Author(s)

Xiao Ren, Xu Zhang, Jialu Li, Haoran Wang

Corresponding Author

Haoran Wang

Abstract

With the rapid expansion of higher educational enrollments, the shortage of educational funds in universities has become a mounting crisis in China. It is a consensus among universities to raise funds through their foundations. As an essential source of social donations for university founda-tions, alumni donations have great potential for exploration. Therefore, efficiently revitalizing alum-ni resources and absorbing donations from alumni are the breakthroughs that further enhance the fundraising capability of university foundations and promote the construction of Double First-Class universities. This paper analyzes the annual alumni donations and the questionnaire survey of stu-dents in one university in China. It concludes that the alumni donation behavior comes from the alumni's identification with their alma mater and the sense of responsibility to feed their alma mater. Both of them depend on the delicate management of the foundation in the process of university fi-nancial support and education, inseparable from the cultivation of the students' sense of gratitude and donation. On this basis, this paper further explores various ways to improve alumni giving rates.

Keywords

University foundations, Alumni donations, Awareness of gratitude