Alumni Role Identity among Recent College Graduates

American universities rely on donations from alumni to balance their budgets, yet alumni giving rates and amounts have been in persistent decline despite consistently increasing numbers of college graduates. This study asked: how strongly do new alumni identify with their alma mater and the alumni role, how much do they understand about alumni role behavior expectations, and do they intend to engage in those behaviors in the future? Recent university graduates (n = 567) participated in an online survey measuring their organizational identity, alumni role identity, understanding of the alumni role, and the impact of these measures on self-reports of future alumni support behaviors. New alumni express average to above average organizational and alumni role identity, yet do not express commensurate understanding of alumni behaviors, and do not intend to engage in those behaviors in the foreseeable future. In addition, overall student engagement was the most significant predictor of all measures of identity and behavior. Efforts to increase alumni giving should be aligned with these results, with more emphasis given to educating alumni about the alumni role rather than asking them for donations upon graduation, and targeting the alumni who were most engaged as undergraduates as the most likely alumni to support the university.