Penn provided $5,000 or more in assistance to 127 different organizations in 2024, totaling over $18.1 million in spending.
According to tax disclosures reviewed by The Daily Pennsylvanian, the organizations that received donations included Philadelphia nonprofits and international humanitarian aid charities. The University’s gifts ranged from more than $5 million to just over $5,000, with a median donation of $12,300.
A request for comment was left with a University spokesperson.
The DP’s analysis categorized Penn’s donations into nine broad categories: health care and medical research; hunger, housing, and human services; education; faith-based; arts, culture, and media; civil rights, advocacy, and civic affairs; international humanitarian relief; environment and animal welfare; and economic and community development.
25 of the 127 total organizations that received at least $5,000 from Penn were in the health care service or medical research sectors. The list of recipients spanned from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
The second-largest category — accounting for 22 institutions — was composed of groups that provided hunger, housing, and human services. Many of the organizations, such as Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia and Philabundance, are based in or around Philadelphia.
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Health care and medical research accounted for over $6 million of the University’s charitable spending in 2024, roughly one-third of Penn’s total donations. Economic and community development was the next largest contributor — totaling just over $5 million — followed by education at roughly $4.7 million.
At just over $47,000, environment and animal welfare organizations received the smallest dollar amount. This included organizations such as the Woodlands Trust for Historic Preservation and the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society.
Penn’s largest donations — $5 million to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, $4.3 million to the School District of Philadelphia, and $4.4 million to University City District — made up over 75% of the University’s total assistance grant spending.
The Philadelphia School District was the only government institution the University monetarily assisted in 2024. Outside of just three cases, all of Penn’s donations were to registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations.
Beyond Penn’s three largest donations, the remaining 24.4% of spending — roughly $4.4 million — was distributed across 124 organizations. Sizable gifts included over $500,000 to both Rebuilding Together Philadelphia and the American Heart Association, and nearly $375,000 to Project Home.
In 2024, Penn donated to several international humanitarian aid organizations, including Save the Children, American Friends of Magen David Adom Israel, World Central Kitchen, and the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund.
Doctors Without Borders — which cares for “people affected by conflict, disease outbreaks, natural and human-made disasters, and exclusion from health care” — received the largest grant from Penn in that category at nearly $43,000.
The University also donated to several faith-based organizations, including the Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey, the Quaker organization Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends, and Saint Margaret Parish. Of the 15 organizations with a religious affiliation — which included private schools, places of worship, and advocacy groups — 13 were affiliated with Judaism.
Civil rights and advocacy groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Foundation of PA and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, received smaller donations. Overall spending in the civil rights, advocacy, and civic affairs category totaled just over $300,000.
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Isha Chitirala is a News Editor at The Daily Pennsylvanian and can be reached at chitirala@thedp.com. At Penn, she studies economics and political science. Follow her on X @IshaChitirala.
