/f/78141/8192x5464/418c5c6e77/heroimageseniorgift.jpg)
Seniors for The Stanford Fund
Every year, the graduating class comes together to celebrate their time at Stanford, and to raise philanthropic support that help make the student experience at Stanford exceptional.
When you make a gift through Seniors for The Stanford Fund, you can choose to support an area of campus you are passionate about such as undergraduate financial aid, mental health resources, community centers and more. By getting involved and giving back before graduating, you will play a vital role in improving the student life experience for future classes.
Throughout the year this page will be updated to reflect giving opportunities, class events and highlights from the campaign. We hope you’ll join us now until graduation in coming together to celebrate and make an impact!
Class of 2023 Committee Members
Kate Bradley
Hamzah Daud
Asher Fanous
William Golub
Jada Harris
Erin Hirsch
Emma Hou
Evelyn Jun
Vedika Kanchan
Liana Keesing
Shreya Mantha
Jennifer Martinez
Christopher Maximos
Iskander Nekkaz - Le Roux
Edwin Ong
Roshni Padhi
Ximena Sanchez Martinez
Marion Santo
Catherine Sarkis
Costanza Sartori di Borgoricco
Amy Shin
Sarah Grace Smith
Emily Smith
Ximena Sosa
Walker Stewart
Zoha Fatima Syed
Patrick Vaughan
Audrey Xu
Thomas Yang
If you are interested in become a board member we encourage you to complete this short interest form.
Questions? Reach out to The Stanford Fund team via email at seniorsgive@stanford.edu.
Class impact
Current class participation: 11%
Our goal: 70%
Hours of service completed: 195
Dollars for Doers participants: 37
Winter Quarter events
Valentine’s Day cupcake gram
Have a classmate who’s made your experience on campus exceptional? Send us their name and we’ll send them a surprise Valentine’s Day themed note of appreciation and a Sprinkles cupcake.
Pie a senior board member
Come celebrate Pi day at White plaza where you’ll get a chance to pie a senior who sits on The Stanford Fund Advisory Board and maybe an admin or two (and yes, there’s a slice of pie in there for you, too!).
/f/78141/4000x1898/340ebc7b58/gradimagewebsitecrop.jpg)
Do senior gift your way
Step 1: Choose one of two ways to give back
Donate through The Stanford Fund
Your senior gift can support Stanford students in the ways that are meaningful to you. See the choices and make your gift below or through venmo @SeniorsforTheStanfordFund. When making a gift through venmo, be sure to include your SUID # and the area(s) you wish to support.
Turn service hours into dollars to donate
Participate in the Dollars for Doers Challenge, where every hour of volunteering you complete (up to 10 hours) unlocks $25 from generous alumni donors, to donate directly to students through The Stanford Fund.
Step 2: Choose where to send your gift
This is your chance to support the parts of Stanford you are most passionate about.
Every senior has a unique Stanford experience. Each one of us appreciates certain things about Stanford, but there are also things that could be better, and we recognize it will take collective action to improve them. When you give through Seniors for The Stanford Fund, you can choose to support an area of campus you’re passionate about.
Financial aid
Contribute to a more equitable future in Stanford education by giving toward need-based financial aid. Nearly half of all undergrads receive financial aid each year.
Community centers
Promote justice, belonging, and equity on campus with a gift toward the Centers for Equity, Community, and Leadership.
Student life
Sustain the student groups and campus-wide events that make the Stanford experience fulfilling, unique, and fun.
Academics
Support all three undergraduate schools to expand class offerings and provide additional academic support for students.
Mental health
Help increase appointment capacity at CAPS, expand virtual and telephone visits, and improve community outreach.
Opportunity Fund
Help provide flexible grants for undergraduate students to cover unexpected expenses like emergency travel or registration fees for a conference. Learn more about the Opportunity Fund.
All of the above!
Support all these important initiatives with one gift through The Stanford Fund.
/f/78141/3612x1714/df9a218246/2021seniors_groupshot.jpg)
Make your gift on Venmo @seniorsforTheStanfordFund
Don't forget to include the following information in the comment section (set to private):
-The area(s) you wish to support
-Your SUID# (starts with 0)
Why we choose to give
When you give through Seniors for The Stanford Fund, you support programs and initiatives that make the Stanford experience exceptional for all students.

“We can make Stanford even more exceptional by making it more accessible. I support The Stanford Fund to ensure that students can attend Stanford regardless of their family's financial situation and have a robust extracurricular experience when they arrive on campus.”
- Christopher Maximos, ’23

“Stanford has introduced me to some of the most important people in my life, and I will always be grateful for that. By focusing on enriching student life with Seniors for the Stanford Fund, I want generations of future Stanford students to be able to have those same valuable experiences that help them find their people.”
- Roshni Padhi, ’23

“Supporting the Stanford Fund offers me a chance to shape the Stanford that I want to see for future generations of Stanford students—one with support for a diversity of students, quality academic experiences, vibrant student-run organizations, and a rich social scene. I'm particularly excited by the Stanford Fund's emphasis on public service as another way for everyone to contribute: both to our community and, with Dollars for Doers, to the future of Stanford.”
- Liana Keesing, ’23

“As a leader in various student organizations on campus, I have seen firsthand how The Stanford Fund can help us bring our programming ideas to life, whether they are educational, service-oriented, or social. TSF helps ensure the longevity of VSOs and allows all of us to maintain the quality of our events.”
- Jada Harris, ’23
Frequent questions
Philanthropy, or as you’ll often hear us say, giving, literally means goodwill to other humans. In practice, it refers to providing support for organizations, causes, or initiatives that are important to you.
For example, a gift to Stanford allows you to give back to a community that has helped you become who you are today and ensures the same or better opportunities are accessible to other students. Your philanthropy also includes your support for organizations that align with your passions, such as an animal shelter or relief aid during an emergency like the California wildfires.
All that to say, every one of us can be a philanthropist through our gifts of our time, talents, or financial resources.
Opportunities to support students can be driven by different things, whether it’s the priorities determined by university leaders (i.e. The Stanford Fund), your own passions (i.e. funds for specific programs or departments), or community mobilization (i.e. mutual aid and solidarity funds).
You can explore and choose the ways to give back that are meaningful to you. Whatever you choose, you will help ensure every undergraduate student has the best possible Stanford experience.
The endowment provides a steady stream of income, but only if spending is held to about 5.5 percent each year. So, the university must fund more than three-quarters of its operating expenses, including financial aid, student and academic organization support, and other areas integral to the undergraduate experience, every year from other sources, including through donor support.
Additionally, nearly 80 percent of the Stanford endowment is restricted or designated for specific uses. The endowment is actually made up of more than 8,000 different funds. Of these, 7,300 were established by donors, and most of them are designated for specific purposes, such as supporting first-generation college students or advancing a particular field of study. Stanford has a legal and fiduciary obligation to use these funds as intended.
For more details about the purpose and limitations of the endowment, we recommend this article in Stanford Magazine.
The Stanford Fund, the annual fund for undergraduate education, provides vital flexibility for supporting students.
The majority of gifts to Stanford—and almost 80 percent of endowment funds—are restricted. Funds given for research, for example, cannot be used for financial aid. Gifts through The Stanford Fund can be used to address the areas of greatest need or to meet unexpected expenses.
When you give through The Stanford Fund, you are also able to designate the destination of your gift to either financial aid, mental health initiatives, academic innovation, student life, or the Opportunity Fund. Targeted gifts sustain these initiatives and allow you to advocate for positive change within the university.
Every cause is important and no gift is too small. When seniors give through The Stanford Fund, gifts are tripled by a generous donor, amplifying our impact on the causes that matter to us, helping to transform Stanford for future generations.
As Stanford’s soon-to-be most recent alumni, you know best how programs and initiatives impact the undergraduate experience. Giving to Stanford, no matter the size of your gift, is a way for seniors to have our voices heard amongst larger, institutional donors in support of the future of undergraduate programs at Stanford that matter most to us.
Many philanthropists also give simply because they like knowing they are helping someone, regardless of the size of their gift. Gifts can be personally impactful, as well.