The John Harvard Society honors the numerous alumni, friends, and family members who have made a planned gift to Harvard College, the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (Harvard Griffin GSAS), the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, or other Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) programs. At all levels, this crucial support helps to sustain Harvard's commitment to educational excellence. Members of the Society join a long and valued tradition that began over three and a half centuries ago when John Harvard left his library and half his estate to support a fledgling college founded two years earlier by the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
For the "New College," John Harvard's legacy was a much needed source of financial support. Part was used to construct the College's first building, while the books formed the core of the College's library in its first years. Since then, countless alumni and friends have provided similar support, helping to sustain Harvard's students, faculty, and programs, now and into the future.
The thoughtful generosity that guided John Harvard has echoed in all the generations that have followed. We invite you to be recognized as a member of the Society by informing the Office of Gift Planning that you have included the College, the Harvard Griffin GSAS, or the Harvard Paulson School in your will, as the beneficiary of a retirement plan or insurance policy, or that you have created a planned gift that aligns your philanthropic desires with the needs of the FAS. Staff members from the Office of Gift Planning can help structure gifts that are mutually beneficial to you and to Harvard.