Religious groups get new funding

For the first time in Penn’s history, religious groups will be able to receive funding directly from the University through the student-run Faith Fund.

After two years of planning and deliberation, PRISM — Penn’s interfaith group — and the Office of the Chaplain obtained $8,000 from the Provost’s Office to begin a trial year of the Faith Fund Board, a group which will fund campus religious events and initiatives.

“We want to show that there is a true need for this on campus,” College junior and Faith Fund co-chairwoman Maria Bellantoni said.

In the past, religious groups had to collect funding from Tangible Change, the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly or via department sponsorship. Now, with an online application, they will have access to a fund specifically designated for religious purposes.

“It is our hope that these funds will not only make programming easier, but that it will encourage new events and opportunities on top of the already very exciting events and activities our students are organizing,” University Chaplain Chaz Howard wrote in an e-mail.

Students from religious and nonreligious organizations will be able to use Faith Fund money to fund religious events. For example, if a fraternity wanted to throw a Hanukkah event, they could use Faith Fund money.

Funds will also be available for non-event based programming “that would propagate the religious presence on campus,” Bellantoni said.

“We want to illustrate the vibrancy of religious life on campus in any way possible,” College senior and Faith Fund co-chairman Alok Choksi added.

The Faith Fund Board will include nine student committee members who manage the money, as well as a representative from PRISM and a member of the Chaplain’s Office to supervise committee decisions.

The co-chairpeople hope that the committee will also serve as an advising resource for religious groups on campus, “whether that’s how to best advertise, how to best run an event or where to find the best spaces to hold religious events on campus,” Bellantoni said.

At the end of the academic year, the committee will present before the Chaplain and Provost’s Office in order to petition for the program’s re-institution next year.

“We want to show that religious life on campus plays a major role at Penn,” Choksi said.

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