INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS AND GENERAL ALUMNI GIVING

This qualitative case study examines the importance of men’s intercollegiate athletics for alumni giving at Boston College for a 10-year period, based on the perceptions of 21 Boston College administrators and alumni. This study explores how athletics at Boston College engages alumni in ways that may eventually lead to their financial support of the institution. The findings reveal that study participants perceive football and men’s basketball as a major source of engagement for the University’s alumni that outrank other alumni activities in terms of reconnecting graduates with the institution. Further, participants support the existence of a relationship between men’s intercollegiate athletics and general alumni giving at Boston College, although at varying levels of impact. The findings from this study suggest that engagement with athletic activities and events may serve as the conduit to general alumni giving that supports a host of programs and initiatives that aid the institution in its position as a national research university. Major findings focus on five areas regarding the relationship between men’s intercollegiate athletics and general alumni giving at Boston College: th