Running Head: BEST PUBLIC, BEST PRIVATE SUPPORT

Tyler Bauer
The Best Public Institutions Have the Best Private Support
University at Buffalo

Intervention
The University at Buffalos College of Arts and Sciences Scholars on the Road Lecture Series

Statistical Method
Differences in Differences, Stratified Sample
Control Group
Treatment Group
Those who do not attend the Scholars on the Road Those who attend the Scholars on the Road
Lecture Series
Lecture Series
Outcome Measure 1
Alumni Giving

How Outcome Variable Operationalized

Looking at the number of alumni donating to
the College of Arts and Sciences who
attended the Lecture Series

Other Potential Causes of Outcome

School Enthusiasm and Engagement

Control For
Individual
Engagement and
Enthusiasm Scores

Cannot Control For

Those not reporting
scores

Prior Giving

Those who have

given in the past

Those who give to

other services

BEST PUBLIC, BEST PRIVATE SUPPORT

The Best Public Institutions Have the Best Private Support

Assessment has always been a skill I wanted to acquire through graduate school. I found
assessment interesting in student affairs when I used to work in student affairs offices. Moving to
philanthropy and alumni engagement, a heavier emphasis is on assessment. I currently work as a
graduate assistant in the Office of Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement in the College of Arts
and Sciences. The alumni that I create events for and speak to are specifically graduates from
that school. Even thinking about the differences between alumni in the schools could be an
assessment. The alumni in the School of Engineering participate and engage with different
events from individuals in the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences. The College of Arts and
Sciences alumni are very diverse in terms of different areas of study. Within the College of Arts
and Sciences, the alumni have graduated with a potential art, chemistry or geology degree just to
name a few. Therefore, the office must learn to cater to multiple groups of alumni. One of the
ways that this is accomplished is through the Scholars on the Road Lecture Series. With the hope
of raising donations, these events are created to attract alumni and provide means for a donation.
No assessment has been made on whether or not the Scholars on the Road Lecture series
correlates with alumni giving.
Background of Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement
In my current office, two different groups of staff members specialize in different things.
Philanthropy encompasses one side, which focuses on the donors and prospects. The other is
alumni engagement, which creates events for the alumni to attend to increase their engagement
to the university. Most of the time, the two distinct groups do not work with each other due to the
nature of work. Philanthropy staff members travel a majority of time to meet with potential

BEST PUBLIC, BEST PRIVATE SUPPORT

donors while alumni engagement seek venues, create events, open communication and think of
new ways to engage alumni.
The concept of merging the two groups in the same office makes sense. Through the
alumni engagement group, a staff member creates an event which an alumnus attends. The
alumni engagement group sends out a survey to assess the quality of the event by using the Net
Promoter Score (NPS). The NPS is a one question assessment on the likelihood of
recommending the event to a colleague in the future. The measurement is a 1-10 scale with 10
being extremely likely. In response, the alumni engagement group creates better events which
increase attendance. Philanthropy officers are invited to larger events to meet prospects. While at
the event, a philanthropy staff member interacts with the alumnus and arranges a lunch or dinner
to talk about the potential opportunities to donate. The alumnus donates to the university which
makes the alumnus, philanthropy staff members and the university happy. The process seems
logical and simple for offices to utilize.
The Scholars on the Road Lecture Series
The Scholars on the Road Lecture Series is a program that was created by the University
at Buffalos College of Arts and Sciences. The program brings faculty from the University at
Buffalo to locations around the United States. The program is meant to engage alumni while
showing the academic accomplishments of the faculty. Most of the faculty highlight their own
research towards a certain topic. The topics that individuals present on can be on subjects such as
global warning, how to detect lies, and how modern film and television has embraced the role of
zombies. The ultimate goal of the Scholars on the Road Lecture Series is to provide alumni an
experience which makes them feel more connected to the university. The goal of having
individuals more connected to the university can lead to more pride towards the institution.

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Individuals are more likely to give time, money or stay engaged to an institution if the individual
have established pride towards the institution.
Summary of Evaluability
The outcomes that will be measured are the donations that alumni give to the College of
Arts and Sciences after attending Scholars on the Road Lecture Series. The lecture series takes
place in multiple locations throughout the United States such as Buffalo, Rochester, New York
City, Washington DC and New Jersey. The donations can be assessed by the AWA system which
is a database that allows the tracking of alumni by demographics, attendance, engagement and
affinity. This system is used by the alumni division to ensure that all interactions between alumni
are documented such as e-mails, solicitations, meetings as well as social media comments. Due
to the sample size (100,000 alumni), the amount of donations that are collected is not accounted
for because of the differences of incomes between all alumni. The number of alumni that donate
who attend the lecture series is the important factor to asses. The donations that the College of
Arts and Sciences receives help prove the effectiveness of the program. If the program is
effective, the division of Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement are more willing to continue
funding the program. If the program does not encourage alumni to donate, the program is a
failure to the philanthropy division by losing more money than program is gaining. The College
of Arts and Sciences needs more gifts because of the decrease of funding that the College is
receiving from the institution. Also, inflation is causing the prices of salaries to increase which
highlights the need for private donations.
Most donations that are received by the university are documented. By documented, the
donations are given with specific requests that the money is supposed to fund. The Scholars on
the Road Lecture Series highlights two different funds: the Deans Innovation Fund and the

BEST PUBLIC, BEST PRIVATE SUPPORT

Julian Park Society. The Julian Park Society is for individuals that donate $1000 or more a year.
The Deans Innovation Fund is a fund specifically used for the deans use. The amount of
donation does not matter. By focusing on these two funds, alumni who attend the Scholars on the
Road Lecture Series can support the positive effectiveness of the program. Alumni who attend
the Scholars on the Road Lecture Series should be becoming a member of the Julian Park
Society or donating to the Deans Innovation Fund.
Multiple variables exist that can cause the donations to occur. E-mails are sent to alumni
from all different departments and offices. For instance, if an alumnus receives emails from
University Life & Services, the money raised by this office is given to student affairs. Alumni
can also receive emails from the athletic program which seeks donations to fund athletic
initiatives on campus. This is the same for the Presidents fund, Alumni Association and
individual departments (Philosophy, Mathematics, etc). Thus, the solicitations from multiple
different offices can encourage an individual to donate. This can affect whether or not the
Scholars on the Road Lecture Series is the primary reason the alumni decided to donate to the
institution. The same can be said with the opposite. Lets say that an alumnus donates to the
Students First Fund after attending the Scholars on the Road Lecture Series. The Scholars on the
Road Lecture Series would see this as a failure due to the donation not going to the College of
Arts and Sciences. The location of the donations is important when assessing the program.
Therefore the program must also highlight the accomplishments of the College of Arts and
Sciences specifically. For the experiment, it will be beneficial looking at the College of Arts and
Sciences alumni who have attended the Scholars on the Road Lecture Series and made a
donation to the College of Arts and Sciences specifically. Therefore, the program can be assessed

BEST PUBLIC, BEST PRIVATE SUPPORT

on whether or not the program is leading to individuals donating to the College of Arts and
Sciences or another office.
Another issue that can arise when measuring the relationship between the program and
donations is the individuals perceptions of the University at Buffalo prior to the program. An
alumnus who is enthusiastic towards the university is more likely to donate than an alumnus that
is not enthusiastic towards the university. Fortunately, this is measured in the AWA system
through an enthusiasm score out of 100. All alumni are given a survey, through e-mail, which
assesses the amount of enthusiasm that the individual has toward the institution. In the evaluation
of the Scholars on the Road Lecture Series, the enthusiasm score of the alumni that donated can
be controlled.
Unfortunately, external factors can be an influence on philanthropy as well. For instance,
if an individual works in a philanthropic company, the chances are higher that the individual
believes in philanthropy. This can lead to an individual donating. It can also be possible that an
individual decides to donate after attending the Scholars on the Road Lecture Series while the
series had no positive relationship towards that individual donating. The individual donating can
have multiple exterior motives that can lead to the giving. Therefore, the experiment will exclude
individuals that have donated in the past. By excluding alumni who have donated, the
effectiveness on the program on alumni giving can be measured by looking at individuals who
have not donated in the past.
The Scholars on the Road Lecture Series has received awards from the State University
of New York as an initiative alumni program. The intention of the program was to ensure that
alumni eventually donate towards the College of Arts and Sciences. The actual expected
outcomes of the program have not accurately been assessed. The attendance of alumni the events

BEST PUBLIC, BEST PRIVATE SUPPORT

can impact many factors in a positive way. By looking at the enthusiasm scores, activities,
solicitations and prior engagement, the factors can controlled on the impact of the Scholars on
the Road Lecture Series towards philanthropic philosophies on alumni.
Review of Literature
Higher education in the middle of the twentieth century thrived due to the influx of funds
from the state and federal governments. Due to the decrease of funding from state and federal
governments to higher education, philanthropy has increased at a majority of higher education
institutions to help maintain budgets. This increase has lead to a competition between higher
education for different donations from their alumni, students and faculty (Radcliffe, 2011). At the
University at Buffalo, competition not only exists with other institutions but within itself.
Different schools, such as engineering, arts and sciences, pharmacy and others, compete for the
same alumni with the purpose of raising money for their respective school and engagement.
Recently, the College of Arts and Sciences implemented the Scholars on the Road Lecture Series
which helps engage alumni with faculty. The program won an award from the State University of
New Yorks Council of University Advancement (SUNYCUAD) in 2015. But with the ultimate
goal of philanthropy as raising money towards the institution, does this program move alumni
closer towards giving a gift toward the College of Arts and Sciences?
Alumni Engagement and Philanthropy
In development, a common professional belief is that alumni engagement leads to
philanthropy towards the institution. The belief that alumni engagement leads to philanthropy is
based on a development officers professional experiences and intuition (Radcliffe, 2011). Due to
the need of philanthropy in institutions to operate appropriately, assessment towards the subject
has been steadily improving. In the past, assessment for alumni focused on career advancement.

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In the past 20 years, institutions are now focusing on the holistic development of alumni with
their respective careers, morals and goals (Cabrera, Weerts & Zulick, 2005). This can show
whether or not an institution is reaching goals that students should reach by the time that they are
alumni. Assessment of the individual can also show how likely an individual will be engaged.
For instance, the degree with which an alumnus believes in volunteering and philanthropy
morally leads to the likelihood of alumni becoming engaged with campus events and donate to
their alma mater (Weerts & Ronca, 2007). Alumni engagement and philanthropy are commonly
used together but both are two different topics that will be addressed.
Alumni Engagement. Alumni are more likely to be engaged if the individual was
engaged with the institution as a student (Cabrera, Weerts & Zulick, 2005; Steeper 2004;
Okunade, Wunnava & Walsh, 1994). If as a student, the alumnus created an emotional
connection towards the institution, the individual will most likely become engaged after
graduation (Weerts & Ronca, 2007). The degree with which an alumnus decides to volunteer is
linked to the graduates perception of the current institutions quality and their own collegiate
experience (Cabrera, Weerts & Zulick, 2005). Certain programs that a student engages in can
lead to whether or not the student becomes engaged as an alumnus (Radcliffe, 2011). For
instance, students who are involved with a Greek organization or the honors program are less
likely to become engaged or donate as alumni than students who were involved in other
programs (Okunade, Wunnava & Walsh, 1994).
As time progresses, new means of engagement have been created. Social media is one of
those new initiatives. More research has been created on the effects of social media on alumni
engagement (Horseman, 2011). Social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram,
allow alumni and students to instantly feel connected to their institution. In the case for

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millennials, a negative correlation has been found between internet use and attending on campus
events as alumni (Horseman, 2011). More research on the subject is needed in order to fully
understand the relationship between social media and alumni engagement which could lead to
more webinar events rather than in person.
Academics are a major factor with alumni engagement as well. The degree to which
faculty members have made an impact on an individual is linked to engagement as alumni
(Cabrera, Weerts & Zulick, 2005). An alumnus is also more likely to become involved when a
faculty member impacts their personal philosophy of wanted to learn more (Flegg, 2012).
Sometimes, engagement with faculty can cause some miscommunication between development
officers. The development officers do not know the extent with which an alumni is engaged with
an institution because of the direct contact an alumni can have to a faculty member and not the
specific officer (Steeper, 2004)
Philanthropy. Before the 1990s, student engagement was not as closely assessed to
understand the relationships between student engagement and philanthropy (Cabrera, Weerts &
Zulick, 2005). Initial studies found that alumni with master degrees were more likely to donate
than alumni with four year degrees (Okunade, Wunnava & Walsh, 1994). With the lack of
assessment data, the only way institutions can learn about older alumni is through self-report
measures. Although limited in the amount of responses, researchers were able to make claims
with the reported data. Alumni who indicated that they expressed satisfaction with their
experience at the institution were more likely to donate at Ivy League institutions but only if the
alumni were currently satisfied with their institution (Clotfelter, 2003). Reputation can have an
impact on whether or not an individual donates. If an institution has a large endowment, alumni
are more likely to donate to the institution (Simone, 2009). Alumni that attended two different

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schools were more likely to donate to the school that the individual, at the time, agreed with the
direction which the programs were heading due to public attention (Weerts & Ronca, 2009).
Popular belief suggests that the more selective an institution is over another correlates with
alumni giving (Simone, 2009). Although this belief can be seen in endowments and money raised
a year, the amount of individuals giving to an institution is similar across all institutions (Simone,
2009), which shows that individuals develop a sense of pride or belonging towards their
respective institution regardless of selectivity. Institutions constantly strive to find ways for
alumni to donate but some factors are out of their control.
Many factors exist that an institution cannot control which can lead an alumni to donate
or not donate to an institution (Weerts & Ronca, 2007). For instance, alumni household income,
age and employment affect whether or not an individual will donate (Weerts & Ronca, 2007).
Older alumni are more likely to donate and volunteer over young alumni due to the lack of
established careers for young alumni over older alumni (Horseman, 2011). Even world events
can have an impact on philanthropy. For instance, the desegregation of schools in the United
States in the 1960s led to a decrease in philanthropy across all higher education (Okunade,
Wunnava & Walsh, 1994). Even as a student, if an individual received need-based aid while
attending higher education, the individual is less likely to donate to the institution after
graduation (Clotfelter, 2003).
More research is needed on the link between alumni engagement and philanthropy. The
common belief between professionals is that if an alumnus is engaged, the individual is more
likely to donate. When looking at the Scholars on the Road Lecture Series, research shows a link
between faculty and alumni engagement (Cabrera, Weerts & Zulick, 2005). Faculty are a factor
when donating to an institution. If an alumnus maintains contact with a faculty member, the

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alumnus will be more likely to donate (Steeper, 2004). If engagement is correlated to alumni
giving and faculty interactions can lead to giving, the Scholars on the Road Lecture Series will
lead to more alumni giving. By bringing a faculty member to speak on a topic, alumni have the
opportunity to speak to the leading expert in the field. In regards to learning, alumni who have
access to digital libraries are more likely to stay engaged with the institution (Flegg, 2012). With
faculty members presenting on their particular topic, the alumnus is able to interact, ask
questions and learn from the expert. The Scholars on the Road Lecture Series is a unique
program that brings faculty and alumni together. SUNYCUAD recognized the impact that the
program can have on alumni. Empirical data would prove the significance of the program as
well.
Methods
The experiment is attempting to support the claim that alumni who attend the Scholars on
the Road Lecture Series will donate to the University at Buffalos College of Arts and Sciences.
The independent variable in the experience would be alumni who have attended the Scholars on
the Road Lecture Series and alumni who have not attended the Scholars on the Road Lecture
Series. In order to complete the assessment, data must be collected in order to control for
confounding variables that can potentially affect the outcome of the experiment. By controlling
for these variables, the outcome is less likely to have an error variance. Because of the large
population, the error in the differences between alumni (systematic error) can lead to biases in
the data as well.
Data Necessary
The Office of Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement at the University at Buffalo uses a
database (AWA) to monitor all alumni activity with the institution. These variables are extensive

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on the levels of demographics, engagement, donations and enthusiasm. By using this database,
one can control on the scale of demographics, age, graduation year etc. which can have an
impact on the levels of giving. The AWA database also contains information about alumnis
current profession, email addresses, home and work addresses, phone numbers and relationships
between individuals such as spouse, partner, and family. By using the AWA system, confounding
variables can be controlled.
One important measure that is recorded in the database is an alumnis enthusiasm score.
An enthusiasm score is given to alumni on a scale of 0-100 with 100 being the most enthused.
This score is used to determine how enthused an alumnus is to the University at Buffalo. In order
to receive a score, alumni must fill out a survey which measures the enthusiasm level which
automatically is uploaded to AWA. The enthusiasm score is a relatively new measure that has
been introduced to alumni relations at the University at Buffalo. The survey is intended to be
given to students upon graduation from the institution with an incentive such as a diploma frame.
At this time, this is the current procedure for receiving the scores. When the survey was first
created, alumni were sent the enthusiasm score survey via email to complete with an iPad
incentive for completion. Enthusiasm scores are an important way to understand whether or not
alumni would want to stay connected to the institution in the future. Unfortunately, there are
some confounding variables with this survey as well. Not all alumni have enthusiasm scores.
This can be due to many reasons such as the wrong email addresses in the AWA database or lack
of technology knowledge. Also, alumni can have a different opinion of the University at Buffalo
from the month after they graduate in comparison to years in the future.
Along with enthusiasm scores, engagement scores are created for alumni as well. In
comparison to enthusiasm scores, engagement scores are on a Guttman scale with the certain

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events or activities that an alumnus participates in with a point value. The higher the point value,
the more engaged to the University at Buffalo the alumnus is. The engagement score is used to
assess whether or not a development office should solicit a donation or engagement officer
should look for ways the alumnus becomes even more involved with the University (Board of
Directors, Advisory Councils, etc.). An alumnus who has a higher engagement score is more
likely to attend events or donate in the future. Therefore, engagement scores could be a
confounding variable in the experiment.
Typically, if an alumnus has donated in the past, the alumnus is more likely to donate
again. In the AWA system, giving history is provided for each alumni as well as the specific fund
in which that alumni has donated. By looking at the donation history of alumni, the experiment
can control for the individuals who have given in the past. This is one of the many ways that the
AWA database documents alumni interactions.
Data Collection
The experiments interaction is the University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences
Scholar on the Road Lecture Series. The control group in this experiment is alumni who have not
attended the Scholars on the Road Lecture Series. The treatment group in this experiment is
alumni who have attended the Scholars on the Road Lecture Series. To assess the effectiveness of
the program, the dependent variable is number of alumni donating to the College of Arts and
Sciences. The statistical technique used in this experiment is the differences in differences
technique. This technique looks at the average change in the dependent variable across the
treatment and control groups. A difference in the treatment and control groups lies in the
selection of the two groups. One group is actively attending an alumni event while the other is
not participating in alumni activities. Due to this distinction, the differences in differences

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technique allows the measure of donations to be the factor in the disparity between the control
and treatment groups.
For the sample of the two groups, the populations between the number of alumni who
attend the Scholars on the Road Lecture Series is disproportionate to the number of alumni who
do not attend the Lecture Series. A stratified sample between the two groups can create the
controlling for multiple extraneous variables such as engagement scores, enthusiasm scores,
giving, age and region. To increase the population of alumni who have attending the Scholars on
the Road Lecture Series, the population will consist of the College of Arts and Sciences alumni
who attended in the past 3 months. By using that sample and controlling for the variables, the
intervention can accurately be assessed by the dependent measures. To measure the dependent
variable, an alumnus giving is in the AWA database.
Alumni giving is the dependent variable when measuring the effects of the Scholars on
the Road Lecture Series received through institutional data. Donating to the College of Arts and
Sciences is a reliable measure. Reliability measures the constituency of a construct. Since
donating to the College of Arts and Sciences is specific towards the school instead of the general
University at Buffalo, the construct is consistent. The validity of the measure in regards to the
Scholars on the Road Lecture Series provides strong face validity. Validity is the degree with
which a tool measures what it is supposed to measure. Alumni giving is a fixed construct which
can be accessed through the AWA database. Although the reliability and validity may appear as
supporting the hypothesis, one cannot assume that the Scholars on the Road Lecture Series is the
cause of alumni giving. Alumni giving and the attendance of the Scholars on the Road Lecture
Series is a correlation between two variables. By controlling the variables mentioned before, the
experiment attempts to control for possible confounding variables that might affect alumni

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giving. Realistically, multiple extraneous variables exist that can cause an individual to donate to
an institution. The Scholars on the Road Lecture Series provides an opportunity for individuals
to start thinking about the possibility of donating towards the institution that they had not
previously thought of.
Conclusion
The competition in philanthropy across higher education institutions will only increase in
the future. Due to this competition, alumni engagement offices will try to find new ways to
engage alumni through programming. Even within the University at Buffalo, schools are starting
to create their own versions of the Scholars on the Road Lecture Series. The Scholars on the
Road Lecture Series is a clear representation of the different ways an office can create unique
programming that engage a wide array of alumni. By bringing faculty into the conversation with
alumni, an intellectual aspect is created which increases an alumnuss engagement, enthusiasm
and belief of the University at Buffalo. Due to the size of alumni population for the College of
Arts and Sciences, programming and outreach to a wide array of alumni proves as a difficult task
for alumni engagement staff members and development officers as well. Hopefully, with the
creation of programs such as the Scholars on the Road, one can make a prediction in the affects
of attending the program and giving. One cannot debate the ways that alumni giving benefits a
higher education institution.

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References
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Flegg, C. (2012). Alumni, Libraries and Universities: whereto the relationship. The Journal of
Academic Librarianship, 38(1), 60-62.
Horseman, A. M. (2011). The effects of new media on alumni engagement among millennials: A
case study of the University of Kentucky College of Health Sciences Alumni.
Okunade, A. A., Wunnava, P. V., & Walsh, R. (1994). Charitable Giving of Alumni. American
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Radcliffe, S. (2011). A Study of Alumni Engagement and Its Relationship to Giving Behaviors.
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Steeper, D. W. (2009). The Effects of Selected Undergraduate Student Involvement and Alumni
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Weerts, D. J., & Ronca, J. M. (2009). Using classification trees to predict alumni giving for
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