Giving
Your gift to the Heller School is used to ease the financial expenses students incur in pursuit of a degree as well as provide support that allows Heller leadership to respond to emerging, urgent priorities.
To discuss your philanthropic priorities and the many ways to make a positive impact on our students, please contact Courtney Lombardo, Associate Director of Development and Alumni Relations.
Heller School Director’s Discretionary Fund (Greatest Need)
The Heller School Director’s Discretionary Fund allows the director to innovate as well as prioritize and fund the most pressing issues of the Heller School in supporting its mission of knowledge advancing social justice.
Heller School Student Enrichment Funds
Your generosity to the Heller School Student Enrichment Fund provides general operating support for the school as well as providing students with funds to attend professional conferences, purchase required course material, assist with dissertation expenses, and meet emergency needs.
Special Initiatives
Robert Dunigan Student Success Fund - Robert Dunigan, PhD'04, worked closely with and connected his teams with many community partners, enriching his work with nuance, expertise, and lived experience perspectives. He served as a mentor to many early career researchers throughout his career. As a way to remember the many contributions Robert made to Heller as a mentor, colleague, and faculty member, this fund would help students with last-minute emergency or immediate expenses that would support their well-being at Heller. Heller needs your help to get us across the finish line and reach our goal of $25,000 to help our students in the coming year. Your gift today will honor our colleague, Robert.
Jon A. Chilingerian Scholarship Fund - Professor Jon Chilingerian was a force of nature. He led innovation at the frontiers of health care and management with unmatched passion and insight. To honor Professor Jon Chilingerian's legacy and continue the work he was so passionate about, this fund will support future physician leaders pursuing the Executive MBA at the Heller School. With your generosity, we aim to raise $200,000 to endow the scholarship. Your gift will help ensure that Jon’s impact lives on for generations to come.
Scholarships and Fellowships
A gift in support of Heller scholarships and fellowships enables the most promising social policy leaders of today and tomorrow to access Heller’s prestigious degree programs, regardless of their background or financial circumstances.
One hundred percent of Heller students receive financial aid. We are especially prioritizing student financial support through fellowships. Read about our recent fellowship recipients, learn more about making an investment in lasting social change and create a long-term legacy for future generations.
Additionally, the Heller Office of Development and Alumni Relations oversees and raises funds for named fellowships. At present, there are 43 named fellowships, scholarships and awards awarded to incoming and current students. These opportunities are made possible by close friends and alumni whose personal or Heller connections inspired them to give students the opportunity to make their graduate education a reality.
Endowment and Major Gifts
Endowments and major gifts - which fund professorships, fellowships, and Heller institutes, such as the Institute for Economic and Racial Equity - are vitally important to the future of the Heller School. When you make a significant commitment, you enter into a partnership with Heller that can produce far-reaching benefits into the future.
The world needs Heller now more than ever. As we charge forward into our next 65 years, we’re focused on recommitting to “closing the disparity gap” and addressing pressing societal problems at every level.
Thanks to major gifts donors, the Heller School drives positive social change through research, education and public engagement that inform policies and programs designed to address disparities.
These investments strengthen Heller by:
- Expanding resources available for student financial support, including fellowships, and emergency and professional development funding;
- Creating space to innovate curricula and institute-based research and activism in response to evolving societal needs;
- Providing the resources to attract and retain exceptional faculty and researchers in a competitive market; and
- Creating a base of annual support for the next 60 years through a planned giving program.
Planned Gifts
Some of the most popular planned giving options include bequests and charitable gift annuities. These options have several advantages. They provide an opportunity to leave a personal legacy to the school, and to make a more substantial contribution to Heller than annual discretionary funds allow. Planned gifts may result in favorable tax consequences or even a new source of income for you and/or your spouse or partner.
Heller and Brandeis University advisors are available to assist you in achieving your tax, estate planning, and charitable giving objectives. For further information, please contact Joel Carlton-Gysan, Executive Director of Planned Giving. Email: jcarltongysan@brandeis.edu, Phone: 781-736-7719.