Aside from the superb quality of education it offers, Georgetown University has many more things to recommend it  – history, prestige, athletic prowess… And a big part of how they keep providing these excellent opportunities for new students is by relying on the old ones.

Last week Boston Celtics forward Jeff Green donated a cool million dollars to help his alma mater with the construction of a new $62 million dollar athletic facility. Earlier in the same week New York Knicks star Patrick Ewing joined forces with his agent David Falk to make a $3.3 million gift to the school.

It’s safe to say that Georgetown has benefitted from having very generous alumni – but is it all luck?

It’s no secret that major gift donations to education institutions often come from their alumni pool. But why is this the case? A certain amount of sentiment towards your alma mater…