Women and Athletic Fund Raising: Exploring the Connection between Gender and Giving

Abstract

In this study, demographic characteristics and donor motivation profiles of donors to a Division I and a Division III men's athletic support group and a Division I and a Division III women's athletic support group (N = 20l )were compared. Demographic characteristics and donor motivation factors were measured by the Athletic Contributions Questionnaire Revised Edition-II (AC-QUIRE-II). Chi-square tests for two independent samples were used along with SPSS-X Crosstabs procedures to test the differences in demographic variables between the donors to men's and women's athletic support groups and female and male donors. Multivariate analyses of variance with follow up univariate F-tests were used to examine differences in donor motivation on the basis of gender of the donor and gender of the recipient. Based on the findings from this study, a preliminary profile suggests that female athletic donors are younger than their male counterparts, contribute at lower donation levels, are more inclined to give to women's programs, and are motivated by success and philanthropic factors.

Understanding donors: A case of university performing arts programs in the USA

“…In the USA, universities have various points of identification with sports being one of the most powerful (Staurowsky, 1996;Tucker, 2004). It may be that in universities with strong sports programs that PAPs compete for donations and so general measures of university identification may not predict donor behavior in the same way that they do in universities without such programs.…”

“…Only 10.7% were aged between 18 and 44 years. In terms of income level, due to affluent nature of this sample, we categorized income into three groups: (Staurowsky, 1996). The donors of this survey are not representative of general US population.…”

“…Conversely, researchers have found that women once involved in giving tend to become quite committed to their target organizations (Marx, 2000) and want to know how their money will be used (Braus, 1994). In fact, Staurowsky (1996) found that alumnae of women's colleges often gave larger gifts and more frequently than their peers in co-educational colleges. While the focus of research in this area has tended to be on women, in a recent study, Crosson et al (2009) found a causal relationship between social norms and donor behavior with men more influenced by social norms than women in relation to public radio donations.…”

“…For example, studies show that in general older people tend to give more to non-profit organizations than younger people (Edmondson, 1986). Moreover, in contrast to the common perception that females are not serious donors (Shaw and Taylor, 1995), gift amounts and regularity of donations from alumnae of women's colleges are much more significant than those witnessed by co-ed colleges and universities (Staurowsky, 1996).…”

Balancing fundraising in academic programs and intercollegiate athletics

“…Lombardi and others (2003) surveyed the literature and were not convinced of the connection. In addition, Frey (1985), Gerdy (2002), Zimbalist (1999Zimbalist ( , 2000, and Staurowsky (1996) studied the relationship between intercollegiate athletics and higher education, all concluding there is little empirical support for the notion that athletic success translates to academic fundraising support. It does seem incontrovertible that intercollegiate sports serve a role in sustaining alumni interests, and that fan loyalty and institutional loyalty seem indistinguishable at times.…”