Alison Freed may be new to her position at American Friends of the Hebrew University, based in its Philadelphia regional office, but she’s long been familiar with the Philadelphia Jewish community.
Having taken the mantle of chief development officer of AFHU last month, Freed, 46, is charged with leading the organization’s fundraising efforts for Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Her interest in fundraising began at a young age during her upbringing in Penn Valley, where she lives today.
“I fondly remember volunteering at Super Sunday when I was 8 years old, going on missions through the [Jewish] Federation system,” she said.
“My parents were very involved in the community, and I saw how much that offered to them, socially, just with a moral compass and being part of the community. They really ingrained that in my house,” she added. “They were involved with the Federation and with Golden Slipper [Club & Charities], and I just always saw how meaningful that was to them.”
Freed has the chance to follow her parents’ legacy. A national nonprofit, AFHU is dedicated to supporting Hebrew University, co-founded in Israel in 1918 by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann. Hebrew U was the launching point of the careers and scholarship of numerous scientists, including Nobel Prize winner Roger Kornberg and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Léo Apotheker.
In 2025, the university will celebrate its 100th anniversary since its opening as a public university.
AFHU engages with alumni living in the U.S. by bringing in Hebrew U professors for talks, hosting an annual board meeting in Jerusalem and taking donors to Israel on missions. The key to strong fundraising is relationship building, Freed said.
“It’s all about the relationship and connecting where the donor is. … We don’t try and fit a round hole into a square peg, or vice versa,” Freed said. “We can really get to know what the donor wants to do with their investment and what kind of impact they want to have.”
Building personal relationships with donors is what intrigued Freed about development from the start. Having studied psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and gotten a master’s degree in social administration from Columbia University, Freed was always interested in what connects and motivates people.
“When people are reflecting on what is most important to them, it’s family, and then it’s often their philanthropic and community involvement,” she said. “So the combination of getting to know people and furthering nonprofits through fundraising is what led me to really focus on a career in fundraising.”
Freed began her career in development as the recruitment coordinator for Project OTZMA, an Israel experience for young adults, for United Jewish Communities, a precursor to the Jewish Federations of North America. While in New York, she was also senior director for fund development at the Westchester Medical Center.
Her career took her back to Philadelphia seven years ago when she accepted a position as Penn Medicine’s executive director of development.
“There’s a strong magnetic pole back to Philadelphia,” she said.
“It’s a close-knit community. It’s amazing how many options there are for Jewish engagement in a small place with a number of synagogues and social action groups and volunteer opportunities,” she added.
Connecting back to the Jewish community was the easy part of Freed’s return to the city, and her family joined Adath Israel on the Main Line shortly after moving. At Penn Medicine, she navigated fundraising during the pandemic.
But despite the economic turmoil COVID caused, fundraising at Penn was strong because of the necessity of medical care.
“I was lucky to be raising money for health over the pandemic,” she said. “That was pretty top of mind for many people, so that sort of counterbalanced any economic challenges.”
As Freed adjusts to her new position as CDO, she sees challenges on the horizon. Nonprofits often experience economic hardships months after individuals do. While fundraising hasn’t yet been affected, she expects to navigate some choppy waters.
“A lot of people in our field are talking a lot about that, and it’s unpredictable for sure,” she said of recent economic woes. “But the challenge will just be to continue to make the case for the relevance of supporting Hebrew U. The work is not stopping; the research is not stopping.”
