01
Aid isn't built for activities
Extracurricular and co-curricular programs carry real out-of-pocket costs that no standard financial aid package addresses.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon · Pennsylvania Theta · University of Pennsylvania
Aid pays for attending. It doesn't pay for taking part.
The Penn Theta Educational Access Fund is an alumni-funded, need-based grant program that ensures no brother sits out the experiences that matter because of what he can afford, creating a financial foundation that Penn, Nationals, and the brotherhood can count on.
$400–$1,400+
Unmet cost per student, per year
$50,000
Phase 1 goal
501(c)(3)
Tax Deductible
Alumni
Funded and governed
The problem
Financial aid stops at the classroom door.
A Penn aid package ends at the essentials. Everything that turns four years into a community lands on the student, and for a brother on aid, that quietly decides who's in the room and who watches from outside it.
02
The exclusion is systematic
It isn't bad luck. Students from lower-income backgrounds are filtered out of exactly the leadership and community-building experiences that compound over a lifetime.
03
Merit is not the filter
The brothers who step back are qualified and engaged. They step back over money, which is not the experience Penn promises when it admits them.
What aid covers
- Tuition
- Housing
- Meal plans
- Textbooks
What it leaves out
- Extracurricular & co-curricular programs
- Leadership development
- Participation costs
The resulting gap
$400–$1,400+
per student, per year — carried out of pocket
The program
Close it with grants, not with discounts.
The fund pays the participation costs a brother on aid can't through a documented, need-based grant.
Need-based
Grants that follow need
Open to students who already receive University financial aid and can show a specific, participation-related need.
Criteria-driven
A process with written criteria
Every application is scored based on demonstrated financial needs and academic standing.
Durable
Built to outlast its founders
Every gift is pooled and invested — run with endowment discipline even before the fund is fully endowed.
How it works
Applied for. Reviewed on the record. Paid to the provider.
Three steps, each with a paper trail. A grant is never automatic, and cash never passes through a student's hands.
1
Application
- The student submits a request naming the specific expense and amount
- Documentation of financial need is attached
- University financial-aid status is confirmed
- Academic standing is verified
2
Review & award
- The independent alumni board evaluates each case on its merits
- Need and academics are scored against written, objective criteria
- Fit with programming is confirmed before approval
- Awards are decided case by case — never automatic or guaranteed
3
Distribution
- Funds are disbursed only against approved expenses
- Payment is made by invoice, directly to the service provider
- Full documentation is retained for compliance
- The board keeps oversight of every disbursement
Governance
The line this fund does not cross.
A fund like this earns its credibility from structure, not intentions. It's built so that no one who could benefit from a grant has any say in awarding one.
Board structure
- Alumni-only composition — no current undergraduate members
- Independent authority over every grant approval
- Fiduciary responsibility for all funds held
- Structured conflict-of-interest protections
501(c)(3) framework
- Organized as a tax-exempt nonprofit; IRS determination pending
- Contributions intended to be tax-deductible once status is recognized
- Strict prohibition on private benefit
- Annual IRS reporting and transparent fund documentation
The chapter
One standard, held by the whole house.
This is more than assistance for the brothers who need it. It's a system: demonstrated need has a responsible path, and every other obligation is met in full and on time. What that builds outlasts any single grant — a chapter whose membership and finances are reliable and predictable, year after year.
Covered
Need has a path
A brother with demonstrated financial need has a documented, dignified way to ask — reviewed by alumni and decided on the record. No one is quietly priced out or left to guess.
Accountable
Obligations stand on their own
With genuine need answered, every brother who is able to meet his obligations is expected to do so fully and on time. One clear standard for the whole house, with nothing left to argue about.
Predictable
A chapter that plans on certainty
Reliable collection. Responsible planning. A financial standing with Penn, Nationals, and the broader brotherhood that the chapter can build on permanently.
Funding model
Carried by alumni, answerable to no one else.
The fund takes no University money and depends on no University decision. What it's built on — and what it's building toward — looks like this.
- 60% Alumni donations
- 30% Recurring gifts
- 10% Corporate & other
Target mix — not a report
Managed as an endowmentGifts are pooled and invested from day one, and run with endowment discipline even before the fund is fully endowed.
Deductibility: pendingStructured for 501(c)(3) tax-deductibility; the IRS determination hasn't issued yet. Details under "Give."
No University dependencyFunded exclusively by alumni, so the mission never answers to anyone else's budget.
Phase 1
Fund the first cohort.
The goal
$50,000
- Finish the 501(c)(3)Legal formation and recognition of tax-exempt status. Incorporation is complete; the IRS application is filed.
- Seed the endowmentCommitted capital pooled and invested from day one — drawn on only as the board approves grants.
- Award the first grantsMoney reaching participation costs within this academic year.
Later phases widen the donor network, grow the number of grants made each year, and build the fund toward full endowment — where returns, not new campaigns, carry it.
The Penn Theta Educational Access Fund is incorporated as a nonprofit corporation and has applied to the IRS for recognition as a 501(c)(3) organization. That application is pending. If it is approved, the IRS generally applies exemption retroactively to the date of formation — but we won't promise an outcome the IRS hasn't issued, so please treat deductibility as pending, keep your receipt, and consult your tax advisor. If the deduction is what your gift is waiting on, record a pledge instead. We will write to every donor — and every pledged donor — the day the determination letter arrives.
Make a gift
Waiting on the deduction? Pledge it.
Our 501(c)(3) application is pending with the IRS, so a gift made today can't yet be treated as a deductible charitable donation. If that deduction matters to you, pledge instead — we'll record your name and amount, and the moment our status is final we'll follow up so you can complete the gift as a deductible donation.
The roadmap
Phase 1 · Underway
Launch
- Establish the 501(c)(3)
- Seed the endowment with alumni gifts
- Award the first cohort of grants
Phase 2
Scale
- Widen the donor base
- Increase the number of grants made
- Formalize an annual giving campaign
Phase 3
Sustain
- Reach full endowment — returns carry the grants
- Make grants permanent and recurring
- Carry it on alumni as a whole, not any single class
The arc
The spark. The proof. The future.
Gods & Heroes was the spark. The restored Great Hall is the first proof. The Educational Access Fund is the future — and at Homecoming, the brotherhood reunites to open one and establish the other.
The spark
Gods & Heroes
One tournament raised more than $50,000 — and left a shared conviction that the momentum shouldn't end when the weekend did.
The proof
The Great Hall
Joined with funds preserved by prior generations, those gifts became a roughly $125,000 restoration of the heart of the house. When Penn Theta makes a promise to its brotherhood, it delivers.
The future
The Access Fund
The hall renewed the chapter's physical foundation. This fund builds the financial and human one beneath it — so what was restored stays protected for the classes that follow.
Save the date
November 12–14
Join us Thursday the 12th to celebrate the reopening of the renovated Great Hall — a room rebuilt by alumni who came back and gave. It's the clearest argument for this fund we have: what this chapter can do when its graduates decide something matters.
Come back to 3908 Spruce. Watch the unveiling, meet the actives — and take the next pivotal step in Penn Theta's legacy by helping establish the Educational Access Fund.
Questions
Ask us anything before you give.
Due diligence is welcome and expected. If you'd like to understand the review criteria or talk through a larger/recurring gift, write to us and you'll get a real answer.