Responses

HEA 530 Milestone 2: Draft of Data Presentation

Sharon Riley-Ordu

Southern New Hampshire University

June 30, 2019

Data Presentation, Analysis and Discussion

Interviews with Office of Alumni Affairs Staff

In order to prepare for the presentation of data and decide on data sources to be used for evaluation, interviews were conducted with The Director, Associate Director, and Supervisor of Student Interns. Key information was gleaned from each interview which will be briefly discussion. The first interview was with Tom Fitzgerald, Director. According to Tom, the overall goal is to improve the pledge rate at Binchley College by 6%. He shared there is an overall decline in contributions. Because these contributions are used to fund special programs, especially related to the college marine ecology and Native American studies degrees, it is critical that they increase. In this interview we discussed the biggest decline in contributions was from the alumni donors aged 55 and over. I asked the Director what he thought this decline could be attributed to. He provided several different possible explanations such as death, fixed income retirement, illness and that people in this age group may be helping children and grandchildren.

My next interview was with the Associate Director. We discussed a slight increase in last two years in the donations from middle-aged and younger alumni, especially graduates of the Native American program. The percentages of graduates from the program have increased, but that can’t be the only explanation for the improvement. She shared information about a small pilot program designed especially for graduates of the Native American program, and promising results. They were invited back for a long weekend to participate in current excavation projects and research associated with it. It has been a great social event and resulted in generating income from the tuition along with the participants donating to the college while at the event and again when the Office of Alumni Affairs solicits donations for specific needs of the research projects throughout the year.

The third and final interview was with the Student Intern Supervisor. Each of the individuals interviewed are graduates of Binchley College, so they clearly have a stake in making sure the college remains successful. The Student Intern Supervisor, Shelley, is a graduate with a major in Native American Studies. She worked on the pilot program with the Associate Director, Jesse which was mentioned earlier. In this interview, we talked further about the increases in donations from Native American Alumni. A key question was asked: Do you know if a survey of the alumni of the Native American program has been conducted to measure the effect of the blog and other forms of communication you’ve used has had on their willingness to donate? Shelley replied that they have not conducted a survey.

Data Collection and Possible Sources

These interviews provided important information related to possible sources for data collection for this program evaluation. Looking at the current state of affairs, the pledge fulfillment rate is 4%. Some key data sources I would look at to increase the pledge rate for Binchley College: 1) Review current and past donor data, 2) Look at the methods of giving such as via the website, social media, at on-site fundraising events, etc. 3) Review results of donor surveys, 4) Review alumni giving at other institutions of similar size and demographic as Binchley College to determine effective strategies being used, 5) Determine shifts and trends in foundation giving, corporate giving, alumni giving, employee giving, and other sources of donations, and 5) look at data related to outreach, marketing, and current methods used to secure donors.

Loveday (2012) conducted a study and found that more than a quarter of the faculty and nearly a quarter of administrators donated back to the university, as there were significant relationships shown among positions of staff, faculty, and administrators and donor or nondonor status of employees. Faculty had the highest percentage of giving at 27.5%, followed by 22.8% of administrators giving back to the university. Only 4% of staff gave back to the university. In addition, male employees, like male alumni, gave back to the university at a higher percentage than female employees or alumnae. Further, colleges and universities should encourage students to join organizations and participate in activities because students who were engaged during their college/university years were more likely to give back after graduation.

Data Presentation

Data is being presented by year for years 2011, 2012 and 2013. The pledges made and pledges fulfill for each year based on stakeholder group are provided in each table.

2011 Pledge & Fulfillment at Binchley College

Table 1

2012 Pledge & Fulfillment at Binchley College

Table 2

2013 Pledge & Fulfillment at Binchley College

Table 3

Reference

Loveday, C. H. (2012). An analysis of the variables associated with alumni giving and employee

giving to a mid-sized southeastern university. Unpublished doctoral dissertation.