Understanding annual giving & what motivates young alumni to give to their alma mater: A mixed methods study

Donations are the largest source of private funding for colleges and universities in the United States (Etzkowitz, Webster, Gebhardt, & Terra, 2000). College and universities need to turn to funding through fundraising, which includes alumni donations. One difficulty that higher education advancement professionals face is the ability to engage young alumni. This study investigated the motivations of young alumni to give to their alma mater, Rowan University. In this study, young alumni were defined as individuals that were 35 years of age or younger that gave during the 2018 fiscal year. A mixed methods approach is utilized in this study to design, create and collect data analysis that includes combinations of quantitative and qualitative data. The two primary data collection methods were an online survey and interviews. The target population for this study was young alumni of Rowan University that received their undergraduate degree and gave financially to the institution. The population of young alumni that gave during this time period was 651. Data analysis was utilized to see trends and similarities among young alumni that give to Rowan University. Each alumnus(a) makes the decision to give to the university in their own unique way. However, young alumni that gave to the Rowan University do have similar trends and similar student involvement, alumni involvement, satisfaction levels, and connections and motivators to give