Examining Wyoming’s Endowment Challenge Program: A Synthetic Control Analysis

Public funding to higher education has declined over the years and many states have experimented with policies to encourage private sector donations to public universities. Building on research that examines the intersection of state policy and philanthropy, we examine the influence of a state policy on endowment gifts to the University of Wyoming (UW). Wyoming sought to support institutional advancement efforts by matching private gifts that were at least $50,000 in value. We use synthetic control methods (SCM) to analyze data from the Integrated Postsecondary Data System (IPEDS) and test whether the policy increased endowment growth of the university between 2001 and 2018, relative to similar universities. We find limited evidence that the state policy led to long-term growth in UW’s endowment that was proportionally larger than a counterfactual synthetic control. We discuss implications for research, state policy, and higher education philanthropy.