Characteristics of Alumni Donors Who Volunteer at their Alma Mater

Abstract

In the competitive marketplace of higher education, colleges and university leaders increasingly rely on the influence and service of their alumni to further institutional goals. Because of their demonstrated financial commitment to the institution, alumni donors are often enlisted to serve important roles as volunteers and political advocates. Using binomial logistic regression, this study examines a large sample of alumni donors from a large doctoral/research extensive university to predict donors who are most likely volunteer at the institution (via advisory board service, political advocacy, alumni club support). The study suggests that volunteering among alumni donors is predicted by capacity variables related to gender, residence, and overall civic engagement. Inclination to volunteer is associated with the quality of academic experience while an undergraduate student, beliefs about alumni volunteer roles, and number of degrees earned at the institution.

Public Higher Education Governing Boards Composition and Regional Difference in U.S.

“…Autonomous governing boards tend to understand the institutional situations better and make a decision based on institutional interests. Alumni impact is crucial to colleges and universities because formal and informal interconnections provided by graduates can make possible for institutions to have better chance to negotiate with the legislature, governor's office, foundations and corporations (Weerts & Ronca, 2007). In the challenging environment, Northeast governing boards are more flexible in facilitating alumni connection and enlarge the possibility of participation of members with political affiliation to adapt to political and financial changes (Weerts & Ronca, 2007).…”

Alumni Relations in Chinese HEIs: Case Studies of Three Major Universities

“…The former approach studies alumni relationship management strategies based on personal characteristics of alumni that enhance the possibility of alumni university donations. These personal characteristics are delineated as follows: age (see Okunade, Wunnava, & Walsh, 1994;Bruggink & Siddiqui, 1995;Weerts & Ronca, 2007), income level (see Olsen, Smith, & Wunnava, 1989;Clotfelter, 2003;Taylor & Martin, 1995), gender (see Weerts & Ronca, 2008), campus experience (see Gaier, 2005;McDearmon & Shirley, 2009), quality of character (see Utter, Noble, & Brady, 1999), lifestyle (see Weerts & Ronca, 2007) as well as graduation time (see Zhong, Huang, & Guo, 2013), level of education, ethnicity, religion, and working conditions (see Borden, Shaker, & Kienker, 2014). Its analytical and theoretical framework is primarily built on rational choice theory, cognitive development theory, and expectancy theory; the latter lays emphasis on how to utilize and optimize organizations' features or performance to promote alumni relations.…”

Through the Lenses of the Alumni: Enhancing Quality in the Zimbabwe Open University

“…Products of a university want to be associated with their institution as was seen on the anniversary day. Alumni influence is critical to institutions because professional and personal connections held by graduates can open doors to the legislature, governor's office, corporations, foundations, and other major gift prospects (Weerts and Ronca, 2007). It is therefore argued that there is need for universities to reframe the mission of alumni in order to make the graduates contribute towards quality issues of their former institutions.…”

“…Such insights become useful to the university leadership in improving the quality of programmes and services to the students on track. Surveying alumni assesses the knowledge and skills developed in their college education and those developments relate to their skills and leadership in the workplace (Weerts and Ronca, 2007). According to Hoey and Gardner, (1999) alumni render quality judgements as they evaluate their performances in the workplace, scrutinise faculty productivity on campus, and critique the content and character of undergraduate and graduate curriculum in the universities".…”