The first alumni donation in 1880 in Japan: social image and the open-academic record system

In 1880, Keio, a private school in Japan, was in jeopardy of being closed. To cope with the situation, the school first created a fundraising campaign during the 18801-90 period. The school was established in 1857, and since 1861, the list covering all students academic record has been distributed not only to teachers but also to all students. Individual-level historical academic record was integrated with the list of contributors. Using the data, we compared persons who had learned in Keio before and after the system was introduced. The main findings are presented as follows. first, graduates who share the academic record are more likely to contribute, and their amount of donation is larger; second, the class size is negatively correlated with the likelihood of contribution and with its amount; and third, academic performance, as shown in the list, is positively correlated with the likelihood of contribution but not with the amount of donation, using a sub-sample of those who shared the list. The introduction of the system strengthened the community network and role of social image shared by the members. This resulted in a successful fundraising for the school, an unprecedented feat in the history of Japan.