| Dramatic cutbacks in government funding and the economic slowdown have caused critical financial shortfalls in college and university budgets. Despite record-breaking growth in private donations, American higher education institutions have been unable to keep pace with the costs incurred by new technology, infrastructure upgrades and increasing enrollments. As a partial remedy, institutions are employing more sophisticated methods of increasing funding from their supporters, specifically their alumni. Similarly, American universities outside the U.S.A. face similar challenges. While alumni gifts constitute the largest category of private donations to higher education, only a small percentage give to their alma mater. Therefore, strengthening relationships with alumni and influencing and predicting alumni supportive behavior is imperative.; This study proposes a new model of fund raising that focuses on the mediating role of institutional identification, induced reciprocity and satisfaction in promoting more positive relationships between alumni and their institutions and influencing alumni supportive behavior. Besides individual, behavioral and institutional variables derived from previous research, the model introduces new theoretical dimensions and measures such as induced reciprocity, goal congruence, and social responsiveness. While the model was tested in an American university abroad, its findings can be generalized to institutions of higher education worldwide.; A survey was mailed to 900 randomly selected expatriate alumni from a major American university abroad. Data analysis revealed that induced reciprocity, number of years since graduation, and family income were the most powerful predictors of both the frequency and the amount of alumni financial giving. The most important predictors of increased alumni promotion of the institution were institutional identification, institutional prestige and induced reciprocity. Goal congruence, institutional sensitivity, institutional need, and student satisfaction with the community also had indirect effects on alumni giving. The study revealed other predictors of alumni involvement with the institution.; The findings suggest that colleges and universities can engender alumni identification with the alma mater and induce feelings of reciprocity towards it. The study concludes by recommending concrete ways to influence the decision of alumni to support their alma mater by the implementation of comprehensive and coordinated institutional strategies and selective manipulation of critical variables by institutional fund raisers. |
