Universities are interested in increasing donations from their alumni. Donations from former students help fund important building projects, upgrade existing facilities, support student organizations, and increase student scholarships. A report from Giving USA states that the total contributions to higher education were $46.73 billion in 2018, a 7.2% increase from the previous year. That’s a lot of support for universities. Alumni donations have remained relatively stable at about 25% of total donations since 2009. How could a university increase donations from former students? Alumni often have strong emotional connections to their alma mater and fondly remember their experiences during their time there. Fundraisers want to tap into these positive feelings when they ask for donations. Can evidence-based management help?.......................

Discussion Questions

1. Explain why people are more likely to give money when they know their donation will go to a specific college. How could universities make donations even more specific? Provide an example.

2. How can the implications for practice based on the field experiment be extended? For example, what guidelines would you provide to volunteers who make phone calls to ask for donations?

3. What are the strengths of using field experiments to solve organizational challenges? What are the weaknesses?

4. Design an experiment to increase a different voluntary activity such as donations to a blood bank using EBM principles.