Frequently Asked Questions

The Penn Fund is the University’s undergraduate annual giving program. Since 1927, gifts to The Penn Fund—from alumni and parents like you—have made a profound and immediate impact on every facet of student life and learning at the University. Donor support provides grant-based financial aid packages to undergraduates, enhances academic programs and campus technology, and fosters community through student clubs and organizations. This longstanding tradition of loyal generosity allows donors to support the University’s greatest needs and highest priorities through the general fund, long-term scholarship support, and special reunion class projects.

A multi-year pledge is a donor’s commitment to make a gift of any size payable over a maximum of five years. Similar to a recurring gift, multi-year pledges allow the University to forecast revenue while allowing donors to consider an increased gift. For more information on multi-year pledges, please email pennfund@lists.upenn.edu or call (215) 898-8445.

Gifts from alumni couples will automatically be credited to both alumni when Penn is aware of their relationship. To be sure that you and your spouse/partner will receive joint credit, please email pennfund@lists.upenn.edu or call (215) 898-8445. If you or your spouse are in a reunion cycle this year and would like to set up a multi-year pledge, please give us a call for more information on how you could both be recognized.

Donors to The Penn Fund are acknowledged in various donor recognition programs and publications. Most notably, donors are recognized for their loyalty and leadership as members of the Ivy Stone and Benjamin Franklin Societies. Find out more about our Giving Societies.

In addition to recognition by The Penn Fund, many schools and centers have their own publications and giving societies, as does the Office of Gift Planning. Naming opportunities for facilities, academic programs, faculty positions, and student scholarships are also available at a variety of giving levels.

If you do not wish for your name to appear in donor reports or publications, please designate your gift as “anonymous.”

Thank you for supporting Penn! Your gift to is already making a difference, and we hope you will consider an additional gift of any size to The Penn Fund. Your unrestricted gift provides the University with flexible dollars to support the areas of greatest need alongside promising new ideas and initiatives.

Gifts that support or create endowment funds are generally designated for specific purposes agreed upon by the donor and the University at the time the donation is made. They generate annual income from investment returns, as determined by a spending rule set by the Board of Trustees.

In contrast, gifts to The Penn Fund are used to support the annual operating budget and thus are put to immediate use. Because these gifts provide instant budgetary relief, they can make an increased impact. For reference, the endowment would need to increase by $1 billion in order to generate the necessary unrestricted funds currently raised through The Penn Fund.

As with most colleges and universities, tuition and fees alone do not cover the full cost of providing an education. Therefore, annual gifts to The Penn Fund are crucial in closing the gap between tuition revenue and annual operating expenses.

Gifts to The Penn Fund do help the University maintain its ranking as one of the premier universities in the nation in terms of the quality of its students, its faculty, its academic and extracurricular programs, and its research. Some college and university rankings also take into account alumni giving when determining which universities receive their top spots.

To set up a recurring gift on a monthly or yearly basis, please visit our online giving page. To change from a monthly gift to a yearly gift click the down arrow next to “Monthly.” If you need further assistance, please call (215) 898-8445.

The fastest way to make your gift is by visiting our online giving page.

To make your gift by credit card over the phone, please call (215) 898-8445.

To make a gift via postal mail, you may send a check or credit card information accompanied by a pledge card to the address below. Checks should be made payable to the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania and mailed to:

The Penn Fund
University of Pennsylvania
Suite 300
2929 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-5099

For more ways to give to The Penn Fund, including giving by securities or through a donor-advised fund, please visit our Ways to Give page. When making a gift of securities or through a donor-advised fund, please provide the University of Pennsylvania’s Tax ID/EIN: 23-1352685.

The cost of a Penn education is far greater than the tuition and fees charged. Your unrestricted annual gift provides immediate relief to Penn’s operating budget, allowing the University to provide a premiere academic and extracurricular experience for all undergraduate students.

A multi-year pledge is a donor’s commitment to make a gift of any size payable over a maximum of five years. Similar to a recurring gift, multi-year pledges allow the University to forecast revenue while allowing donors to consider an increased gift. Donors who make multi-year pledges in reunion years are offered the special opportunity to be recognized for the full amount of their pledge in their reunion year. For more information on multi-year pledges in honor of your reunion, please email pennfund@lists.upenn.edu or call (215) 898-8445.

All gifts designated by the donor to individual scholarship funds are restricted to those funds. Gifts not restricted to an individual endowed scholarship are designated to the appropriate class reunion fund within The Penn Fund. For reunion classes celebrating their 5th, 10th, 15th, or 20th reunions as well as milestone reunions after the 50th, all class funds are designated as unrestricted for The Penn Fund in support of the university’s highest undergraduate priorities.

For classes celebrating their 25th through 50th reunions, classes may fund a special class project from an approved list of capital projects or program funds; a gift to the class scholarship; or a combination of both, with a component of unrestricted dollars for The Penn Fund.

In addition to their goals for unrestricted giving to The Penn Fund and gifts to individual endowed scholarships, classes celebrating a 25th reunion and higher have an opportunity to fund an approved class project through The Penn Fund. At the beginning of each reunion cycle, the University presents a list of projects for gift committee volunteers to consider. This list includes budget-relieving priorities from across campus that will have a positive impact on undergraduate life such as a capital project, restricted program support, a gift to a class scholarship, or a combination of these. Classes are encouraged to designate part (or all, if they so choose) of their approved class project toward their class scholarship.

Gifts directed to The Penn Fund from alumni in reunion years will be put into the appropriate Class Reunion Fund. For reunion classes celebrating their 5th, 10th, 15th, or 20th reunions as well as milestone reunions after the 50th, all class funds are designated as unrestricted for The Penn Fund in support of the university’s highest undergraduate priorities.

For classes celebrating their 25th through 50th reunions, classes may fund a class project from an approved list of capital projects or program funds; a gift to the class scholarship; or a combination of both, with a component of unrestricted dollars for The Penn Fund.