The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a relationship among selected demographic variables and donor or nondonor status of alumni and employees at the participating university. The variables involving alumni were gender, highest degree earned, and college of major study. The variables regarding employees were gender and position. The study was conducted using archived alumni data from the Alumni Association’s database program and the archived employee data from the Office of Human Resources’ database program. The population for this study consisted of the 76,728 alumni and the 2,279 full-time employees of a mid-sized southeastern university during the fiscal year 2009-2010. The results of the data analysis gave insight into what degree alumni and employees gave back to their university and place of employment. For example, 3.9% of alumni were found to be donors while 18.4% of employees were shown to be donors. The percentage of alumni who donated increased with each advanced degree earned. Males in both categories, alumni and employees, donated at a higher percentage than females. In the employee category, faculty were shown to donate at a higher percentage than administrators or staff. The study provided an increase in the body of knowledge of the variables of alumni giving and employee giving at the participating university.

The purpose of this study was to explore faculty/staff identification with their employing university and how that, in turn, may influence their decision to financially support the institution, or not. This study employed a case study approach and a mixed methods research design utilizing both qualitative and quantitative data. An online survey using Cheney’s (1982) Organizational Identification Questionnaire measured faculty/staff members’ identification with the organization and with their specific departments. The survey also collected data on faculty/staff past charitable giving. Following the survey, qualitative focus groups and interviews were conducted with faculty/staff members to explore what factors contributed to their decisions to support the university, or not. The survey data revealed that faculty and staff members identify more highly with their departments and staff members identify more highly overall than faculty members. Yet, the survey also revealed that faculty members gave more financially to the university than did staff members. A thematic analysis of the qualitative data revealed three overarching factors that influenced faculty/staff decisions to give, or not: affinity, capacity to give, and awareness. These findings offer insight to higher education universities and institutions about how identification between the faculty/staff members and the organization can affect their decisions to support the university. This case study makes a contribution to the literature on charitable giving, employee giving, and specifically, faculty/staff giving. It also extends extant literature on organizational identification, particularly targets of identification in a higher education context. Finally, this study offers practical implications for other universities, suggests directions for future research, and acknowledges the limitations.