A few years ago, Peter Wylie wrote a piece for CoolData on the well-known phenomenon of a very small group of alumni donors being responsible for a hugely disproportionate share of an institution’s revenue from philanthropic giving. If you include all living alumni who haven’t given at all, the disproportion becomes extreme.
It’s time to scratch below the surface of this well-known fact, which Peter does here in Lopsided Nature of Alumni Giving Part 2. (Click to download PDF.)
In the original paper, and this new paper, Peter poses a series of questions our sector ought to be asking when confronted with this data. The answers may have profound implications for how we fundraise. However, the answers are not obvious, and require scientific investigation. That investigation, of a rigorous type that requires funding, is simply not happening.
Peter’s new piece follows directly from the original paper, so it’s helpful to read (or re-read) Part 1 in advance. For that reason, we’ve rolled parts one and two into a single download.
CoolData blog 