I was reading this academic study on why alumni cease donating to their alma mater, which is titled “Why Alumni Don’t Give: A Qualitative Study of What Motivates Non-Donors to Higher Education.” It addressed a very intriguing question with implications that extend beyond universities to the business world and human relationships at large: Why does someone stop supporting you? It is an interesting question because nearly all business-related inquiries are related to the pursuit of a new customer rather than the retention of a pre-existing one.
I expected that the most dominant reasons for stopping donations would be that the school engaged in some strategy that a donor disapproved of or that the donor that the school’s endowment was doing just fine (thank you) and didn’t need any additional support.
Instead, the number one reason why donors stopped giving money to their school was because it felt like … Read the rest of this article!