Our Most Successful Giving Week Ever

I have been looking forward to this blog post all week.

When we launched Hillel Global Giving Week a week ago, we set an ambitious goal: $100,000 to support Jewish life at Harvard. By midweek, thanks to so many of you, we were well on our way. When all was said and done, we had not only reached that goal but surpassed our $125,000 stretch goal, raising a total of $136,174, and making this the most successful Hillel Global Giving Week in Harvard Hillel’s history.

I want to put that number in context. Harvard Hillel is an independent organization. Our programming receives no direct funding from Harvard University. Every Shabbat dinner, every lunch on the Longwood campus, every rabbinic mentor sitting across from a student over coffee, every trip to Israel that changes someone’s life depends on the generosity of people like you. And because you exceeded our goal so significantly, we’ll be able to do more of all of it: more travel, more of those one-on-one conversations that students tell us matter most, more moments of connection that we simply couldn’t offer without your support.

I also want to recognize Hillel International and the members of our Board of Directors whose combined $50,000 match made every dollar go further. Their commitment to doubling the impact of your gifts helped fuel the momentum that carried us past every milestone.

One of the most important things we try to teach our students is that community isn’t something that just happens. It’s something you build, through showing up, through caring, and through contributing to something bigger than yourself. This week, 111 of you modeled exactly that. You showed our students what it looks like when a community comes together because it believes in something worth sustaining. That may be the most lasting gift of all.

To everyone who gave last week, whether it was your first gift to Harvard Hillel or one of many: thank you. You are making this work possible.

With gratitude,