College graduates often contribute to their alma mater out of gratitude.
As a college graduate, a person may have been in a job interview during which a laudatory comment was made when the interviewer saw from where the person graduated. After being hired, the graduate probably felt certain gratitude toward the university or college. Later on, when a phone call came from this alma mater, the graduate felt compelled to contribute money to this institution because it was instrumental in his or her having been hired. However, the fact remains that this graduate already paid for the education, whether by earning a scholarship or by making monetary payments. So, contributions need not be made out of a sense of owing the alma mater something. Richard Mudd also finds the requests by some universities for donations as support for competing against other universities as rather odd.
Donations from alumni help improve the reputation of their schools.
There are graduates who sincerely wish to give back to their universities because of their belief in the need to provide opportunities for young people to attain an education, or because of their support of research. Donations can also be made to enable the hiring of reputable faculty. Funding can help to raise the school’s reputation when it is used to add technology to aid in students’ successes and to build new facilities on campuses. As another improvement to their reputations, colleges and universities often engage in community-building activities, such as outreach programs, training programs, and case competitions, as well as professional development and awards for exceptional professors and alumni. Donations from alumni can ensure that these programs and activities continue to help other graduates and to reward faculty and supporting alumni.
Graduate donors interested in a field of scientific research should select suitable universities.
Quite often, too, people donate to their alma mater when it is a certain field of research in which they are interested. When specific research interests graduates, it may better advance such research if they donate to another university that has already made progress in this area and has fundraising departments, rather than to their alma mater.
Graduate donors should support smaller and lesser known colleges and universities.
One reason to support lesser known colleges and smaller universities lies in the fact that the renowned and prestigious colleges and universities usually do not need contributions as much as the smaller and lesser-known schools do. For instance, in 2018, Harvard alumnus Gerald L. Chan’s gift of $350 million changed the name of the School of Public Health while another alumnus, Kenneth C. Griffin, gave $150 million to financial aid for undergraduates.