Discussion 8

Milestone Three: Draft of Recommendations for Program Review

Courtney Pettiford

Southern New Hampshire University

Analysis

The Office of Alumni Affair at Binchley College has provided additional information regarding the total donation received from 2013 to 2015. In this data set, the total amount of donations increased 1.5% from years 2013 to 2015 (see Table 1). Meaning the department has not reached its goal of increasing the annual fund contributions by 6%. In the most recent years 2014 and 2015, the amount of fund donated decreased by 1.75% (see Table 1). Yet, there was a large gain in donations was seen in Table 1 from 2013 to 2014 with 3.3%. When reviewing the top 10 alumni donors (see Table 2), it is clear the that Native American studies alumni have a history of strong financial support. Based on the donations from the last 3 years it is evident that the pilot program implemented by the Office of Alumni Affairs has succeeded in generating, not only income to the institution but a steady stream of donations from alumni of the program. Those Marine ecology is one of the more popular program offerings of the institution, the alumni from the Art History program are the second most consistent donors (see Table 2). Table 3 compares the two majors. Overall, the Marine Ecology majors have the larger total donations. However, this program has the most alumni who never donated of the two. In Table 2, the psychology program alum gave a large donation during the 2013 year, then followed that up with two consecutive years of zero donation. This and the missed goal indicate that changes are necessary in programs and outreach provided by the Office of Alumni Affairs.

Recommendations

Since the department did not meet their goal, an adjustment to their programs and donor targeting will be necessary to increase gift giving. With the success of the pilot program geared towards the Native American Studies alumni, initiating a similar program for the other top donating majors, Marine Ecology and Art History, should be one of the top priorities. The downside to this recommendation is the cost that will be accumulated in creating these programs. Determining instructor availability and scheduling classroom facilities at the institution would be fairly simple, however, both are likely to require payment. Insite on locations used for study sites could be recommended by professors in those programs of study. The materials would be paid for out of the program’s tuition as would any necessary transportation.

With missing giving goal, finding methods of outreach that is effective and fosters the relationship between alumni and the institution may garner gifts from those who have never donated or stopped donating. The interns in the Office of Alumni Affairs make most of the contact with alumni. Though specifics of their method were not described in the interview with their supervisor, it is likely that contact with the alumni is being missed for those who are employed if interns are calling during the day time. Be it inconvenient, calls made during the evening or possibly the weekend would lead to more direct contact and possibly increased donations. In order to do this, the interns and their supervisor would have to adjust their working hours.

Since the efforts made in 2014 garnered a large amount of donations. The office should review the processes utilized during that time. In Table 3, we see that the psychology alumni only made a donation in during the 2013 year. This should be a red flag. Dramatic drops like this from an individual donor should warrant the attention of the Director of the Office of Alumni Affairs. The Director should personally reach out to this population of donor to acquire the reasoning behind the lack of subsequent donations. Upon the explanation, the Director can make the determination if contact should be terminated (i.e. illness or death) or plan to put forth effort to reestablish contact at a later date.

Appendix

Table 1

Table 2

Table 3

Total Annual Donations

2013 2014 2015 638100 659160 647650

Years

Donations

Majors of the Top 10 Donors

2013

Art History Chemistry English Marine Ecology Native American Studies Physics Psychology 35000 10000 10000 20000 50000 25000 50000 2014

Art History Chemistry English Marine Ecology Native American Studies Physics Psychology 40000 15000 15000 25000 50000 25000 0 2015

Art History Chemistry English Marine Ecology Native American Studies Physics Psychology 40000 15000 15000 22000 50000 25000 0

Donor Majors

Donation Amount

Marine Ecology vs Art History

Alumni Donations

Marine Ecology

2013 2014 2015 66495 88195 89175 Art History

2013 2014 2015 74310 80805 77715

Donation Years

Donation Amounts