Inside Philanthropy: Record Fundraising for Hillel Amid Rising Antisemitism on Campus
Hillel International President and CEO Adam Lehman recently spoke to Inside Philanthropy in a wide-ranging conversation about Hillel’s centennial campaign and how Hillel supports Jewish college students in these challenging times.
“We have raised more than $200 million, and we extended the campaign by virtue of continuing interest on many campuses to participate and leverage the reality — both positive and challenging — that Jewish students face in terms of pursuing Jewish life on campus,” Lehman told the publication, sharing that the campaign ultimately exceeded its original $150 million goal by more than $50 million. He added, “We raised more than $70 million since 10/7, [and] during the last year, we have seen an 89% increase in grassroots giving at the Hillel International level — donors giving under $10,000 in a given gift — and a 23% increase in our overall unrestricted giving.”
In this difficult time for Jewish students, these fundraising successes are particularly significant. Following Hamas’s attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, , Hillel International has responded to rising campus antisemitism and discrimination through new programs and campaigns, including partnering with the ADL and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law to put up the Campus Antisemitism Legal Line (CALL) which provides students with legal support to address antisemitic bias incidents on campus.
Hillel International also expanded the Campus Climate Initiative to train college and university presidents and administrators to strengthen policies that can prevent and address campus antisemitism, and launched Campus For All, an online resource that provides Jewish students with education and resources to counter antisemitism. “[The last 15 months have] led many students to want to better understand what it means to be Jewish and to seek out the comfort and support of our Hillel communities,” Lehman said.
The success of Hillel’s milestone fundraising campaigns also supports programs that help new Jewish students, making sure they know that Hillel is there to be their home away from home. Hillel invested several million dollars to ensure that Jewish students would find robust, visible Jewish programs and communities when they arrived on campus this fall. Campuses that hosted “Welcome Week” programs and events saw a nearly 30% increase in the number of Jewish students who participated in Hillel programming.
“We have turned our programmatic framework from one that focuses solely on traditional Jewish life programs to a human-centered-design approach that works with students to design experiences that they have identified as meaningful to them,” Lehman said. “But the foundation of work continues to be the power and beauty of Jewish wisdom, tradition, ritual and community.”
“Record Fundraising for Hillel Amid Rising Antisemitism on Campus” was originally published in Inside Philanthropy on January 30, 2025. To read the complete article, please visit insidephilanthropy.com.