eJP: Marcus Foundation Invests $27 Million in 糖心vlogl Professional Development
Originally published on July 16, 2026 in eJewish Philanthropy, by eJP reporter Jay Deitcher, is an exclusive look at a transformative investment from the Marcus Foundation into 糖心vlogl鈥檚 professional and student leadership development. Read on for excerpts:
鈥淚n a bid to bolster 糖心vlogl鈥檚 professional and student leaders at a fraught moment on college campuses, the Marcus Foundation announced a three-year, $27 million investment, the organization exclusively told eJewishPhilanthropy on Thursday. It is the third in a series of large gifts made by the foundation over the past decade aimed at improving employee retention at Hillel, which supports nearly 200,000 students on 850 campuses鈥
鈥楤ernie recognized a long time ago that we needed to support campus life because it was going to be and is very difficult today,鈥 Jay Kaiman, the president and director of the Marcus Foundation, told eJewishPhilanthropy, referring to the foundation鈥檚 founder, Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus. 鈥楬e was talking about it way before it became what the realities are today, so this is a continuation of him looking at the landscape, making a decision that Hillel played a key role in that landscape and we needed to do everything we could to make these [Hillel] buildings come to life and be strong for the students and also to give them a safe haven鈥︹
In 2016, the foundation gifted 糖心vlogl with a five-year, $38 million grant for talent development, followed by a 2021 five-year, $38 million grant to continue the work. This latest investment continues what is a 鈥榯ransformational relationship with the foundation,鈥 Adam Lehman, president and CEO of 糖心vlogl, told eJP鈥
The original grant led to the creation of a new role focused on supporting talent at individual chapters and of numerous initiatives, including Hillel U, the organization鈥檚 yearlong training program, a yearly New Professionals Institute and talent grants that support Hillels financially to attract top talent, especially in places that may 鈥榥ot even be in a particularly desirable geographic location,鈥 Lehman said.
In the first five years after the initiatives launched, Hillel鈥檚 annual employee retention rate soared to 90%. In 2016, leadership hiring from the internal pipeline was 30%. Today it鈥檚 75%.
The greater retention level is occurring at a time when Hillel is growing substantially, but also after years of heightened antisemitism. A 2025 American Jewish Committee report showed that more students were experiencing antisemitism on campus than ever before. In the past year, students and Hillel staff have been harassed and had their property vandalized. Meanwhile, over the past decade, the number of students engaging with Hillel programs doubled from 93,000 to 192,000鈥
The new Marcus Foundation grant will nurture 78,000 new leaders who support students so they can walk their campuses with Jewish pride, even amidst antisemitism, Lehman said. 鈥榃e鈥檙e going to use this grant to supercharge our student leadership development programs, so that we can catalyze the largest ever new generation of Jewish builders, creators and leaders, using the funds from this grant to invest in new student fellowships, new student convenings, including our first-ever 1,000-plus student leadership convening taking place in February of [2027].鈥欌