<p>Cal Poly is rated high in most categories with one glaring exception. US News lists the Alumni giving rate at just 6%, one of the lowest around.</p>
<p>First, do you think that number is correct? If it is correct, why is it so low. Normally this means the Alumni don<code>t have a favorable opinion of their college and therefore don</code>t give back to it. I was thinking that maybe alot of the graduates move out of the area and lose their since of attachment to their school. Any other ideas?</p>
<p>The answer is very simple. Until recently in Cal Poly’s history there was no need for major planned giving campaigns. The school was fully funded by the State of California. For decades, unlike its private counterparts, the school neglected to develop a deep culture of alumni giving. Other than specific projects, it just wasn’t really necessary.</p>
<p>The current budget crisis and dramatic successive cuts in funding have changed all that. Cal Poly is just now developing a major planned giving campaign. For a school that is over 100 years old this is quite new and uncharted territory.</p>
<p>Plain and simple, they never really had to do it before. Expect the low giving rate to change over time.</p>
<p>OsakaDad is right, until recently, there was no real need to give much. However, this definitely does NOT mean alumni don’t have a favorable opinion of the school. Quite the opposite in fact. It seems like a lot of times alumni “give back” in different ways than just donating money to the school. Like with helping students find jobs or internships or coming to talk to classes. Some of the engineering departments get pretty good donations though. This may have to do with the fact that people who go into those careers tend to make more money than average though.</p>
<p>Also, John Madden (an alum) wanted to donate a ton of money to the football program, but they wouldn’t let him cause apparently it would have had to go to the entire athletic department, not just football, and from what I remember, I’m not sure he wanted that.</p>
<p>This all makes sense. I did notice that it seemed like most of the private Universities had a much higher Alumni giving rate than the tax payer funded schools, but I never knew why. So if we continue to have a bad economy I hope we will see the Alumni make up any shortfalls</p>