Case Study: Examining the Differences between Donors and Non-donors to an Intercollegiate Athletics Department

Research has provided evidence for a relationship among donor perceptions of social responsibility, trust, commitment, and intentions to donate. One research area lacking is how donors and non-donors to an institution differ in those factors. Communication between an institution and stakeholders helps build understanding and support. One approach to communication strategies includes the varying involvement of the stakeholders. This study endeavors to accomplish two goals: 1) to fit the data from a purposive sample to a validated model; and 2) to examine differences between donors and non-donors on the factors within that model. Results indicated that the data from this case study fit the theoretical model. Also, while donors and non-donors defined the factors in the model in similar ways, there were differences between donors and non-donors related to the intensity of the relationships between factors. Donors demonstrated a stronger relationship between trust/commitment and commitment/intent than non-donors did. Non-donors demonstrated a stronger relationship between trust/intent than donors did. One implication of this study is that universities and athletic departments can use information from the results to aid them in communicating with donors and alumni during fundraising campaigns. Specifically, if you can communicate with stakeholders in a way that increases trust and commitment to the institution then they would likely strengthen the donation intentions of current donors and encourage non-donors to donate in the future. Future research can build upon this study by determining the effects that a stakeholder involvement communication strategy would have on non-donor donation intentions.