A Quarter of Alumni Supported Their Alma Maters This Year, Survey Says

One-quarter of college alumni indicated they had made a gift to their institution in the current year, according to a new study from Anthology, an education technology company.

The national survey of more than 17,360 graduates of four-year colleges was conducted in June, August, and September. It found 23 percent of respondents — which included those who had not given to their college in recent years or at all — said they were less likely to make a donation this year. Among respondents who had given to their alma mater in the last five years, 17 percent said their drive to donate was down this year.

A small portion of alumni indicated that they were more inspired to donate this year. Ten percent who had contributed to their college in the last five years said they were more likely to give again this year. That share dropped to 7 percent among all respondents. Motivated donors said they were most drawn to support emergency relief funds for students and the annual fund.

More than one-third of respondents said they were interested in receiving fundraising appeals from their college. That’s a marked change from last year, when fundraising ranked last on a list of topics alumni said they wanted to hear about from their alma mater, according to a previous Anthology survey.

Virtual events are more appealing to alumni than they were before the pandemic. Among respondents who were considering attending a virtual event in the coming months, 65 percent said their interest in online programming has increased since before the pandemic. Forty-one percent of college graduates say they may join a virtual event at their alma mater this fall.

That finding underscores a trend some college fundraisers have noticed since March. Alumni chapters for the Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi, for example, have seen a spike in event participation since the meet-ups went virtual. And a recent study found that eight in 10 college development officers expressed confidence in building relationships with donors and alumni through virtual events.

The new study also found that colleges have been keeping in close contact with their alumni throughout the pandemic. Four in five alumni said their colleges had found a sweet spot, emailing them more than once a month but not weekly. Fifty-four percent of respondents said they were chiefly interested in hearing about how the campus was responding to the pandemic. Another 46 percent wanted updates on classmates, while 41 percent were most interested in networking events. Respondents who had made a donation in the last five years were also interested in hearing how their gift had helped the college.

Career-advancement opportunities, like making professional connections with other alumni, were of particular interest to younger graduates. Half of alumni who graduated from 2011 to 2020 were interested in career help, such as networking events and listings for job opportunities, the survey found.

Some colleges have launched fundraising efforts to bolster their career advancement offerings during the pandemic. That’s the case at the University of Chicago, which has put extra resources into career support for graduates entering the job market during the current recession, says Sharon Marine, vice president for alumni relations and development.

“There was a huge amount of effort put into making sure that last year’s graduating class went out as well-positioned as possible for employment,” Marine says. “We are continuing to think about how we engage this group because their experience will be kind of unlike any other.”

Among the other findings:

• Almost one-quarter of respondents said they had been furloughed or laid off since March.
• Fifty-six percent of respondents said they were interested in offering career guidance to current students at their alma maters. Another 44 percent said they were interested in mentoring current students.

Eden Stiffman contributed to this article.