Award Date

1-1-1998

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Educational Leadership

First Committee Member

Teresa S. Jordan

Number of Pages

172

Abstract

Public institutions of higher learning need to increase reliance on private financial support for a portion of their revenue stream due to decreases in public financial support and increases in institutional needs. To help meet university demands for private funding, fundraising bodies, such as university foundations, need to target their limited resources in directions that will yield the greatest financial results. One way to do this is to identify individuals who are more likely to provide monetary gifts to the university and target fundraising efforts toward them; The purpose of this study was to build a predictive model that was based on the motives and characteristics of gift-giving by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas alumni. The study would determine the relationship among these variables to the level of gift-giving. In total, 18 variables were selected and used in this study; Descriptive statistics were use to demonstrate the frequency distribution and the measure of central tendency for each variable being studied. The relationships among various variables to the level of gift-giving were determined by utilizing artificial neural network technology. This study was delimited to a sample of the total population of over 35,000 alumni at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The sample consisted of three study groups: (1) a sub-sample of alumni who contributed {dollar}10 to {dollar}1,000 at least one time, (2) a sub-sample of alumni who were non-contributors, and (3) all alumni who contributed over {dollar}1,000 at least one time; Overall, the study demonstrated that there were small differences between the three study groups. There is little evidence to support the ability to predict gift-giving at various levels of giving, using the motives and characteristics that were under review in this study. There is moderate predictive ability, in terms of repeat giving for contributors of over {dollar}1,000, with six predictive variables: the academic college from which one has received their degree, the number of years following graduation before giving for the first time, the desire for a tax deduction, the amount contributed, giving to another higher educational institution, and marital status.

Keywords

Characteristics; Fund; Fund-raising; Gift-giving; Las Vegas; Motives; Nevada; Philanthropy; University; University Of Nevada, Las Vegas; UNLV; Vegas

Controlled Subject

Education--Finance; Education, Higher

File Format

pdf

File Size

4864 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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Rights

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