This article examines the role of successful Division I football and basket
ball programs in motivating alumni and other donors to make charitable educ
ational contributions to U.S. universities. Results front fixed effects ana
lysis of panel data on 87 universities for the period 1986-87 to 1995-96 in
dicate that year-to-year changes lit athletic success hare a positive impac
t on levels of alumni giving but that other types of donors are not as resp
onsive Also long-standing athletic traditions established prior to the samp
le period appear to generate academic benefits bl the form of increased cha
ritable donations from all sources. However, the estimated impact of a succ
essful athletic tradition is relatively weak when compared to the effect of
student and faculty quality on educational contributions.