Given increasingly crowded education marketplaces, an emerging perspective views education as a marketable product and seeks to explain what drives loyalty of alumni. Satisfaction has been used as an indicator of education quality and resides in a complex relationship of factors pertaining to students and institutions. The nonprofit graduate…

California State University, Fresno administrators and development leaders figured that a campus culture of philanthropy would be critical to the success of the institution's first comprehensive campaign. There was one problem: They did not know how to define it, or for that matter, measure it or grow it. The campaign proved successful, hitting…

As community colleges seek new revenue streams, philanthropic organizations, including college foundations and private funders, have already begun to influence both revenues and college programming. This chapter discusses the current role of philanthropy, especially private foundations such as the Lumina Foundation for Education and the Bill and…

The author discusses the results of an annual "Voluntary Support of Education" survey by the Council for Aid to Education. According to the report, after two lackluster years, donations to U.S. colleges and universities rose last year by a healthy 8.2 percent, to an estimated $30.3-billion. The total raised comes close to the amount seen in 2008,…

Colleges and universities are increasingly relying on philanthropic contributions to allow them to continue to provide high-quality education. Christian higher education is no different. African Americans give a larger percentage of their disposable income to nonprofits than any other racial group; this giving is primarily directed to the Black…

After Dr. Larry Earvin became Huston-Tillotson University president, he crafted an annual black-tie gala to raise scholarship funds. Despite the country's economic doldrums, Earvin's event this year netted proceeds pushing the cumulative total since 2004 to more than $1 million. When Beverly Hogan became Tougaloo College president, she urged…

A large sample of 33,000 university alumni records were cluster-analyzed to generate six groups relatively unique in their respective attribute values. The attributes used to cluster the former students included average gift to the university's foundation and to the alumni association for the same institution. Cluster detection is useful in this…

The issue of donor behavior and crowding out has been pertinent in the economics literature, both theoretically and empirically. Aggregate research has not been decisive, nor have many studies analyzed education institutions. I begin with a theoretical model of crowding-out versus crowding-in donor behavior. I then employ a fixed effects…

This article talks about a report on fund-raising campaign done by universities and colleges to support their educational programs. According to the "Voluntary Support of Education" annual report released by the Council for Aid to Education, alumni and other individual donors gave just more than half of the total amount raised. The country's…

Describes an alumni foundation formed at a Tulsa, Oklahoma, high school. Since 1972, the group has tried to promote the school by building pride in students and teachers, furnishing needed equipment, beautifying the campus, sponsoring "outside" educators, and rebuilding alumni loyalty. The key to success was good communication with the…

Colleges and universities are increasingly seeking donations from young entrepreneurs, using nontraditional approaches, and some have been very successful. Others have alienated wealthy young alumni by being too aggressive. Youthful entrepreneurs who do make gifts tend to time their donations to business events rather than to life events. (MSE)

Historically, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have struggled in their attempt to solicit financial gifts from its alumni. Traditionally, black college alumni have appeared to show negligence in their effort to support their alma maters. As a result, many black colleges have ignored them as potential donors. This lack of…

Presents a bibliography of materials on topics such as alumni, corporate, and private giving; case studies of successful fund-raising programs; community college foundations; resource development offices; revenue enhancement; fund-raising strategies; and trustees and foundation boards. Includes a list of 190 philanthropic foundations and…

At many colleges, contributions are up in nearly all categories including: alumni gifts, corporate and foundation grants, and planned giving. While the market crash delivered a strong jolt to donor confidence, the 1986 Tax Reform Act has had more impact on giving. (MLW)

Econometric analysis uses data from a panel of selected private research universities and liberal-arts colleges that span a 31-year period to provide explanations for differences across institutions in the sources and uses of giving. Finds, for example, that richer institutions devote a larger share of their annual giving to further building their…