The impact of undergraduate Greek membership on alumni giving at

W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 2005 The impact of undergraduate Greek membership on alumni giving at the College of William and Mary Patricia Purish O'Neill William & Mary - School of Education Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the Education Economics Commons, and the Higher Education Commons Recommended Citation O'Neill, Patricia Purish, "The impact of undergraduate Greek membership on alumni giving at the College of William and Mary" (2005) Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Paper 1550154138 https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.25774/w4-gp8c-3714 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks For more information, please contact scholarworks@wm.edu NOTE TO USERS This reproduction is the best copy available ® UMI Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission The Impact of Undergraduate Greek Membership on Alumni Giving at the College of William and Mary A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the School of Education The College of William and Mary in Virginia In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy by Patricia Purish O’Neill May 2005 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission The Impact of Undergraduate Greek Membership on Alumni Giving at the College of William and Mary by Patricia Purish O’Neill Approved April 2005 by David W Leslie, Ed.D Chairperson of Doctoral Committee Thomas G Goodale, Ph.D Thomas X Ph.D Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission iii © 2005 Patricia Purish O’Neill ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission Dedication This dissertation is dedicated in memory of my father John J Purish 1948-1999 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission Acknowledgements Completing my dissertation would not have been possible without the support, guidance and encouragement of many people First, I would like to thank my committee for their time, invaluable insight and commitment to working with me in designing and implementing my research for this study My Chair, Dr David Leslie gave an incredible amount of ongoing feedback and assistance throughout the process; he was always accessible and timely in providing me direction Dr Thomas Ward offered much-needed assistance on the methodology and quantitative procedures for which I am grateful And to Dr Thomas Goodale, with whom I share the belief in the Greek experience, I am thankful for his willingness to be a part of this process from afar and for his encouragement throughout my doctoral program I was very fortunate to have the support of many people at the College of William and Mary I would like to thank the Office of University Development for providing access to the data I also truly appreciate the support and encouragement of my colleagues in university development, student affairs and the staff at the Fund for William and Mary A special thanks goes to my dissertation coach, Dr Anita Friedmann, who kept me focused on what I needed to do, made the task of dissertation seem manageable and helped me prepare for every stage of the post-coursework process Dr Carlane Pittman was my personal cheerleader while I wrote the dissertation She encouraged me and was always so positive in pushing me towards the finish line I hope that one day I can help a future doctoral student the way my two friends helped me survive this process Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission I would also like to acknowledge my sorority, Alpha Delta Pi In many ways, my decision to join a sorority eighteen years ago helped shape my personal, academic and professional goals As I pursued a career in higher education, there have been many sisters who supported and encouraged me along the way I’ve also benefited from many friendships with other fraternity and sorority alumni who have advanced my professional and research interests In particular, I would like to thank Phi Kappa Tau Educational Foundation for the Interfraternity Fellowship I received to help fund my doctoral program My last acknowledgement goes to my family for their patience, support and belief in my ability to complete my Ph.D I’m thankful for the example my mother, Loretta Purish, set many years ago as I watched her manage a career, a family and graduate studies Thank you for showing me how to balance the demands of all these commitments My husband Kevin is the one who deserves the most appreciation He was patient and understanding as pursued and completed this final phase of my doctoral program His enduring support and help with our son, John Patrick, is what truly made this dissertation possible Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission Table of Contents DEDICATION IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS V LIST OF TABLES IX LIST OF FIGURES X ABSTRACT XI CHAPTER Conceptual Framework Statement o f the Problem Significance o f the Study Definitions of Key T erm s Limitations and Delimitations o f the Study CHAPTER II History of Fundraising in Higher Education 10 Alumni Giving and Student Involvem ent 13 The Beginning o f Greek O rganizations .16 Greek Membership and Alumni G ivin g 21 Conceptual Framework 22 CHAPTER III 25 Summary of Project 25 Research Questions 26 Research Context .27 Research Participants .28 Data Collection P rocedures 29 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission 60 provide financial support of their alma mater, fundraisers should consider how this knowledge can be applied to non-Greek alumni to influence giving If further research shows that non-Greek alumni were not involved as undergraduates, it may be more difficult to engage them as alumni Identifying ways to influence the involvement of non-Greeks as students as well as encouraging their alumni involvement should be a primary focus for development professionals Acquiring new donors from this traditionally non-participatory segment of the alumni population should occur as a result of involvement with the school The resulting involvement should lead to acquiring new donors from this traditionally non-participatory segment of the alumni population The results of this study can expand both the much needed body of knowledge on higher education fundraising and the practice of fundraising Development offices should utilize these results to create annual fund strategies focused on developing a habit of giving among all alumni This research showed that undergraduate involvement in Greek organizations significantly influenced the giving habits of these alumni and professionals in the field need to understand how this finding can lead to improve fundraising outcomes from all graduates The Greek involvement factor may be more intense or more continuous than other undergraduate experiences and therefore may promote a high level of institutional loyalty for these alumni Conclusion Institutions of higher education are forced to raise more money from alumni and to successfully meet this challenge, research on fundraising is needed This study adds to the limited body of knowledge on fundraising in higher education and is unique in its attempt to specifically examine in depth the influence of undergraduate Greek Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission involvement on alumni giving The results of this study call on higher education fundraisers to more fully comprehend the impact of undergraduate student involvement on the development of alumni donors Finally, this study suggests directions for additional research to more holistically understand how the involvement of both undergraduates and alumni may impact giving from alumni Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission 62 References Anson, J L., & Marchesani, R F (Eds.) 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University of Missouri - Columbia Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission 72 Tinto, V (1975) Dropout from higher education: A theoretical synthesis of recent research Review o f Educational Research, 45, 89-125 The Campaign fo r William and Mary: Charting our Destiny (2003) University Development Office, Williamsburg, VA Tripp, R (1997) Greek organizations and student development: A review of the research College Student Affairs Journal, 16(2), 31-39 U.S Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics, (nd) Retrieved March 1, 2005 from http://www.bls.gov/cpi/ Wilemain, T R., Goyal, A., Van Deven, M., & Thukral, I S (1994) Alumni giving: The influences of reunion, class and year Research in Higher Education, 55(5), 609-629 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission 73 Appendix A MEMORANDUM TO: Susan Pettyjohn, Interim Vice President University Development FROM: Patty Purish O’Neill, Director, The Fund for William and Mary DATE: January 25, 2005 RE: Approval for dissertation data This is to formally request approval to access and utilize William and Mary alumni giving data for my dissertation research The purpose of my dissertation is to determine if undergraduate Greek membership impacts alumni giving My dissertation proposal was approved my doctoral committee on December 17 and I received exemption, which is attached, from the Human Subjects Research Committee on January With both of these approvals, I can now move ahead with requesting the actual data to be analyzed My proposed study is designed to examine giving from alumni representing the classes of 1964-1994 to the FWM Data elements needed for the research include the following: • All alumni from the classes of 1964-94 including all record statuses (A, D, L, R) • ID# • Undergraduate class year • Undergraduate major • Greek organization (if applicable) • Gender • Lifetime giving to FWM • Ten-year giving history to FWM (FY95-FY04) • Total giving to FWM FY95-FY04 All results of my research will be reported collectively (Greek vs non-Greek) and no individual or specific organization identity will be reported It is my hope that this research not only leads to completion of my Ph.D this May, but that it also provides University Development additional information on the giving habits of our alumni I am excited about the opportunity to conduct this study and share my results with you and other interested parties in Development Upon receiving your approval, I will submit a request to Development Computing Services and work with them to get the data needed for my research Please feel free to contact me with any questions Cc: Jackie Genovese, Executive Director Development Services Glen Weaver, Director, Development Computing Services Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission VITA Patricia Purish O’Neill Birthdate: November 30, 1968 Birthplace: Lakewood, New Jersey Education: 1998 - 2005 The College of William and Mary Williamsburg, Virginia Doctor of Philosophy 1991 - 1993 Florida State University Tallahassee, Florida Master of Science 1987-1991 University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Bachelor of Arts Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission ... Further reproduction prohibited without permission The Impact of Undergraduate Greek Membership on Alumni Giving at the College of William and Mary A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the. .. permission of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission The Impact of Undergraduate Greek Membership on Alumni Giving at the College of William and Mary by Patricia... private higher education and more recently, public institutions must now rely upon such sources of revenue The importance of private donations to U.S higher education is demonstrated by the giving