The challenges facing higher education today are numerous, with funding topping the major issues.  Headlines across the nation speak to the financial state many universities are coping with creating a fiscal crisis around many campuses.  As state and federal revenue for universities trends downward, significant increases in tuition have resulted.  Compounding fiscal difficulties for universities is the reduction in monetary donations occurring amongst alumni. 

A significant amount of research has been conducted examining the issue of alumni donations and results have varied.  Assessing the motivating factors influencing alumni is vital to the success of increasing a university’s participation rate.  All universities strive to increase this rate in order to improve its institution’s ranking with regard to perceived, as well as publicized, strength and quality.   The reasons affecting alumni giving may be based in altruism; however, reasons may include involvement in associations, level of economic success reached, perceived satisfaction in the education received, as well as others. Surveying alumni can help in evaluating these reasons, and a live audience response system can assist in this evaluation. 

Alumni events provide an opportunity to question the basis for giving, or not giving, and offer universities the ability to acquire information that can improve on their participation rates.  Through the use of a live audience response system, such as Poll Everywhere, alumni can candidly provide a university with the information it needs to turn weak donation totals to robust giving. Alumni responses predicated on issues within a university’s control would be invaluable to that university.  Perhaps alumni would like to know where their donation will be used, or would prefer an alternative solicitation means, or some other easily modifiable behavior that can change a non-giver to a giver; a university could quickly deduce that information through a poll and make immediate and effective changes to its alumni request activities.

Through the use of Poll Everywhere, alumni can clearly convey their preferences and a university can then possibly use that information to increase revenue.  Contributing to one’s alma mater is a show of pride for the education received, and possibly a question posed through a poll or a discussion initiated through an open-ended response can pave the way for more giving.