School urbanicity and financial generosity: Can neighborhood context predict donative behavior in spite of the economy

Abstract

This article contributes new research to the literature on the relationship between institutional-level factors and financial generosity. In the framework of the existing research on how school-level attributes correspond to donor behavior, no study has examined the relationship between the institutional neighborhood context and private giving. The purpose of this article is to examine this relationship. Specifically, this article has assessed the degree to which school urbanicity and other neighborhood contextual factors are related to alumni, corporate and foundation generosity. Controlling for commonly employed institutional predictors, such as school endowment, as well as holding constant the state, year and unique state-year economic environment over the period 1998-2008, the results have pointed toward significant correlations between a university's neighborhood context and private donations. © 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.