The multimillion-pound donation by Jeremy Coller is the icing on the cake for London Business School. In the year to July 31, dean Robin Buchanan scooped in £8.9m in cash and commitments from students, alumni and donors, writes Della Bradshaw. The money is largely earmarked for professorial chairs and research and includes the biggest class gift ever at LBS - £752,000 in pledges given by graduating students.

But, compared with US schools, LBS's donations are chickenfeed. In 2007, Harvard Business School received $56m in gifts. Wharton school at the University of Pennsylvania is running a campaign to raise $550m. At Darden school at the University of Virginia, 96 per cent of the graduating class of 2008 made a pledge to raise money. The class has committed to give $123,515 - about $370 per student.