The Keller-Gonnella Matching Program for Endowed Scholarships
A Partnership That Touches Many
A planned gift from Earl and Helen Keller created the Keller-Gonnella Matching Program for Endowed Scholarships in Sidney Kimmel Medical College.
Endowed scholarships are vitally important to our students, to Jefferson, and to the wellbeing of our society. On average, medical school graduates start their careers owing more than $200,000. Endowed scholarships enable students who aspire to be healers to graduate unencumbered by a heavy burden of debt, and they support our efforts to prepare future generations of Jefferson physicians. The Keller-Gonnella Matching Program can magnify your gift and its impact on students and patients and the future of us all.
What Matters Most
Think about the people who made a difference in your life and all the opportunities that came your way and helped you get to where you are today. You can be that person and that opportunity. By endowing a scholarship today at Jefferson, you can change the life of someone who will heal minds and bodies, and save lives tomorrow. Your generosity will touch the lives of generations of students who aspire to be Jefferson physicians and will keep the giving and the caring going on into the future.
We’re all in it together. Now it’s your turn.
Earl and Helen came to me for medical advice, and we became friends. They were generous and sophisticated people who agreed with me that the financial burden of medical school can restrict a student’s career choice to lucrative specialties that help them pay off loans. The Kellers asked, ‘What can we do to make the burden less onerous?’ I have always thought that the best gift is a scholarship. They trusted my judgment.
Helping People—Magnified
Drs. Suzanne Springer Zeok and John V. Zeok established the Suzanne Springer Zeok MD ’69 and John V. Zeok MD ’67 Scholarship through the Keller-Gonnella Matching Program, which elevated the value of their $100,000 gift to $150,000.
“The whole reason we went into medicine was to help people. With the Keller-Gonnella Match, the money we gave to Jefferson is magnified to help even more people.”
- Suzanne Springer Zeok, MD ’69
“We don’t want students to feel they have to work while going to medical school. We want them to spend all their time studying and working hard to become excellent physicians.”
- John V. Zeok, MD ’67
How it Works
- The minimum gift or pledge is $100,000.
- Gifts of $100,000 and above are matched 2:1—the fund matches each $2 given with $1.
- Your chance to take advantage of the KellerGonnella Match is limited. The opportunity to leverage your gift with matching dollars will end when the fund is used up.
Benefits
- Donors will have the ability to recommend the initial scholarship criteria.
- The scholarship will be awarded in perpetuity.
- Gifts made to the scholarship fund can be tax deductible.
- Donors will be invited yearly to meet their students at the annual Scholarship Dinner.
- Donors will also receive an annual report about the recipients and the status of their fund.
Endowment Basics
“Endowment” refers to assets that are invested for the long term to provide a permanent source of income for Jefferson. When a benefactor creates an endowed fund, the gift “buys shares” in Jefferson’s pooled endowment, which operates like a mutual fund. Each year the Board of Trustees sets a payout rate, much like a dividend, for shares. Payout is the amount available to be spent annually for each fund’s designated purpose.