Correspondence: M. Linda Wastyn, St Ambrose University, 518 W Locust Street, Davenport, IA 52803. E-mail: WastynLindaM@sau.edu

¹She is a PhD holder and Associate Vice President for Advancement at St Ambrose University; and has worked in fund-raising for 14 years with a focus on grant writing, prospect research and database management. This project is part of her dissertation research that was completed as a part of the requirements for a doctorate in higher education administration from Illinois State University. She previously earned BA degrees in Communication and Politics from the Wake Forest University and an MA in Rhetoric from the University of Georgia.

Received 31 May 2009; Revised 31 May 2009.

Abstract

This project explores why non-donors do not give to their alma mater by interviewing 12 non-donors for an in-depth examination of their decision-making processes. The Van Slyke and Brooks (2005) model of alumni giving provides the conceptual framework. This study concludes that where donors and non-donors differ is in the ways in which they socially construct their college experiences to create their own realities. The stories they tell themselves and others about their college experiences and the values they attach to those stories create a reality in which giving does not fit. They tell themselves that the college is too expensive for them or their children today, that other charities need their money more, and that the education they received was a product for which they already paid. This reality becomes the narrative lens through which non-donors interpret and evaluate requests for donations to the college. Variables such as their reasons for attending college, how they fit college into their life and whether they viewed college as a commodity emerged as important themes in these non-donors' narratives. Other process variables – who makes the giving decisions and how they prioritize giving – come into play for these non-donors as well. This study shows the need to include non-donors in research that explores factors that motivate alumni to give to their alma mater and confirms that examining the impact of demographic characteristics and experiences on alumni giving relies on oversimplified pictures of donors' and non-donors' decision-making processes.