Understanding the donor experience: Applying stewardship theory to higher education donors.

Highlights • As donors invest more, they evaluate stewardship and OPR more positively. • Respect, reciprocity and responsibility comprise a new stewardship model. • Respect is critical to building positive OPR for donors in higher education. • Involvement does not seem to enhance donor relationships in higher education. • Practitioners should focus on stewardship strategies to build donor relationships. Abstract This study sought to discover how stewardship strategies and involvement impact organization-public relationship (OPR) outcomes for higher education donors at three different levels of giving. The first study to compare annual donors, major gift donors with one endowment, and major gift donors with two or more endowments suggests that each donor type experiences stewardship and OPR differently. Specifically, as donors deepen their giving relationship with an institution, they experience stewardship and OPR outcomes more positively. Additionally, involvement only slightly contributes to this relationship between stewardship and OPR outcomes. Findings also reveal that stewardship may include only three strategies, including a new concept called respect. Implications for fundraising practice and theory are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]