Nov. 22 (Bloomberg) -- The Rhodes Trust, established by the will of U.K. explorer, businessman and philanthropist Cecil Rhodes, is seeking additional funds for the first time amid poor investment returns and higher costs, an official said.

The trust has requested donations from former Rhodes scholars, said Elliot Gerson, the American secretary of the trust, in a telephone interview.

“There’s no question the trust will require a substantial augmentation of its funds,” Gerson said. He declined to provide a fund-raising target or say how much the value of the trust has declined.

He said the trust likely will seek contributions from others who aren’t former Rhodes scholars.

“We’ll probably widen it given the status and contribution of the trust,” Gerson said. “We have been approached by individuals who aren’t Rhodes scholars who are interested in contributing.”

The trust is managed by advisers overseen by the University of Oxford in England, where Rhodes scholars go to study. Winners have included former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Other notable recipients include former Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman William Fulbright, American physicist Robert Van de Graaff, former U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk, two former directors of the Central Intelligence Agency in R. James Woolsey and Stansfield Turner and former Cable News Network head Walter Isaacson.

Yesterday, 32 Americans from 23 different colleges and universities, including five from Harvard University, were awarded Rhodes scholarships.

The Rhodes trust was created in 1902. A scholarship can be worth as much as $175,000 for those who remain at Oxford for four years, the trust said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Hart in Washington at dahart@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 22, 2009 11:56 EST