Strong alumni support remains one of the School’s most steadfast and proud traditions.

The School’s mission is as ambitious as it is honorable: to improve health and well-being for all. To achieve this mission, we depend on your philanthropic support.

Make an Outright Gift

Outright gifts, which are counted in your class giving totals, are a donation of cash or other assets, such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, real estate, retirement plan assets, and/or personal property.

  • Visit our secure online gift form »
  • Make a check payable to Harvard Medical School and mail to:
    Harvard Medical School
    Alumni Affairs and Development
    P.O. Box 419720
    Boston, MA 02241-9720
    Please include a note with your full name, address, and phone number
  • Call 617-384-8500

Donor-Advised Fund (DAF)

Make an annual gift from your DAF to HMS. After creating the DAF, you can direct annual distributions to your favorite charities. You enjoy the simplicity and anonymity of recommending a distribution from your DAF to HMS to support medical education, biomedical research, or health care service.

If you have an account with Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable, or BNY Mellon, you can use the DAF Direct box on this page, fill in the designation (how the funds should be used) and the amount of your gift. When you click the “NEXT” button, you will be taken directly to your donor-advised fund provider's website to complete your gift.

If your provider is not listed, contact them directly with a request to make a gift to HMS on your behalf:
Make a check payable to Harvard Medical School, including a note with your full name, address, and phone number and mail to:

Harvard Medical School
Alumni Affairs and Development
P.O. Box 419720
Boston, MA 02241-9720

Join Our Giving Societies

Leadership

Dean's Council

Our leadership annual giving society comprises individuals who give $2,000 or more

Loyalty

Federman Loyalty Circle

Honors alumni who have made consecutive annual gifts of any size for five years or more

Legacy

Ezekiel Hersey Council

Recognizes alumni and friends who have created a life income gift or included HMS in their estate plans

More Ways to Give

  • Tribute Gifts
    • Make your gift in honor of someone, in celebration of a special occasion, or in memory of a loved one.
    • Mail your check, made payable to Harvard Medical School, and including a note with your full name, address, phone number, and who your gift is honoring, to:
      Harvard Medical School
      Alumni Affairs and Development
      P.O. Box 419720
      Boston, MA 02241-9720

  • Securities (Stocks, Bonds, and Mutual Funds)
    • To make a gift of securities, please contact the Alumni and Development Services-Trust Administration at 866-845-6596 or donorsecuritygifts@harvard.edu
    • To ensure proper processing of your gift, please notify Harvard of the stock transfer by completing this online form.
    • All mutual fund transfers must be coordinated with the Alumni and Development Services-Trust Administration. For the team to determine the appropriate instructions, please call 866-845-6596 or email donorsecuritygifts@harvard.edu with the following information: the name of the mutual fund, the number of shares, date of acquisition, and where the fund shares are currently held.
    • For more information, please contact our gift planning team at 800-922-1782 or email giftplanning@hms.harvard.edu.

  • Real Estate or Personal Property
    • Donate your personal residence, vacation home, farm or agricultural land, ranch, commercial property or lot, undeveloped or unimproved land or consider works of art, antiques, gold, stamps, coins, jewelry, patents, copyrights, etc.
    • For more information, please contact our gift planning team at 800-922-1782 or email giftplanning@hms.harvard.edu.

  • Beneficiary Designations

    Designating HMS as a beneficiary of your IRA, investment account, savings account, or donor-advised fund is as easy as filling out a form. These assets make for tax-wise gifts to HMS—especially retirement accounts, which can be the most highly-taxed asset many people hold and are subject to income tax when distributed if left to individuals.

    How it works:

    • Name HMS as a full or partial beneficiary of the remainder of your IRA, 401(k), 403(b), Keogh, tax-deferred annuity, or other qualified retirement plan. Also consider other accounts in your asset umbrella such as investment accounts, savings accounts, or donor-advised funds.
    • Request a change of beneficiary form from your plan administrator and name the “President and Fellows of Harvard College, for the benefit of Harvard Medical School” as a beneficiary, along with the percentage you would like HMS to receive. Complete the form and submit it to your broker, banker, or agent. In many cases, the process can be completed online.
       

    If you are 72 years old or older, you can transfer up to $100,000 from your IRA directly to Harvard Medical School. 

    • CHECK
      Download the IRA Rollover Letter of Instruction and request that your IRA administrator issues a check for your selected dollar amount directly to HMS.
    • STOCKS/SECURITIES
      Contact the Harvard Management Company at 866-845-6596 or donorsecuritygifts@harvard.edu. To ensure proper processing of your gift, please notify Harvard of the transfer by completing this online form.
    • WIRE TRANSFERS
      Direct transfer to the following account:
      Bank of America, 100 Federal Street, Boston, MA 02110
      President and Fellows of Harvard College, ADS account
      Account #: 9429263621
      Ach ABA: 011000138
      Wire ABA: 026009593
      Swift Code: BOFAUS3N
    • Once the wire transfer arrangements have been made, please provide the following information to giftplanning@hms.harvard.edu:
      Name/location of bank sending the transfer Amount of gift / Date of transfer
      Name of the HMS fund, program, or research area the gift is supporting

Types of Gifts

Reunion Giving

Many alumni stretch their annual giving, or give for the first time, to enable their class to present a gift that will make a substantial impact on Harvard Medical School and its students.

Planned Giving

When you include Harvard Medical School in your estate plan, you create a legacy to help secure a healthier tomorrow.

Leadership Giving

We are looking to build philanthropic partnerships with visionaries who want to change the world through investments in health and medicine.

Donor Spotlight

Phyllis I. Gardner, MD ’76 & Andrew J. Perlman, MD, PhD

Gardner and her husband, made a $100,000 gift to REACH earlier this year, on top of the nearly $75,000 they have already given to the program.

Read more about Gardner and Perlman's gift in Pulse

Donor Spotlight

Yeu-Tsu M. Lee, MD ’61

Lee established two charitable gift annuities to support current-use medical student scholarships, and most recently, she designated $103,000 from a charitable remainder trust to support the same cause

Read more about Lee's gift in Pulse

Donor Spotlight

MD Alumni

MD alumni gifts in FY21 ranged from $10 to over $100,000, with a median of $250 and an average of $3,300.

Read more about MD Alumni gifts in Pulse

Donor Spotlight

Martin Prince, MD ’85

Giving students the freedom to choose their own research paths—to follow their ideas without being beholden to someone else’s funding agenda—is very important. Prince received fellowship support that guaranteed him that freedom, and since then, he’s wanted to give back to the program.

Read more about the Prince's gift in Pulse

Donor Spotlight

James “Jim” Vernon, MD ’61

In honor of his 60th Reunion, Vernon recently committed $1 million in financial aid to Harvard Medical School by establishing a blended gift of appreciated stock and a charitable gift annuity (CGA).

Read more about Vernon's gift in Pulse

Donor Spotlight

Paul Weiden, AB ’63, MD ’67

Weiden says, "Charitable remainder trusts (CRTs) has provided meaningful tax savings and regular income, the latter intended primarily for the long-term support of my wife, who is younger, and of course, ultimately for students who will receive support from the Weiden Family Scholarship Funds."

Read more about Weiden's gift in Pulse