Matching funding period ends - Tampere University raises over 4.6 million euros in private donations

The fundraising was based on the Finnish Innovation Fund’s (Sitra) decision to grant one-time support worth 100 million euros to universities. In the best case, the central government will capitalise universities with 2.5-fold matching funding for private donations raised in 2020–2022. The government’s matching funding will be allocated to each university in proportion to the private funding they raised. However, an individual university may only receive up to 11 million euros.

“We will find out the final multiplier for the matching funding later this year. Right now, I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to everyone who donated to our university. I would also like to thank all members of the university community who participated in the fundraising.”

In Finland, the future of the entire higher education sector is being challenged by the deficit in general government finances, diminishing younger generations and increased international competition. The positive development of the university operations requires stronger core funding and the ability to find external funding. This is why the donations from companies, associations and individuals are extremely significant for the University.

“It is great to see how highly our partners value the work done by our university. The donations we received will strengthen our opportunities of developing education and world-class research,” says Mari Walls, President of Tampere University.

“This two-year campaign was crucial for our new multidisciplinary university. I wish to thank all of our university’s partners for their excellent cooperation and the engaging discussions we have had during the campaign.”

Tampere University is the second-largest university in Finland and one that offers education in a wide variety of fields. Its main research areas are technology, health and society. These leading-edge fields and their combinations play key roles in solving the major challenges that humankind will face. Through cooperation across disciplines, we can find new and bold solutions to promote sustainable development, for example.

The donations made during the campaign for matching funding are directed at Tampere University as a whole. The Board of Tampere University Foundation, operating as Tampere University, will decide how the profits of the Foundation’s capital will be allocated. This year, almost 5 million euros of capital will be allocated to developing education and research, increasing international connections and promoting networking. However, single donations of over 10,000 euros can also be directed at a specific field, of which there are ten.

“Most donations were aimed at technology, economics and medicine. Donations were also given to social sciences and humanities. We also received undirected donations that can be used for the best of the university as a whole,” says Elina Suojanen-Laine.