A Comparative Analysis of the Aspects of Alumni Giving at Public and Private Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Due to the decline in federal and state resources available to colleges and universities and the resulting institutional budget cuts, both private and public institutions are confronted with factors which necessitate that university administrators seek other means of financial support. One of the most highly targeted populations is the alumni. College and university fund raising programs look to alumni as a major source of private revenue. Most institutions of higher education solicit their alumni on a yearly basis through a program known as the annual capital campaign. Research reveals that not all HBCUs have experienced the same level of success with alumni fundraising. Therefore, the purposes of this study was to investigate alumni giving patterns at HBCUs and the relationship of those patterns with variables that predict gift-giving, to provide a comparative analysis of the descriptive aspects of alumni giving at public and private HBCUs, and to reveal strategies that are deemed most effective for securing donations from HBCU alumni. This study was quantitative and utilized the survey research design. The participants of the study were administrators of the alumni office, development office or institutional research office of 100 public and private historically Black Colleges and Universities. They were mailed a questionnaire concerning institutional data, alumni giving patterns and predictors of their alumni giving. Seventy-five participants returned the completed questionnaire. The collected data revealed the following results: (1) that the Business and Education disciplines have significantly more alumni that make financial contributions to their alma mater than other disciplines; (2) that there were statistically significant differences in the percentages of male and female alumni contributors at HBCUs; (3) that there was a statistically significant difference in the relationship between the percentage of alumni giving and alumni race, African American and non-African American, at HBCU; (4) that there was no statistically significant difference in the relationship between the percentage of alumni giving and the type of institution; (5) that there was no statistically significant difference in the relationship between the percentage of alumni contributors and the type of appeals utilized at HBCUs; and (6) that there was no statistically significant difference in the relationship between the percentage of repeat contributors and the type of receiving institution. Based on the research and findings, the following recommendations were offered: (1) that separate offices are responsible for building and nurturing relationships with alumni and the corporate sector; (2) that the fund raising offices are adequately staffed with trained personnel and equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and software for maintaining and tracking financial data; (3) that fundraisers be limited to no more than two per year, and, (4) that pre-alumni organizations are established to build and enhance positive working relationship with younger alumni for future university support