Support Graham

Your generosity and support is critical to the Graham School’s excellence in lifelong learning and to expanding our offerings to a broader community of learners.

Through your crucial generosity and support, we strive to sustain and invigorate our distinctive model of teaching and learning while making lifelong learning accessible to students of all backgrounds.

Giving Day 2024

This Giving Day, we invite you to join us in supporting our extraordinary instructors and opening our classrooms to more learners. Please mark your calendars for March 26-27. Together, let's make Giving Day 2024 a resounding success for the lifelong liberal arts!

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The Annual Fund

The Graham School continually renews William Rainey Harper's founding vision of lifelong learning with a diverse range of academic offerings. The Annual Fund provides critical resources to support the high-quality instruction and pedagogical values upon which our programs are founded, while broadening access to our transformative education. 

Supporters who give $1,000 or more annually become members of the Graham Circle, a giving society that offers special opportunities to connect with fellow Graham supporters, with Graham's extraordinary faculty and instructors, and with the University.

Supporters can choose between four designations within the annual fund:

Graham Annual Fund: This fund is committed to growing our course offerings, sustaining our model of teaching and learning, and engaging a wider audience in the UChicago intellectual community. As part of this fund, we offer Student Access Scholarships, which create access to Graham classes for learners who otherwise would not be able to participate in our vibrant learning community.  

Basic Program Annual Fund: This fund is dedicated to our Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults, which has engaged lifelong learners in a critical examination of the fundamental works of Western civilization for more than 75 years. The fund specifically supports: high-quality instruction, our commitment to small discussion-based classrooms, and access to this program for learners from low-income households.

Leadership & Society Initiative (LSI) Annual Fund:  This fund is dedicated to opening the doors of the LSI Fellowship to leaders of all backgrounds, especially the public and social sectors. The fund also supports public gatherings aimed at extending LSI's intellectual resources to a broader population of individuals seeking to lead for society later in life. 

Master of Liberal Arts (MLA) Annual Fund: This fund allows us to open the doors of the MLA to more students from more backgrounds, helping a broader community of learners to read deeply, think critically, and lead purposefully.

 

 

The Basic Program Endowment

Founded in 1946, the Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults represents the Graham School’s deepest connection to the University of Chicago tradition and emphasizes the development of critical thinking, communication, inquiry, and cross-cultural understanding.

Your gift to the Basic Program will help sustain lifelong liberal arts learning by supporting our commitment to small discussion-based classrooms and increasing access to the program. Through this endowment the Basic Program is prioritizing the creation of viable career opportunities for instructors, providing expanded support for talented scholars to teach additional classes and develop new offerings for our students. For more information on the endowment, contact Andriana Scaramella at ascaramella@uchicago.edu

 

Ways to Give

Your generosity amplifies every aspect of our work.

Give Online:

Make a one-time or recurring gift with our secure online form. You will receive a tax receipt after submitting the form. 

Mail your gift to: 

*Checks should be made payable to the University of Chicago. Please include a note that your gift should be directed to the Graham School.

The University of Chicago 
Gift Administration and Business Data
5235 S. Harper Court, 4th Floor
Chicago, IL 60615

Other Ways to Give: 

Looking for information on how to give in other ways? Learn more about ways to make a gift through annual giving, planned giving, and endowed giving. The University also gratefully accepts gifts of securities, retirement plan assets, as well as bequests and life income gifts. For more information on ways to give or if you have questions, email Andriana Scaramella.

Give cash by phone, mail, wire transfer, or donor-advised fund. The University of Chicago’s TIN (taxpayer identification number) is 36-2177139.

 

Stories of Generosity: Graham Learners Share Why They Give

Sheffield Gift Celebrates and Supports Basic Program Instructors

"The instructors are just amazing. They are committed, incredibly knowledgeable, and generous-spirited. I felt that they were key to the program’s success and all that I was learning and enjoying."

Learn more
Hope and Jeff Sheffield

Always Learning: Virginia Tobiason

“This program has been so valuable to me. The instructors are truly committed; you make new friends and get new views. It’s been a real plus in my life.”

Learn more
Virginia Tobiason