Support Us - Tufts Hillel

TOUCHING LIVES ... TEACHING LEADERS ... TRANSFORMING COMMUNITY

"Tufts Hillel nourishes the Jewish community on campus, drawing on the wisdom, tradition and values of our heritage to explore the critical social and moral issues of our time. It also reaches out to every student on campus with vibrant interfaith and cross-cultural programs."

- Lawrence Bacow
President Emeritus of Tufts University
(President 2001 - 2011)

Support Our Annual Fund | Sponsorship Opportunities | Transforming Community Video |
From the Center Newsletter | Leave a Legacy

Tufts Hillel is committed to touching the lives of every Jewish student on campus while teaching them to make choices in accordance with Jewish values.

With the generous support of parents, alumni and friends donors, Hillel is transforming today’s students into the leaders of tomorrow.
View our generous donors (2010-2011)

Support Tufts Hillel Annual Fund

We invite you to partner with us to promote Jewish life at Tufts and make an investment in the next generation of Jewish leaders. Help us be there for our students as they make choices about their lives, their careers, their studies and their Jewish connection.

Three Ways to Contribute to the Annual Fund:

Make your gift via our secure online giving form. From the "Select a School" menu, choose University. From the "Select an Area" menu choose Hillel.
Make a pledge or credit card contribution by email to Judith Canter, Director of Development, or by phone at 617-627-3242.
Send check payable to Tufts Hillel by mail to:
Tufts Hillel
Granoff Family Hillel Center
220 Packard Avenue
Medford, MA 02155

Sponsorship Opportunities

Tufts Hillel promotes Jewish life on campus through innovative programs and nationally recognized initiatives that reach out to the entire Tufts community. Our vision is to enable EVERY Jewish student to connect with Judaism in personally meaningful ways. Whether observing Shabbat, traveling to Israel, serving the local community, raising a moral voice in pursuit of social justice, promoting health and wellness or delving into Jewish culture and tradition with the Hillel Scholars Program, students at Hillel explore Judaism on their own terms.

Supporters at or above the $1000 giving level are invited to partner with Hillel by sponsoring special programs and initiatives. See a list of sponsorship opportunities.

View Our Transforming Community Video

To learn more about our important work on campus, view Tufts Hillel: Transforming Community.
To view this video, download or upgrade your media player at Microsoft's Windows Media website.

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Challenge gift to launch new program in Holocaust & Genocide Education

Trustee Emeritus Bill Cummings, A58, H06, M97P, J97P, and Joyce Cummings, M97P, J97P, moved by Eliezer Ayalon’s stories of his experiences during and after the Holocaust, were inspired to think broadly about how education could help prevent such a horrific tragedy from ever happening again. The couple has now committed to a gift of $1 million to endow a new program in Holocaust and Genocide Education at Tufts Hillel, provided the same amount can be raised from other friends. To learn more about this exciting opportunity, click here.

The couple met Ayalon on their first trip to Israel last fall. A native of Poland, Ayalon was imprisoned in five different camps before being liberated, near death in May 1945. "Our Tufts Travel-Learn trip to Israel gave us a new understanding of history, and how injustice corrodes the most cherished values of society," says Bill, a self-made entrepreneurial success story in real estate development and construction. "We wanted to channel our experience into something positive, and Tufts Hillel was certainly a very natural choice for educating others. Tufts students share a profound curiosity and concern about the world, and many are already on their way to being catalysts for social change."

It is not the first time the Cummings have enriched Tufts with their philanthropy. Bill and Joyce endowed the Cummings Family Chair in Entrepreneurship and Business Economics in 1998. In 2005, their generous support led to the dedication of the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. Bill has also been a valued contributor to his alma mater through service as an overseer to Tufts Medical School, and as a trustee of the University.

"We believe in giving back," says Bill, co-founder with Joyce of Cummings Foundation, which has grown to become one of the largest charitable foundations in New England. "Fifty-six years ago, I was fortunate Tufts recognized that I had more potential than my high school grades suggested, and Admissions Director Grant Curtis let me talk my way in."

"Not only did Tufts then provide me with so many good tools to help start a real career, but I certainly graduated with a much wider sense of the world, and the idea, even then, that we should see ourselves as citizens of that world. I hope our philanthropy helps foster an attitude in students that they can shape the future – that while we face enormous problems in our world today, they are part of the solution, they can and should be active citizens."

This new initiative will create a vibrant program intended to equip students with the knowledge and skills to aide in the cause of preventing future acts of genocide.

"We are tremendously grateful to the Cummings family for supporting Tufts' mission of active citizenship and Tufts Hillel's commitment to tikkun olam, repairing the world," says Rabbi Summit. "We welcome assistance in launching this important endeavor. Whether as a patron or a participant — we encourage involvement in establishing a program that will make an impact at Tufts for generations to come."

For more information, contact Judith Canter, Director, Hillel Development, at judith.canter@tufts.edu, 617-627-2863; or Jo Wellins, Deputy Director of Development for university advancement at jo.wellins@tufts.edu or 617-627-5906.

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Be Part of the Future of Tufts Hillel

By establishing a planned or estate gift for Tufts Hillel, you can leave a lasting personal legacy and provide for the ongoing nurturing of Tufts’ Jewish community.

Please consider providing for Tufts Hillel in your will or trust by making a gift of a specific dollar amount or percentage of your estate. Your attorney may wish to reference the university’s tax ID number, 04-2103634, and incorporate the following language into your estate plans.

Sample Bequest Language
“I give _____________ to Trustees of Tufts College, of Medford, Massachusetts, for the general purpose and use of Tufts Hillel. If it becomes inappropriate or impossible to accomplish the purpose of the gift as described herein, then the president of Tufts University may designate this bequest to be used for the benefit of a substantially similar purpose.”

For information about other gift options including:

... and other appreciated assets, please visit Tufts’ gift planning website or contact our
gift planning office. If you have already included Tufts Hillel in your estate plans,
please let us know, so we can welcome you into the Charles Tufts Society.

This information is not intended to be legal or tax advice. Please contact your attorney if you are considering a planned gift.