“More than just a source of funding”

How does effective fundraising for science work? This was the question discussed by UZH Vice President Research Michael Schaepman, NOMIS Foundation Manager Director Markus Reinhard and UZH Foundation CEO Martin Gubser.

Interview: David Werner

The NOMIS Foundation is currently funding several projects at the University of Zurich, including one involving cancer research, one on environmental ethics, and one around biodiversity and remote sensing. How did collaboration between the researchers and the foundation come about?

Markus Reinhard: The NOMIS Foundation focuses on the people doing research. We get to know them proactively via our growing network. After an initial contact, we remain in close conversation with these people about their research ideas and approaches. In thematic terms our foundation has very broad interests.

What criteria do you apply in selecting projects to support?

Reinhard: We only promote basic research. We’re less interested in individual projects than in the personalities doing the research. Our philosophy is to support outstanding researchers with true pioneering spirit who apply new methods and interdisciplinary perspectives to their work. It’s important to us to have a personal relationship with the researchers we support. In additional to financial support, we offer the opportunity for dialogue and mutual inspiration within a network of researchers we’re constantly in the process of expanding.

Let’s look at the project run by Michael Schaepman, who’s also with us today. What’s it about?

Michael Schaepman: Our Remotely Sensing Ecological Genomics project is looking into the question of whether remote sensing can be used to measure the genetic diversity of plants. We’re recording on a broad scale what plants grow in a specific area and how the composition of the vegetation changes over time, among other things under the influence of humans. We gather our data on the ground and from above with the help of aircraft and satellites.

Markus Reinhard, how did the NOMIS Foundation come across this project?

Reinhard: Recently we’ve been increasingly turning our sights to the issue of biodiversity, and we intend to step up our activity in this area of research. In 2017, we became aware of Michael Schaepman’s research on remote sensing via our network. First we got to know each other, and then had a number of longer discussions that ultimately led to a firm project proposal.

Michael Schaepman, what’s your experience of working with the NOMIS Foundation?

Schaepman: The partnership has created completely new possibilities for me as a researcher – surprisingly enough, not just in financial terms. Thanks to the foundation I’ve become part of a scientific network I would previously have had no access to.

Martin Gubser, for the last two years you’ve been managing director of the UZH Foundation, which was established back in 2012. You and your team manage fundraising for UZH. What does your job involve exactly?

Martin Gubser: UZH Foundation’s core business is building good relationships between individual researchers, UZH, and donors, and maintaining and fostering these relationships with a view to further productive collaboration. Another component of our work is making sure that funding processes are executed properly in accordance with the contract. A lot of work also goes into our communications, for example our efforts to explain complex research projects to the appropriate audience.

The NOMIS Foundation actively approaches researchers itself. Is that the case for all private foundations that fund scientific projects?

Gubser: No. The approach varies a lot from foundation to foundation. Some wait for researchers to come to them and then choose the applications that are appropriate.

What’s the difference between donations or endowments and sponsorship?

Gubser: You have to make a clear distinction between these two forms of funding. People make donations with no hope of getting anything back. So donating something means giving, without taking anything in return, to make things happen that you’re convinced of and are important to you. Sponsorship, on the other hand, is based on an agreement between two independent institutions whereby one buys communications services from the other; in other words paying in return for attention.

What’s UZH’s approach to sponsorship, Michael Schaepman?

Schaepman: Sponsorship means contributions to fund the university’s duties, in return for which the university provides a service that is subject to value-added tax. The University of Zurich has drawn up a fact sheet on sponsorship which is clearly formulated and very restrictive. . In particular, when it comes to sponsorship we weigh up the economic benefits and any potential reputational risks very carefully.

Does UZH also attach conditions when it accepts donations?

Schaepman: Yes. The conditions are set down in a fundraising policy. In particular, the origin of the donation and the purpose for which it is earmarked must be transparent, freedom of research and teaching must be contractually assured, and the donation must match UZH’s strategic objectives.

How do you make sure that accepting donations doesn’t violate freedom of research at UZH?

Schaepman: Freedom of research and teaching are two of the principles on which our university is built. The credibility of our scholarly and scientific work depends on them. For this reason we safeguard the freedom of research and teaching in an agreement with our donors. But given that there’s no such thing as absolute independence, transparency is important. We disclose where the funds come from and what purpose they’re used for. We publish all third-party funding totaling more than CHF 100,000 on the UZH website. We also maintain a list of endowed professorships and a register disclosing all the outside professional activities and interests of UZH professors.

Markus Reinhard, the NOMIS Foundation also operates in the United States. What differences do you see compared with the way things are done in this part of the world?

Reinhard: Elite universities in the US, which are of course privately funded in the majority of cases, work intensively to attract donors with the help of impressively structured communications and fundraising departments. Fundraising has a long tradition at American universities, which wouldn’t be able to do research without donations. That’s why donors are also involved in the form of long-term partnerships and given special acknowledgment. Every library, path and bench on a university campus bears the name of an endowment or donor.

Michael Schaepman, should UZH be following the example of US universities as it continues to develop its fundraising?

Schaepman: In certain areas we definitely have plenty to learn from elite American universities. Overall, however, we shouldn’t be copying our counterparts in the US. The circumstances are so different. We’d do better to build on our own strengths. Basic state funding gives us many strategic advantages internationally which in the future we should maybe be harnessing even better than we have so far.

In your opinion, how should fundraising at UZH be developing in the years to come?

Schaepman: So far UZH has had very positive experience with private donations. They’re an effective means of further expanding UZH’s strengths by providing rapid, targeted funding for outstanding research. Not all strategically interesting research projects can be financed with public funds. It would be preferable if as many of these projects as possible could nevertheless take place with the help of donations.

What would you advise researchers who plan to do the same thing?

Schaepman: My first piece of advice would be not to see foundations merely as some kind of horn of plenty bestowing its gifts on the recipient. That’s the wrong idea. Researchers and donors should see themselves as partners who work together to uncover new scientific knowledge for the benefit of society.

Every foundation is bound to its purpose and must comply with certain criteria governing how it uses its money. They’ll carefully assess whether a project is eligible for funding. Researchers who want to fund their project by way of donations must be prepared to invest time and energy in the partnership.

Martin Gubser, what goals do you and the UZH Foundation plan to achieve in the foreseeable future?

Gubser: The alumni associations at UZH have been doing good work for years or even decades to keep graduates’ ties with their alma mater intact. From our point of view it would be really important to add the fundraising component to this established relationship. Bequests are another key area of development. Here we still have plenty of homework to do, especially in terms of communication.