Athletic Giving and Academic Giving: Examining the Value of Split Donors to Educational Institutions

A recent report issued by the Commission on the Future of Higher Education noted the decline in state support as a large reason for the increased attention paid to private support of colleges and universities. Both the American Council on Education and the Council for Aid to Education have noted that private support cannot itself replace state support for public universities (Chronicle of Higher Education 2006). Many factors prevent the widespread use of private contributions to offset increased expenditures and/or declining state support. First, the growth in private support is not equally distributed. The top ten institutions in fundraising (only two of which are public) account for over 50% of the growth in donations (Strout 2007). Further, the growth is driven primarily by increases in average gift size as opposed to increases in the number of donors making gifts. Finally, many donors direct or restrict their gifts for use by certain programs, making it difficult to use the increased support to offset many increased operating expenditures (Strout 2007). The increased prevalence of athletic fundraising provides one such example. In some cases, all or a substantial portion of an institution’s growth in private support is being directed to the school’s athletics programs (Stinson and Howard 2007). Together, these factors place increased pressure on institutional fundraisers to maximize the financial support provided by donors. A 2004 study of donors at the University of Oregon identified that SPLIT donors (donors giving to both Athletic and Academic programs) made larger gifts to the institution than their counterparts supporting only athletic or academic programs. The purpose of this paper is to examine the value of SPLIT donors to the institution in more detail.