Hillel Global Giving Week started in 2020 in the wake of the pandemic, grew to include more than 170 campuses and raised a record $5.5 million in 2024. Each year, individual Hillel houses across the U.S. and Canada use alumni and parent networks, social media and peer-to-peer fundraising platforms to raise money for their yearly operations.
Now, the local effort is also expanding.
Hillel at Temple University, Hillel at Drexel University and the Greater Philly Hillel Network, which represents Bryn Mawr College, Haverford College, Villanova University, West Chester University and Thomas Jefferson University, are collaborating on a competition they are calling “The Philly Challenge.” Together, they will spread the word about their respective efforts to outraise each other over the course of the May 4-8 competition.
Their goal is to raise even more than they did in previous years, as Global Giving Week has gained even greater meaning in this post-Oct. 7 era of campus antisemitism. Their goal is also to deepen their relationships with each other, which is perhaps just as important.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia is sponsoring the effort, helping to spread the word and offering donations for milestones. Each Hillel organization will get $180 for reaching 18 donors in a day. The Hillel that achieves the highest number of donors overall during the competition will get $1,000.
“While each Hillel will rally its own supporters through daily and weekly incentives, the spirit of the challenge is intentionally collaborative: a rising tide lifts all boats,” said Rebecca Etter, the Federation’s chief brand officer, in an email promoting the competition.
All three Hillel organizations have participated in Global Giving Week in previous years. But for 2026, Drexel Hillel leaders decided that they should come together.
Drexel hosts an annual giving day for fraternities, sororities and other campus groups, including Hillel. Hourly challenges between different organizations were often part of that competition. But this year, the school got rid of those, and Hillel leaders wanted to find a way to keep them going.
“We were all feeling a little disheartened, and we wanted to capitalize on that excitement behind the challenges,” said Hannah Rosenberg, the assistant director of Drexel Hillel.
Rosenberg and Isabel de Koninck, Drexel Hillel’s director, reached out to Laurel Freedman, Temple Hillel’s director, and Jeremy Winaker, the executive director of the Greater Philly Hillel Network, with the idea of starting a new challenge among the Jewish organizations.
They loved it.
“I’m excited,” said Winaker. “This is a chance for us to have some fun, raise the profile of our week, speak to the larger local community, in addition to our individual alumni and parent communities, and the work is important.”
It’s also a chance to, as Rosenberg put it, “get together.” Drexel’s quarter system, which divides classes into four 10-week sessions — spring, summer, fall and winter — often prevents its student organizations from engaging with groups on other campuses that are on a more typical schedule.
“Our breaks never align,” Rosenberg said. “This seemed like an opportunity to work together in a way we hadn’t before.”
A Hillel International study reported a record 2,334 antisemitic incidents across North American campuses in 2024-25. Post-Oct. 7, Hillels are seeing increased engagement, in part due to this environment. But the combination of the two comes with costs: Hillel Global Giving Week now raises money for safety measures, mental health support, Israel education and bigger spaces on campuses.
What started as a way to address the isolation wrought by COVID has turned into a strategy for fighting antisemitism and bolstering the Jewish community. It’s become almost existential, not unlike the efforts of synagogues to secure their spaces and protect their congregations.
“It feels important right now to be seen together as one great Hillel Philly community, at a time when students can be divided; our country can feel divided,” said Rosenberg.
Drexel has about 900 Jewish undergraduates in its student body, according to Rosenberg.
About 700 of them engage with Hillel during the school year. Combined with the parents of those students and Drexel/Hillel alumni, Hillel can tap into a potential donor network of more than 5,000 people.
Drexel Hillel still has a gap of about $70,000 in its annual budget for the coming fiscal year.
Rosenberg and her team are hoping to close that gap during this competition. Drexel Hillel raised $26,000 from last year’s Drexel Giving Day.
“We’re hoping that some of our students will be fundraisers for it, sharing it with their parents, their parents’ friends, etc.,” said Rosenberg.