Gaining Leverage with Donors: The Giving Club Policy

This review of the sociological and economic literatures on gift making emphasizes some aspects of giving club policy that can be manipulated to enhance donor response. In establishing a giving club, an institution of higher education might foster the conditions for gift making as a social custom. Economic theory suggests, however, that the existence of “donor surplus” enables an institution to appeal for, and often receive, a higher level of giving than might be expected.