Alumni Create Challenge Fund to Spur Giving for Scholarships
May 26, 2004
Thanks to the generosity of three anonymous alumni, $615,000 in challenge funding is now available to help establish 19 new scholarships for College students. These gifts will provide a 50 percent match for gifts of $67,000 from other donors, bringing the total contribution for each gift to $100,000, the minimum needed to endow a scholarship. Each fund will provide partial support for one student’s four-year education in perpetuity.
Such partnerships among donors have been a tradition in the College for several years. University trustee and SAS overseer Paul Kelly, C’62, WG’64, was the first to establish a match for College scholarships in 1997. He was followed by trustee and overseer Mitchell Blutt, C’78, M’82, WG’87, in 1999 and overseer Christopher Carrera, C’88, in 2002.
These funds are especially important now, when more than 60 percent of all College students need some form of financial support. Scholarship gifts ensure that a Penn education is affordable for all qualified students, regardless of their financial ability. Donors may designate their scholarships for students from particular majors, from certain geographic regions, or with specific academic criteria.