Analysis Of The Reasons For The High Giving Rate Of Alumni In The Elite Liberal Arts Colleges In America

In recent years,Chinese universities have gradually begun to pay attention to alumni resources,but the attention is often focused on the donation amount of rich and powerful alumni,and little attention is paid to alumni-giving rate.However,the alumni-giving rate represents a wide range of alumni's donation behavior and can more objectively reflect the alumni's acceptance and satisfaction with their alma mater.In the “10 Universities Where the Most Alumni Donate in 2013-2015” released by the U.S.News and World Report,9 out of the top 10 schools are private liberal arts colleges.This raises question: What is the cause of such a high alumni-giving rate in selective Liberal Arts Colleges in America?In response to this problem,this article selected the Williams College as a representative research case.Through contacting with the staff of the Archives Department of Williams College,this research obtained some valuable first-hand historical information,and got to have an interview with a staff member of Alumni Association in Williams College.Coupled with the analysis of Chinese and foreign literature and information mining on the official website of Williams College,this article sorts out the development history of Williams College alumni donation.At the same time,from the aspects of organization,institution and culture,the causes of the high alumni-giving rate of Williams College were analyzed.This study finds that from the organizational perspective,the organization mission of Williams College is to provide the best liberal arts education.Thus,all the organization's operations and management are centered on this mission and provide excellent undergraduate experience for students,which is actually the dominating factor of alumni giving.In addition,Williams College's organizational nature,like private,teaching type,small,boarding nature also provide the necessity and possibility for high alumni donation rate;From the perspective of institutional perspective,the class agent system of Williams College makes alumni themselves become the most basic fund-raising force,and the management system is extremely detailed and meticulous.This kind of meticulousness is also reflected in the local alumni association operating system;From a cultural point of view,Williams College's “consensus” culture provides a cognitive premise for the “co-creation” culture.The “co-creation” culture creates a huge alumni resource for Williams College.These resources feed back alumni and students,forming a kind of “sharing” culture.The three cultures reinforce and promote each other and form a solid triangular cycle.