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This paper empirically explores ways in which marketers of higher education can contribute to the important task of cultivating alumni philanthropy. Advancement professionals understand that philanthropy is influenced by wealth and affinity. As marketers, we anticipate that our contribution resides with investments in building affinity. Using survey data that measure the affinity of alumni of a large US university who have been commercially screened to reveal individual wealth, this paper provides empirical evidence of the relative contributions of affinity and wealth to giving. Logistic regression analysis reveals that affinity has a greater impact on predicting the likelihood of giving than other variables, including prior giving and wealth. Important to marketers, this study emphasizes the importance of building affinity and also uncovers obstacles to affinity formation. This information can be used to bridge and repair alumni relationships with their alma mater and inform segmented marketing communications to foster alumni enthusiasm for giving.

This study delivers a clearer understanding of the constitution of the datapreneurial consumer, the role of the market in that construction, and the implications for consumer identity projects in the age of Big Data and an increasingly data- and surveillance-driven society. The study uses a theoretical framework of the "quantified self" (QS) to examine consumers (re)building creditworthiness. In the context of a major online credit-user forum, it employs creative-nonfiction methodology to protect forum-member privacy. To the literature on creditworthiness, the study contributes a process model of the construction of the datapreneurial credit consumer identity. To the QS literature, it offers insight into how consumers may embrace quantification and self-tracking, even in areas where they are nudged or pushed into it. To the sociology of quantification literature, it adds empirics to explain how consumers may embrace market-provided self-quantification resources in attempts to liberate themselves from the structural control of that very quantification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on research that seeks to improve our understanding of issues that impact upon the philanthropic gifts of university alumni. Prior research has examined such alumni characteristics as wealth and affinity to the alma mater. Such findings have guided development professionals to conduct different kinds of research that can reveal aspects of affluence (e.g., real estate holdings and professional positions) and institutional engagement (e.g., membership in alumni associations and season tickets to sporting events). This information is housed in databases that can be accessed by the fundraisers. The current research seeks to extend our understanding by examining the potential differences between generations. This article examines survey responses from university alumni in two age cohorts from two large comprehensive universities in the USA. Respondents were asked questions that inquired about their affinity toward their alma mater, intentions to give as well as alumni interest in participating in or attending different events at the university. Significant differences between younger and older alumni were found within each topic. From these results, the importance of market research and applications of alumni segmentation specifically are discussed for administrators and advancement professionals. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]