Alumni social mobility and giving to their Alma Mater

Abstract

The study utilized a quantitative correlational research design to examine the association between alumni social mobility and giving at a large, public research university. The findings revealed that as alumni social mobility increased, the probability of being a donor, and total giving levels, increased. The findings have implications for fundraising practitioners as alumni social mobility can serve as indicator for propensity to give and for targeting fundraising efforts. The study contributes to the research on higher education fundraising by demonstrating how to incorporate both theory and educational mission into the alumni characteristics selected for analysis.