Three of President Donald Trump's children have attended Penn — administrative records show that all of them have donated to the University.
Since 2010, Donald Trump Jr., who graduated from the Wharton School in 2000, Ivanka Trump, who graduated from Wharton in 2004, and Tiffany Trump, who graduated from the College of Arts and Sciences in 2016, could have contributed combined donations of anywhere between $10,001 to $22,743. Other documents, including University reports and tax filings from the Trump foundation show that their father may have donated up to $1.4 million to the University.
These records show that on top of sending several students to Penn, the Trump family has also made multiple donations to the University. Despite these contributions, Penn has largely stayed reticent about their links to the family, particularly after the controversial election of President Trump.
Donations from the three Trump children can be found on the Honor Roll, which is a list of donors sent to every member of the class in the fall. The Honor Roll is one of many ways the University engages with alumni in order to build relationships and encourage them to donate. Many of these donations are solicited through The Penn Fund, which was founded in 1927.
“We reach out to all undergraduate alumni donors and potential donors and encourage them to make a personally significant gift in support of undergraduate education,” Executive Director of The Penn Fund Colin Hennessy wrote in an email to The Daily Pennsylvanian.
According to the Honor Roll, Ivanka Trump donated to "other University priorities," while Donald Trump Jr. and Tiffany Trump donated directly to the Penn Fund. The category "Other University priorities" refers to gifts donated to the University for a specific school or purpose, instead of gifts which are donated directly to the Penn Fund. Donors can select where they wish to send their gift when they make it.
Ivanka Trump donated between $5,000 and $9,999 in the 2010-2011 school years. Donald Trump Jr. donated between $1,000 and $2,499 to the Penn Fund in the 2010-2011, 2011-2012, 2012-13, 2013-14, and 2014-15 school years. Tiffany Trump donated between $1 and $249 once in the 2015-16 school year.
According to Hennessy, previous years of The Penn Fund Honor Roll, which the website lists since 2009, "were either never produced or not retained."
The Penn Fund, which Donald Trump Jr. and Tiffany Trump donated to, is Penn’s general fund that the University puts towards its operating budget. The fund is maintained by donors, many of whom are Penn alumni.
“Gifts to The Penn Fund are either unrestricted in nature, meaning they are put to use for the most pressing needs related to undergraduate education such as undergraduate financial aid, or they are gifts to Penn’s undergraduate endowed scholarship program,” Hennessy wrote.
The Penn Fund falls under the greater umbrella of Penn's Development and Alumni Relations Department, according to John Zeller, the Vice President of Development and Alumni Relations. DAR manages all offices that seek to develop relationships with alumni.
"The goal is to create lifelong relationships and serve as the intellectual home for our graduates," Zeller wrote. "We seek to engage donors at all levels and stewardship of their support is also a critical element of future gifts."
Ivanka Trump's net worth is estimated to be around $300 million. Donald Trump Jr.’s net worth is estimated to be between $150 and $300 million. Tiffany Trump, who has recently started her first year at Georgetown Law, has a net worth around $10 million.
Research done by the DP in 2016 revealed that Donald Trump may have donated over $1.4 million, but it is unclear whether this donation was made to the University or just pledged. His children's inclusion on the Honor Roll indicate their gifts have already been donated.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Penn attempted to encourage larger donations from Trump, but it is still unclear whether this was successful.
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