Make Your Impact Now
Join our student giving community!
At IUP, we look out for one another. When you give, you’re not just donating—you’re making an impact! Your gift can help a student stay in school, chase a dream, or get through a financially tough time.
Every gift, no matter the amount, makes a real difference for students at IUP. It might help someone earn a scholarship, attend a conference that shapes their future, or find the encouragement to keep going on their academic journey.
That’s what it means to be a Hawk: lifting each other up and making sure everyone has the chance to succeed.
Together, we have strength in numbers.
Join IUP’s student leadership society, the Future Leaders Council. Your gift of $100+ would place you in the Future Leaders Council today with benefits to enjoy.
Get Involved
Join the Student Giving Committee!
Be part of a community that celebrates giving back.
The Student Giving Committee is made up of students who believe in the power of generosity. SGC members help share stories, organize events, and show how every gift helps create new opportunities for Hawks on campus.
Interested in joining? Find us on Crimson Connect or email student-philanthropy@iup.edu to learn more.
Stay Up to Date
Keep up with Student Giving events, stories, and updates throughout the year. Follow us on Instagram to see how IUP students are making a difference together.
Student Donor Spotlight
IUP Ambassadors
During IUP’s 2024 Month of Giving, the IUP Ambassadors made a generous donation of $800 to the IUP Food Pantry from their 2024 Homecoming float contest winnings!
In fall 2023, they won first-prize in the Homecoming float contest and began the tradition of donating their winnings to the IUP Food Pantry and Help Center.
The IUP Ambassadors works to represent the best of IUP by building relationships with prospective students, current students, alumni, and friends of IUP. One of their many goals is to make students aware of their roles and the importance of practicing philanthropy at IUP.
Alumni Donor Spotlight
Colonel Stephen Abel ’73
Colonel Stephen Abel is a 1973 alumnus and a 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient. He retired as a US Army colonel after a 27-year military career. Colonel Abel remains a loyal supporter of IUP Veterans Program and the Military and Veterans Resource Center.
Col. Abel has always been an advocate for student giving. For more than five years, Col. Abel has provided a match for student giving to increase student participation in making gifts to IUP. This means that Col. Abel has generously agreed to match student gifts of $5 with $10!
Col. Abel believes that students can make a significant impact—even by making smaller gifts.
Follow Colonel Stephen Abel's example and start to give back, today.
FAQ
Senior Class Gift
Becoming part of this tradition shows that the Class of 2025–26 is a class that
- Values the education they’ve received.
- Carries the same spirit and IUP pride of past IUP classes.
- Believes in reaching out in order to give back and help future students, so they have access to the same opportunities you did.
- Believe that what they care about can change the world.
Graduating students who make their gift of $20.25/$20.26 or more will receive philanthropy cords* to be recognized at Commencement.
You can pick up your cords in Sutton Hall 441, at the Grad Fair, or request to have them mailed to you.
Deadlines
December Graduates
- Gifts made after November 25, 2025: cords cannot be mailed and must be picked up in person in Sutton 441.
- The final day to make your gift and receive philanthropy cords is December 10, 2025.
May Graduates
- Gifts made after April 22, 2026: cords cannot be mailed and must be picked up in person in Sutton 441.
- The final day to make your gift and receive philanthropy cords is May 6, 2026.
Upcoming Changes
The Senior Class Gift initiative is changing for students expected to graduate in fall 2026 and later.
Students who would like to earn philanthropy cords to wear at their graduation ceremony must display a habit of philanthropy at IUP. This will be tracked through three earned IUP Student Giving badges in Accredible. The students who earn all required badges will be contacted about receiving their cords during their expected graduation year.