Donors who direct funds to Penn Hillel can now elect to also receive donor recognition from the University as a whole under an agreement established this summer.
The new agreement, which went into effect on July 1, allows unrestricted donations to Penn Hillel to be eligible for recognition from Penn, should the donor choose. Additionally, donations can now be made directly to Hillel through the University’s official donations website.
“This arrangement reflects Penn’s strong relationship with Hillel over many decades and the important resource Hillel is to the Penn community,” a spokesperson for the Office of Development and Alumni Relations wrote to The Daily Pennsylvanian. “It will also allow us to express the University’s gratitude to those Penn alumni and friends who support Hillel and who champion the vital role it plays on our campus.”
Penn Hillel directed the DP to an August email from Penn Hillel Executive Director and Campus Rabbi Gabe Greenberg announcing the agreement.
Greenberg wrote that the arrangement serves as “an exciting and consequential development that recognizes the centrality of Penn Hillel to the University community, and creates the groundwork for the support of the Jewish community at Penn for the next 100 years.”
“We are grateful to the Jewish alumni leadership who have been supportive of this deeper alignment, as well as Interim President Larry Jameson and VP of Development James Husson and their wonderful staff who have helped bring this arrangement to fruition,” Greenberg continued.
The new agreement means that Hillel donors can now receive special Penn donor recognitions. This includes Academy membership, a status given to donors who have donated more than $1 million to the University. Hillel donors are also eligible for membership in the Benjamin Franklin Society, which recognizes donors who have given more than $2,500 in a year, and donations to Hillel will now count towards reunion giving.
Other campus groups under the “University Life” category that can receive donations on the University giving page include the Penn Women’s Center, La Casa Latina, and various Greek life organizations and dormitories.
Penn announced the agreement in the wake of a year marked by significant donor pushback against the University for its handling of on-campus activism and instances of alleged antisemitism. Last fall, dozens of influential donors, including Apollo Global Management CEO and 1984 Wharton graduate Marc Rowan, pulled their funding from Penn, citing the University’s response to the Israel-Hamas war and the allowance of the Palestine Writes Literature Festival on campus.
Despite that pushback, the University's broad annual giving campaign, the Penn Fund, ended the 2024 fiscal year with a record-breaking number of total donations, despite initial fundraising lags earlier this year.
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