Determinants of Donation for Higher Education Institutions
-A Literature Review of Empirical Studies in the United States-
Income from private giving is now becoming as an important measure of higher education policy and university management in Japan. This paper reviews the empirical studies for donations to higher education in the US. In reviewing environmental factors, many studies show that stock prices have positive effect on donating behavior, while the impact of government tax policies and government expenditure for higher education varies among studies. Second, for institutional factors, many studies reveal that enrollment size, endowment size, student economic affluence and forms of institutional establishment have significant effects on donating behavior. On the other hand, the empirical studies on college quality and fundraising efforts show inconsistent results. Third, in individual level studies, a number of studies show that income, age, employment status, race, extracurricular activities in college, contact with college after graduation, a sense of belonging to the college and scholarship award experience affect donating behavior. In contrast, gender, marital status, family structure, satisfaction with college life, and learned behavior in college give spotty results. Lastly, this paper suggests a need for more empirical research on the tax effect on donors in higher education, the mechanism of stock price effect, and international comparative analysis in this field.