01977nas a2200157   4500008004100000245008400041210006900125260000900194300001200203490000700215520142700222653001401649100002101663700001601684856011901700       2012                        eng d00aBuilding Communities of Philanthropy in Higher Education: Contextual Influences0 aBuilding Communities of Philanthropy in Higher Education Context  c2012  a122-1310 v173 aIn this era of constrained and declining economic resources, institutions of higher education are turning to advancement professionals to identify and cultivate the financial resources that are becoming an increasing and larger portion of the fundamental funding of the institution. In this high stakes arena, advancement professionals have a need for the tools that can assist them in cultivating philanthropic relationships more effectively and efficiently. To that purpose, this research empirically explores ways in which the brand community construct can be adapted to philanthropic intent for non-profit organizations to aid in the cultivation process. This paper presents the results of a survey of college alumni drawn from a commercially provided on-line panel, and examines the potential impact that institutional size may have upon the relationships of an alumni brand community and the community’s expressed willingness to offer financial donations to the alma mater. From a theoretic perspective, this paper reveals that brand community is a significant contributor to this expression of philanthropic intent across universities of differing size. As a practical consideration, our findings produce additional evidence to affirm the notion that brand community is a robust construct that can be of value to development professionals who seek to build financial support for both small and large universities.10aMarketing1 aMcAlexander, Jim1 aKoenig, Hal  u/biblio/building-communities-philanthropy-higher-education-contextual-influences-0