Running head: QUANTITATIVE METHOD PAPER

Quantitative Method Paper

Ryan Bradshaw
George Mason University
EDRS 810
Dr. Bland

Club Sports Participant Alumnis Propensity to Donate to Their Alma Mater

QUANTITATIVE METHOD PAPER

In the financial environment educational institutions find themselves today, institutions
are increasingly having to rely on additional sources of funding. This is a result of the recent
trend of state governments cutting the amount of funding institutions receive, such as cuts part of
a $2.4 Billion budget shortfall in Virginia (Vozzella & Weiner, 2014) and ongoing cuts to the
California state education system (Medina, 2012). Philanthropic donations to institutions have
been increasing to fill the void, toping $33.8 Billion in 2013, up 21.3% since 2009 (Council for
Aid to Education, 2014) and up 301% in the last 20 years (Nicklin, 1994). At the same time,
donations by alumni are increasing in total dollar value, but the percentage of total alumni
donating is falling, with only an average of 8.7% of alumni donating to the institution, a
percentage that has continued to decline since the mid-1990s (Council for Aid to Education,
2014). Next to institutions Foundations, alumni are on average the most important source of
external revenue for institutions, representing $9 Billion in voluntary donations in 2013 (Council
for Aid to Education, 2014).
In order to tap into this important demographic, institutions and researchers alike have
been examining what drives alumni to donate. Key factors include alumnis wealth, with
wealthier individuals donating more (Baade & Sundberg, 1996), income, with alumni who earn
more annually donating more (Tsao & Coll, 2005), age, with older alumni donating more
(Okunade & Berl, 1997), and whether or not they used student loans or financial aid, with alumni
who financed their education through loans less likely to donate (Meer & Rosen, 2012; Monks,
2003). Abdy (1997) also found that wealth, and income were general factors in determining
financial. The only way institutions are able to control these factors is by limiting the students
they accept into the institution based on wealth, or by attempting to predict their graduates
future income levels. Both of these options are hard to control, particularly the wealth of

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accepted students to a public institution. Institutions need to then focus on cultivating donors
based on other factors, such as emphasising the great experience a student had as an alumnus(a).
Club Sports participation is one type of activity that greatly increases a students
experience (Lifschultz, 2012). Research has shown that an alumnus(a)s experience as a student,
outside of the classroom, is positively correlated to that alumnus(a)s likelihood of donating back
to the institution (Monks, 2003; Pumerantz, 2005; Sung & Yang, 2009; Weerts & Ronca, 2008).
Little to no research has focused on Club Sports alumnus(a)s propensity to donate to their alma
mater in comparison to their non-Club Sports alumni peers. With an estimated 2 million students
taking part in Club Sports annually in the United States (Pennington, 2008), this is a large,
potentially untapped, resource of donors.
The purposes of this study are to determine if:
1) Club Sports alumni are more likely to donate to their alma mater than alumni who did
not participate in Club Sports while a student.
2) The institutions Alumni Affairs office donor engagement efforts impact a Club
Sports alumnus(a)s likelihood of donating.
Review of Literature
Student Experience
Institutions are able to control the experience alumni had at the institution while a
student. Baade and Sundberg (1996) found that institutions that invested more in their classroom
educational experience saw a stronger return on investment as alumni recognized this as a reason
to donate to the institution. Outside of the classroom, Pumerantz (2005) identified students
interactions with faculty and staff as an indicator of future donations. Weerts and Ronca (2008)
found that the level of student engagement with the institution while a student had a strong
correlation with the alumnus willingness to donate time back to the school. Monks (2003) also
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found that individuals who were very satisfied (the top score on his 5 point Likert scale) with
their student experience donated 2.6 times more than individuals who rated their experience
lower on the scale. Student experience included participation in extracurricular activities, such
as student government and other student organizations (Monks, 2003). Sung and Yang (2009)
also found similar results linking student experience with alumnis propensity to donate. This
reinforces Okunade and Berls (1997) finding that alumni who would recommend the institution
to another person were 27% more likely to donate to the institution that an alumni who would
not recommend the institution.
Student Athletes
Alumni who participated in NCAA athletics as a student athlete during their time at an
institution have received focus about their willingness to donate to their alma mater. Student
athletes have a different student experience than their counterparts and are typically expected to
have a stronger connection to the institution (O'Neil & Schenke, 2007). ONeil and Schenke
(2007), however, found that former student athletes felt that they had donated enough to the
institution through their athletic ability and did not feel a need to donate financially. Student
experience while participating in athletics was also a determinant of donations (O'Neil &
Schenke, 2007; Shapiro & Giannoulakis, 2009), which echoes the research of non-student
athletes (Baade & Sundberg, 1996; Monks, 2003; Weerts & Ronca, 2008; Sung & Yang, 2009).
Decision to donate
Aside from student experience, a large factor in determining an alumnus(a)s likelihood
of donation is the institutions effort into soliciting the donation (Baade & Sundberg, 1996;
Pumerantz, 2005; Lertputtarak & Supitchayangkool, 2014). Alumni seek to maintain connections
with the institution through social networks, alumni magazines, and email updates, which

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influence their decision to donate by keeping the subject top of mind (Lertputtarak &
Supitchayangkool, 2014). Both Pumerantz (2005) and Tsao and Coll (2005) also found that
keeping alumni engaged long after their graduation date was important to encouraging their
donations. Shapiro and Giannoulakis (2009) similarly found that former student athletes who
were not reminded about their past experiences with the institution, lost connection with the
institution, or were not contacted by the institution, were not likely to donate.
Most alumnus(a) graduate with the expectation that part of their role of being an
alumnus(a) of the institution is supporting the school, which should be tapped into (McDearmon,
2013). Donors, in general, are likely to continue to donate to an organization they feel a
connection to and from whom they receive recognition (Bennett, 2006). This is also true for
university alumni (McDearmon, 2010). The ability of alumni to earmark donations for certain
projects, such as for a specific department of an institution or program of an institution that the
alumni was involved in, increases the chance of a donation occurring (McDearmon, 2010).
These factors can be considered controllable and can be examined and altered by the
institution (Shapiro, Giannoulakis, Drayer, & Wang, 2010).
Gaps in the Literature
While much research has shown that student engagement in campus activities is an
important factor in determining the likelihood of donations, limited research has been done on
alumni who participated in particular activities while a student. Club Sport student participants,
of which there are an estimated 2 million annually in the United States, almost 5 times as many
as NCAA student athletes (Pennington, 2008), are a group of alumni that have yet to be
researched. Club Sports are student-led competitive and recreational clubs which traditionally
compete against other institutions in leagues and for national championships, in traditional

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(basketball, soccer, etc.) and non-traditional (quidditch, underwater hockey, etc.) sports
(Lifschultz, 2012). Club Sports are traditionally used as a student development tool and enhance
the overall student experience (Lifschultz, 2012). This important group, that comprises a large
number of alumni, has the potential to be a great untapped source of additional funds, but there is
a lack of research into their donation habits as compared with non-Club Sport alumni of an
institution.
Research Questions
The purposes of this study are to investigate the relationship between alumnis
participation in Club Sports and their financial support of the institution as a whole. In particular:
1. Do alumni who participated in Club Sports while students at the institution donate to the
institution more frequently than alumni who did not participate in Club Sports?
2. Do alumni who participated in Club Sports while students at the institution cumulatively
donate more funds than alumni who did not participate in Club Sports?
Additionally, the level of engagement and solicitation of the Club Sports alumnus(a) by
the institutions office of Alumni Affairs and its correlation with an alumnus(a)s decision to
financially support their alma mater will be investigated.
3. Do alumni who participated in Club Sports while a student and who are engaged by the
office of Alumni Affairs donate to the institution more frequently than Club Sports
alumni who are not engaged by the office of Alumni Affairs.
It is anticipated that alumni who participated in Club Sports while students at the
institution will donate more frequently and donate more funds than alumni who did not
participate in Club Sports. This hypothesis is in agreement with previous findings on the subject
which indicate that alumnis experiences and engagement at the institution while students are
predictors of their willingness to donate financially (Baade & Sundberg, 1996; Okunade & Berl,

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1997; Monks, 2003; Pumerantz, 2005), and their willingness to donate their time (Weerts &
Ronca, 2008). If the data supports the hypothesis, it will show that Club Sports alumni have
similar donor behaviors as other alumni, as opposed to Varsity Athletics alumni who are less
likely to donate based on their experience of being a student athlete (O'Neil & Schenke, 2007).
It is also anticipated that Club Sports alumni who are engaged by the institution will be
more likely to donate. This hypothesis is in agreement with the findings of Lertputtarak and
Supitchayangkool (2014), Pumerantz (2005), and Tsao and Coll (2005), which found that
engaged alumni are more likely to donate. In contrast to the previous studies, this study will
explore the effect of Club Sports alumni focused engagement, as opposed to general engagement
with the institution as a whole, on the alumnus(a)s propensity to donate. If the data supports the
hypothesis, it will indicate a method for engaging alumni.
Method
Venue
The study took place at a large, public research institution in the Mid-Atlantic region of
the United States. Data was provided by the institutions Office of Advancement and Alumni
Relations (including the institutions Foundation) and the Club Sports Office.
Participants
The Club Sports Office provided a list of students who had participated in the Club
Sports program from the 1994-95 academic year to the 2013-14 academic year (the list contained
some omissions of participants as a result of missing rosters for some clubs for some of the
years). This list contained 6,150 names of students who had participated in a Club Sport during
the 20 year research period. 750 students were then selected at random, using a random number
generator, to reflect a representative mix of alumni based on age, gender, year(s) they were a
Club Sport member, sport they participated in, socio-economic status, and geographic location.
The random sampling was chosen, as opposed to using the complete list of 6,150 alumni, due to
the fact that the number of individuals on club rosters varied from year to year due to the missing
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rosters. The random sampling reflected a representative sample of the participants in Club Sports
during the time period that was examined.
Procedures for Research Questions 1 and 2
The list of 750 randomly selected alumni was then given to the Office of Advancement
and Alumni Relations (OAAR). Due to the proprietary nature of the OAARs list of all donors,
the OAAR would not release the list of names of donors to the researcher. Instead, the OAAR
performed the comparison and returned the information below to the researcher using randomly
assigned identifying numbers (1-750) for each donor.
The OAAR compared the list of Club Sports alumni to the roster of all alumni from the
same time period to identify:
1. If the Club Sports alumnus(a) had made a financial donation to the institution since
his/her graduation.
2. If he/she had made a donation, the number of donations that had been made since
his/her graduation.
a. This number was then also divided by the number of years the individual had
been an alumnus(a) (from 1 year to 20 years, depending on the year the
individual graduated from the institution), to determine the average number of
donations per year. This was done in order to account for the fact that a more
senior alumnus who graduated in 1995/96 has had 20 more years worth of
opportunities to donate than a younger alumnus(a) who graduated in 2013/14.
3. If he/she had made a donation, the total dollar amount of cumulative donations that
had been made since graduation was recorded.
a. This number was then divided by the number of years the individual had been
an alumnus(a) (from 1 year to 20 years, depending on the year the individual
graduated from the institution), to determine the average dollar amount of
donations per year. This was done using the same rationale that was used in
part 2.
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From the OAAR, a list of all alumni from the same time period was analyzed to identify
the percentage of all alumni who graduated from 1995/96 to 2013/14 who made financial
contributions to the institution. As with the list of Club Sports participants, the OAAR did not
release the names of the alumni, but instead codified them with randomly assigned numbers.
From those who had made financial contributions, the number of donations each individual
donor has made, and the total amount of funds donated to the institution by each donor were
determined. These numbers were then divided by the number of years the individual had been an
alumnus(a) (from 1 year to 20 years, depending on the year the individual graduated from the
institution), to determine the average number of donations made per year and the average dollar
amount of donations per year.
Procedures for Research Question 3
Since the 2013/14 academic year, the OAAR has recorded the ways it engaged alumni
members. These engagements were categorized into three categories: highly engaged,
moderately engaged, and not engaged.
A quasi-experimental study was developed using the 750 Club Sports alumni members
identified by the OAAR. These alumni were randomly assigned into three evenly divided groups,
with 250 alumni in each group. Groups were then designated for different levels of engagement:
1) Highly engaged: alumni were sent monthly email updates on Club Sports results and
upcoming games, were invited to Club Sports alumni events (homecoming pre-game
tent, end-of-season banquet), were given access to a password protected Club Sports
alumni website with discussion board and contact information for other alumni
members, and had the opportunity to purchase Club Sports alumni apparel. This
group was also solicited for donations by OAAR staff four times during each year

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(twice by email, once by mail, and once by telephone) and was given the opportunity
to earmark their donations for a specific club or the Club Sports program as a whole.
2) Moderately engaged: alumni were solicited for donations OAAR staff four times
during each year (twice by email, once by mail, and once by telephone) and were
given the opportunity to earmark their donations for a specific club or the Club Sports
program as a whole. No other contact was made with this group.
3) Not engaged: alumni were not contacted in any way.
All three groups were monitored over a two year period (July 2014 to June 2016). The
average total dollar value of donations per group and total number of donations per group during
the two year period was then compared.
Results
Data Analysis for Research Questions 1 and 2
To analyze the first research question, both the list of 750 randomly selected Club Sport
participants and the list of all alumni for the 20 year period were put into separate Excel
spreadsheets. Individuals who had made a donation were codified by a 1 in each list, while
individuals who had not made a donation were codified with a 0 in each list. The percentage of
alumni in each group who had made a donation was then calculated.
From each list of individuals who had made donations since becoming an alumnus(a), the
number of donations they had made and total dollar amount of donations they had made were
then identified in the columns next to their identifier. In order to answer part 1 of research
questions 1 and 2, an average of total number of donations per alumnus(a) who had donated and
total dollar value of donations per alumnus(a) who had donated was calculated for each group.
These numbers were then compared.

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To account for the different number of years that had elapsed since each individual had
become an alumnus(a), as sought after in part 2 of research questions 1 and 2, the number of
donations and the total dollar value of all donations for each donor was then divided by the
number of years the individual had been an alumnus(a) to yield an average number of donations
per year per alumnus who had donated and an average dollar value of donations per year per
alumnus(a) who had donated. For each list, the average number of donations per alumnus(a) who
had donated per year and an average dollar value of donations per alumni who had donated per
year were then calculated and compared.
Data Analysis for Research Question 3
Following the two years of tracking the three different levels of engagement, a list of total
number of donations to the institution and total dollar value of donations for individuals in all
three groups was compiled in an excel worksheet. The total number of donations per group was
then summed and divided by 250 (the number of individuals in the group) to determine the
average number of donations per group. The total dollar value of donations per group was then
summer and divided by 250 (the number of individuals in the group) to determine the average
dollar value donated per member of the group.
Anticipated Results
It is anticipated that a higher percentage of alumni who were also Club Sport alumni will
have made financial donations to the institution than the overall average of all alumni. It is
believed that this would occur due to Weerts and Roncas (2008) research that showed that the
quality of an alumnus(a)s experience as a student is a determinant of their willingness to donate
time back to the institution. Alumni who participated in Club Sports would be expected to have

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had a good relationship with the institution, which Sung and Yang (2009) identified as a key
factor in determining an alumnuss willingness to donate.
It is also anticipated that that Club Sports alumni will have donated more frequently and
have donated more total dollars than non-Club Sports alumni, using the same rationale as above.
It would also be anticipated that older alumni will have donated both more frequently and have
donated both a total and average per year dollar amount higher than younger alumni. This
expectation would follow Okunade and Berls (1997) finding that older alumni donate more to an
institution due to their propensity to earn more and have less debt than recent graduates.
For Research Question 3, it is anticipated that individuals in the highly engaged group
will have donated more frequently and will have donated more total dollars, on average, than
individuals in the moderately engaged and not engaged groups. It is anticipated that not
engaged alumni will have donated the least amount of total dollars and have made the least
amount of donations. These results would follow Lertputtarak and Supitchayangkools (2014)
findings that alumni who were engaged by magazines, updates, and social media, were more
likely to donate.
Limitations & Areas for Potential Future Research
Limitations of this study include the fact that only one institution was studied. Different
institutions have student and alumnus(a) populations from different proportions of socioeconomic statuses (Baade & Sundberg, 1996), and different proportions of students taking
financial aid packages (Meer & Rosen, 2012), both of which affect the level of support of from
alumni. These factors were not considered in this study. Additional research could investigate the
influence of Club Sports alumnis gender, age, marital status, type of degree earned, present
geographic location compared to the institution, socio-economic background, and whether or not

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they have student loans or received financial aid, on the alumnuss likelihood of donating to the
institution.
As Baade and Sundberg (1996), Monks (2003), Pumerantz (2005), and Weerts and Ronca
(2008) identified, student experience at the institution is a determinant of different types of
donations back to the institution. This study only compares experience of Club Sports alumni and
non-Club Sports alumni. Individuals in the non-Club Sports alumni grouping may have had other
influential experiences while a student, such as involvement in Registered Student Organizations,
Student Government, Intercollegiate Athletics, Study Abroad programs, etc., which are not taken
into account in this study. Student experience in the classroom also plays a part in the
determination of future gifts, which were not factored into this study. These are all areas of
potential future research.
Studies by Shapiro and Giannoulakis (2009) and Lertputtarak and Supitchayangkool
(2014) both showed that the connections an institution made with alumni since graduation played
a role in determining their likelihood to donate. The institutions actions of building relationships
with alumni since graduation, such as Club Sports alumni specific newsletters and donation
appeals, were not considered in the first part of this study. For the second part of the study,
engagement was considered, but outside factors, including being friends with alumni in the
highly engaged group or receiving other philanthropic requests were not controlled. An area of
potential future research could be the method used to contact the highly engaged alumni group,
to determine which type of engagement had the largest effect on their decision to donate.
Whether or not the institution allows for donations earmarked specifically for the Club
Sports program as a whole or for individual clubs, is another factor that could influence the

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results of Research Questions 1 and 2, as identified by McDearmon (2010), and could be another
area for potential future research.
Additional qualitative studies could also be performed through interviews with alumni or
through questionnaires with open ended responses to identify factors that influence both Club
Sports and non-Club Sports alumni to donate. Similar qualitative studies could also be used to
identify constraints that prevent both groups of alumni from donating back to the institution. This
study could include specific questions to test ONeil and Schenkes (2007) finding that student
athletes felt they had already contributed to the institution through their act of competing for the
institution, however, it would be anticipated that this would not hold true for Club Sport
participants as the programs are student run and do not attempt to earn money for the institution
through ticket sales and media exposure. This study could be enhanced by using the Former
Student-Athlete Donor Constraint Scale, developed by Shapiro et al. (2010), to identify other
constraints that affect the Club Sport alumni group.
Conclusion
Club Sport alumni are a special group of alumni who should be given specific attention.
Institutions, including Foundations and Club Sport Offices, should direct specific engagement
and marketing efforts towards this population due to their likelihood of donating as a result of
their experiences while a student at the institution. As funding for higher education institutions
continues to drop, this population is a good resource for institutions to attempt to make up the
funding gap.

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