"Journalism is a calling.
In the lobby of Pulitzer Hall, the inscription is our mandate: to educate the next generation of journalists.
And we take that mission very seriously. That is why affordability has been my top priority since I became dean of Columbia Journalism School. We must make it possible for the best journalists to get the highest caliber journalism school education, here in Pulitzer Hall, and be able to afford to choose journalism. Our work is a public good—one that is now more vital than ever.
Gifts from alumni and friends provide Columbia Journalism School with immediate current-use financial resources to execute these initiatives. With your support, we can make the J-School affordable for a more diverse student body. We want an institution that's even more representative of the world that journalism covers. With your help we can give the next generation the opportunity to go into—and stay in—journalism. Your partnership in this effort is crucial—together, we can ensure that our students continue to fulfill our mission to uphold the standards of excellence in journalism.”
— Jelani Cobb, Dean and Henry R. Luce Professor of Journalism
Where to Give
The Journalism School’s mission to educate the next generation of journalists has never been more important than today. Your gifts make it possible to support our students and faculty and have never been more relevant to our success.
The Journalism School is dedicated to the mission of educating students from all over the world to become conscientious and accomplished professional journalists, regardless of their economic circumstances. Contributions from alumni and friends to the Annual Fund play a primary role in our mission by providing support directly to students.
Every gift to the Annual Fund—no matter the size—makes an immediate difference in our students’ lives. Thanks to generous gifts, we are able to provide scholarships to talented and deserving students, create internships and fellowships that foster real-world experience, and further our dedicated efforts to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Gifts to the Annual Fund of $1,000 or more ($500 or more for the first ten years after graduating) will make you a member of our Dean’s Circle leadership giving society.
For more information contact Emilie Dufour at [email protected] or at (212) 851-7766.
Major Gifts make a direct and significant impact on the learning, teaching, scholarship, and community engagement available at Columbia Journalism School. Endowed and current use gifts support scholarships, postgraduate fellowships and other student financial aid, professorships and faculty research, centers and programs. Please contact the major gifts team at Columbia Journalism School by emailing Cynthia Helton at [email protected] or by calling at (212) 854-1148, and learn more about how you can create a lasting legacy.
Scholarships
It is Dean Jelani Cobb’s top priority that cost doesn’t stand in the way of coming to Columbia. We offer admission to the very best students, regardless of their ability to pay, and we have made a commitment to leveling the playing field of journalism. Scholarship investment allows us to respond to increased needs for scholarship and to ensure that students can have the opportunity to attend, regardless of their financial circumstances.
Annual Fund named partial scholarships start at a yearly investment of $5,000. Please reach out to Cynthia Helton at [email protected] or by calling at (212) 854-1148 for information about full or half tuition scholarships, as well as endowing a scholarship.
Postgraduate Fellowships - Research or Investigative
Research fellows devote their time to research and writing in the core mandates of a Centers’ work. Fellows are selected by the Center and are expected to work collaboratively with other Center researchers, as well as on their own projects.
Columbia Journalism Investigations (CJI)’s postgraduate investigative fellows produce deep investigations into urgent matters of public interest in topics ranging from climate change and public health, prosecutorial misconduct, global migration.
Please contact Cynthia Helton, by email at [email protected] or by phone at (212) 854-1148, for more information on how you can fund a fellowship.
Loan Repayment Assistance Program
For decades, law schools have used a program to support their graduates who choose to work in public interest legal settings, such as immigration clinics: a Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP). Our pilot program, launched this year, supports journalism graduates who work in nonprofit news and plan to grow to other local outlets. You can find information about our Loan Repayment Assistance Program on our website.
Contact Cynthia Helton at [email protected] or by phone at (212) 854-1148 if you are interested in supporting this new opportunity of support for our graduates.
Professorships
Establishing a professorship strengthens our faculty retention and recruitment efforts. The highest mark of distinction a university can bestow on a faculty member, a named professorship can support a current distinguished faculty member or equip the Dean the ability to recruit new faculty. Please reach out to Cynthia Helton at [email protected] or by phone at (212) 854-1148, for more information.
Center Support
The Journalism School is the home of several centers and institutes as well as the publisher of the Columbia Journalism Review. There are a host of opportunities to support the cutting edge work done by these.
How to Give
Credit Card
Give online securely using your credit card. You may also make a recurring gift online. Contact Emilie Dufour at [email protected] for more information.
Check
Make checks payable to Columbia University and, to ensure that they are properly credited, please include a note that your gift is in support of the Columbia Journalism School and send to:
Columbia Alumni Center
Attention: Gift Systems
622 West 113th Street, MC 4524
New York, NY 10025
Wire Transfer
Contact Cynthia Helton at [email protected] or by phone at (212) 854-1148 for wire transfer instructions.
Securities
If your bank or broker holds your securities, we recommend an electronic transfer in two steps via the Depository Trust Company (DTC) system.
- Give your bank or broker the following instructions:
Bank of New York Mellon
DTC# 0443
Pershing, LLC
For Credit to Account: N7M100061
Account name: Trustees of Columbia University
- E-mail transfer details to [email protected], alerting Columbia to expect your gift. Failure to do so may cause a delay in recognizing you as the donor. Please include the following information in your e-mail:
- Name and address
- Name and ticker symbol of the security
- Number of shares
- School or department gift fund to be credited
Matching Gift
You can increase the impact your gift has at the Journalism School by adding a matching gift through your employer. Many employers offer this benefit You can check if your employer is one of them on our matching gift website.
Planned Giving
Planned gifts, including bequests and life income gifts, are designed to help meet your financial and charitable goals while supporting Columbia Journalism School in the long term.
Email Cynthia Helton at [email protected] or by phone at (212) 854-1148 for more information.
Recognizing our Supporters
Our most dedicated supporters become members of our leadership societies, the Dean’s Circle and the Pulitzer Circle.
Dean’s Circle
Dean’s Circle members are the most generous donors to the J-School each year. Their support creates meaningful scholarship packages for exceptional students with financial need. In fact, Dean’s Circle members provide 90 percent of the new scholarship dollars contributed each year. Donors qualify for the Dean's Circle with cumulative gifts of $1,000 or more ($500 for graduates from the last 10 years) to the Annual Fund within a given fiscal year (July 1 to June 30).
If you would like to support a student directly and see your impact firsthand, join the Dean’s Circle with a gift of $5,000 or more. We will name a one-year scholarship in your honor or in honor of someone who inspires you. We will connect you with your scholarship recipient so you can hear how meaningful your gift has been.
For more information, contact Emilie Dufour at [email protected] or at (212) 851-7766.
Pulitzer Society (Planned Giving Society)
Supporters who include the Journalism School in their planned giving - be it through a bequest or a beneficiary designation or by establishing an annuity or trust, become members of our legacy society named after our funding legacy donor Joseph Pulitzer - the Pulitzer Society. We will recognize your thoughtful gift by inviting you to special events and sending you communications through the University’s 1754 Society, the university-wide planned giving society.
For more information, email Cynthia Helton at [email protected] or by phone at (212) 854-1148,
Team Contacts
Cynthia A. Helton
Associate Dean, Alumni and Development
[email protected]
(212) 854-1148
Brandon Glosser
Executive Assistant
[email protected]
(212) 854-4743
Katja Hafendoerfer
Director of Development
[email protected]
(212) 854-8634
Kevin C. Bentley
Associate Director of Major Gifts
[email protected]
(212) 854-5263
Emilie Dufour
Annual Fund Manager
[email protected]
(212) 851-7766
Luke Maxwell
Development and Alumni Administrator
[email protected]
(212) 851-9653