A Quantitative Survey of Motivations Behind Athletic Alumni Financial Giving in a Historically Black Universit

Limited state appropriations to sustain college operating expenses result in the need for alumni giving to supplement university fundraising efforts. A quantitative research study examining athletic alumni experiences leading to donations at a predominantly White institution (PWI) was conducted to examine athletic alumni experiences and explored how those experiences associate with financial giving despite cultural fundraising challenges at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Moreover, the study compared whether giving in an HBCU is similar to giving in a PWI. Former student-athletes who graduated from North Carolina Central University received an email invitation containing a link to a survey asking them questions on whether their relationship with coaches, staff members, and faculty motivated them to financially give to the academic or athletic departments. The survey also listed questions to ask whether access to exclusive networking opportunities or other tangible benefits would entice the alumni to donate financially. Lastly, results of the study were compared with the results of Jones' study exploring motivating factors of financial giving in a PWI. Because of the low response rate resulting in a violation of the assumption, the likelihood ratio was used to measure accuracy. Results indicated that there was no statistically significant association between an HBCU student-athlete's athletic giving and their interaction with former coaches, sports coaches, and athletic department representatives. However, there was a statistically significant association between an HBCU student-athlete's academic giving and their interaction with the same institutional representatives. Despite the low response, results showed that there was a larger percentage of HBCU alumni who were likely to join for access to benefits and networking opportunities. Finally, the comparison between an HBCU and a PWI student-athlete showed a contrasting outcome in motivating factors in athletics and academic giving.