AN ANALYSIS OF DONOR MOTIVATION AT A CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE

California community colleges rely on state funding to operate. In recent decades, the annual budget percentage allocated to higher education has decreased. Further reductions may negatively impact community college’s ability to offer low-cost, high-quality, and innovative educational practices. One possible way to generate alternative revenue is by implementing and improving philanthropic practice. The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to explore intrinsic motivations and lived experiences that contributed to individuals philanthropically engaging at a single Southern California community college.

Study participants included 11 donors who contributed $25,000 or more to the community college in the last 5 years. The study used semistructured interviews and employed simultaneous, value, and in vivo coding to analyze collected data. Results revealed study participants were motivated by close geographical proximity, positive experiences while enrolled, by employment or service in an institutional ambassador capacity, and the overall mission of the community college and the need of its’ students. Participants also indicated they had positive experiences after being philanthropically engaged and experienced the desire to improve individual and/or institutional philanthropic practice. Recommendations from study results include improving donor outreach, creating transformative gift proposals, and increasing administrative involvement and support.