Yeshiva University Takes Part in National Campaign to Raise Scholarship Funds While most of us are familiar with the post-Thanksgiving shopping days of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, last year, a new day was created, dedicated to another tradition that makes America great: charitable giving.

Dubbed “Giving Tuesday”—the Tuesday after Thanksgiving—the national campaign is aimed at transforming how people think about, talk about and participate in the giving season through various promotions, including its own dedicated social media hashtag, #GivingTuesday. To date, more than 6,700 organizations and nonprofits, including Yeshiva University, have joined the effort, which takes place on December 3 this year.

“We’re excited to be part of the Giving Tuesday movement as giving tzedakah [charity] is a core belief of Judaism,” said Andrea Hale, director of annual giving. “Considering that Chanukah and chinuch [education] share the same shoresh [root], it’s appropriate that the YU community comes together on December 3, the sixth day of Chanukah, to contribute annual gifts in support of our scholarship campaign.”

According to Hale, the University’s top fundraising priority is undergraduate scholarships. “We are committed to ensuring that every deserving student, no matter his or her financial situation, can obtain a YU education,” she said. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSW6y8phWrc Consider the following facts: Tuition covers 67 percent of the cost of educating an undergraduate student. The average scholarship gift is $21,000. Eighty percent of all students receive some scholarship support and almost one-third of gifts to the Annual Fund support undergraduate scholarships. Approximately one-third of all philanthropic gifts are made each year in the month of December. Indeed, last year, one-fifth of all gifts to the Annual Fund were made in December. The end of the calendar year provides an opportunity to optimize tax benefits derived from charitable giving. To learn more, contact Henry Rubin, senior director of Institutional Advancement for Planned Giving, at 917-326-4959. “It doesn’t matter how much you give, because when every gift is added together, you have the potential to make an enormous impact,” said Hale. To take part in Giving Tuesday at Yeshiva University and make a difference by giving a scholarship gift, visit www.yu.edu/Dec3 or email hale@yu.edu.