be. That can only be built if the academic teams, leadership, and the governing body are all committed to supporting the endeavour.

AM: Why are you looking forward to working with Cairney & Company and our clients?

Sir Michael: Cairney & Company are a very experienced and highly successful team at the top of their game. Their approach acknowledges the need to understand their clients in detail, giving them the very best advice and guidance on the route to successful fundraising, and they will challenge their thinking along the way.

AM: Finally, what gets you thinking big? 

Sir Michael: It’s the combination of a big idea, big academic capability, and big commitment to bring, ultimately, a big impact. When an exciting idea meets the academic excellence capable of delivering on it, coupled with the expectation of significant impact from that piece of work. For example, UCL’s work in Dementia Research had the ideas and academic excellence, and it’s clear to see the impact this research could have on this terrible disease.

When this happens in a space where the idea is so novel that it is not ready for classic funding through Government or Research Funding Body, donor support becomes key. Their support is making something happen that would otherwise have been impossible. These ideas are then given the opportunity to grow and flourish, and eventually garner support from Government and Research Funding Bodies. You end up with a huge sum of money invested in helping. At UCL this is what happened, and in the end, along with longstanding partnerships, we brought in half a billion pounds of research funding money for dementia research. This is hugely exciting.

For me, it’s about the chemistry when you get all that in the right place, with the right people, and the right idea.

To read more about Sir Michael’s career, visit our People page.