| Fundraising is becoming increasingly important to Division I NCAA institutions. Athletic administrators view expansion and improvement of fundraising efforts as a primary source of future income to offset inflation, rescission and needed programmatic improvements but this goal will be difficult to achieve without a better understanding of the relationship between the donor and recipient organization (men's or women's athletics).;This study, involving four Big Ten institutions, examined the relationship between donor behavior (amount of dollars given) and future donor intentions, within the context of intercollegiate athletics, and four constructs: motivation, involvement, organizational identity, and satisfaction. Donor behavior was treated as a form of purchase or consumptive behavior, borrowing from consumer behavior and social identity theory. Motivation was measured primarily by utilizing Staurowsky's (Staurowsky, E. J., 1994. A comparison of motivations for giving between donor's to women's and men's athletic support groups. Doctoral dissertation, Temple University.) twenty-two motivation incentives ACQUIRE-II instrument. Analysis focused on the gender of the giver, primary gender association of the recipient organization, and gender differences between differing administrative structures (one or two athletics directors).;Analytic procedures utilized to compare groups included two-way contingency tables with Pearson's Chi-Square and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Cronbach's Alpha was used to test the internal consistency reliability of the summated scales of each measure. Factor analysis and exploratory principle components analysis with varimax rotation was used to test interdependence and multidimensionality of each measure. Motivation, involvement and athletic experience measures proved multidimensional with overall satisfaction and organizational identity being unidimensional. Correlational analysis, multiple regression, logistic regression and partial least squares estimations were used to evaluate the relationship to or prediction of donor behavior by select measures.;The results showed donors were either value driven (assist the athlete in having a qualitative experience) or need driven (donor's personal needs take precedent). Lower level donors were more affectively involved and were motivated by identification factors: loyalty, a sense of belong/connectedness, and desire to increase the level of prestige brought to the institution and state. Higher level givers were motivated by three factors: event experience/enjoyment, personal benefits and overall satisfaction with their gift. |
