Penn Champions Club raises record-breaking $63.4 million for Penn Athletics

In the 2018-19 fiscal year, Penn Champions Club set a new record in fundraising for Penn Athletics, raising $63.4 million in commitments. This money was devoted primarily to annual fund support, endowment gifts, and capital projects.

Over 6,000 donors contributed, the record for the highest number of donors in a single year.

The Division of Recreation and Intercollegiate Athletics achieved its second highest level of fundraising, with a total of $20.6 million. This stands second to only the 2017 fiscal year, where the total fundraising amounted to $23.4 million.

The previous record in fundraising for Penn Athletics was $23.5 million in 2017-18.

For three years in a row, the Penn Champions Club has raised over $20 million in commitments. In terms of individual fundraising records, the Club also set records in annual fund commitments with $10.4 million, endowment commitments with $16 million, and capital project commitments with $37.1 million. 

The Penn Champions Club raised, in total, $157.4 million for the Game Onward Campaign for the Future of Penn Athletics, exceeding its original goal of $150 million. These funds make up part of a larger, University-wide campaign, called The Power of Penn: Advancing Knowledge for Good. 

"What our student-athletes have been able to accomplish both in the classroom and in competition is a testament to the University and all those who invest in their success," Athletics Director M. Grace Calhoun said in a Penn Athletics statement. "The strong culture of philanthropy among Penn Athletics alumni, family and friends is not only vital to the University, but to all student-athletes both now, and in the future. These are the kind of results we aimed for in the first fully-public year of the Game Onward Campaign—and they were only achieved through the collective efforts of our generous Penn Athletics community.”

The 2018-19 fiscal year drew to a close on June 30, 2019.