Since 2011, Jayne Perilstein has worked hard to make a difference at two organizations: USC Shoah Foundation and the University of Pennsylvania. And this month, she was formally recognized by Penn with an award that encompasses her work with both.

Perilstein is currently managing director of advancement at USC Shoah Foundation, but her journey with the Institute first began five years ago, when the 2011 Ambassadors for Humanity gala was held in Philadelphia. Perilstein had over 25 years of experience managing her own consulting firm and was brought on temporarily to help coordinate the event and its local fundraising efforts.

After a year and a half of consulting for the Institute, Perilstein was hired full time in its advancement team, which at the time had an office in Philadelphia, doing a variety of outreach projects and working closely with the Board of Councilors and newly-formed Next Generation Council. Now, she spends most of her time at the Institute’s advancement office in New York focusing on major gift donations.

Perilstein said she was drawn to USC Shoah Foundation after seeing how passionate its staff and supporters were at the Philadelphia gala. Its international scope and impressive roster of board members, among some of the top business leaders and philanthropists in the country, was inspiring, she said.

“The scope of work was much bigger than anything I’d ever done,” Perilstein said. “I’d been working with predominantly local not for profits, and the fact that USC Shoah Foundation is an international organization, and the quality of the work and the way the gala was executed, it was beyond anything I’d ever seen and probably beyond anything anyone in Philadelphia had ever seen. It was a big deal.”

Perilstein’s work today focuses on identifying and developing relationships with potential donors in the hope that their philanthropic interests align with USC Shoah Foundation’s work.

In addition to her position at USC Shoah Foundation, Perilstein is active in the Penn alumni network. She is chair of the Trustees Council of Penn Women, which advances women and women’s issues at Penn, and president of her graduating class, which is the only alumni class to give back to the community by organizing field trips for students at a local high school. Her experience as a volunteer herself gives her insight into how to connect with potential supporters at USC Shoah Foundation.

“Having come from the world of being a volunteer, I have a good understanding of what it feels like to be in the donor’s shoes, so I think I understand how to communicate with donor, how to cultivate and steward a donor, because I’m a donor in my other life,” Perilstein said. “I think bridging the gap between staff and volunteer puts me in a unique position.”

Perilstein was just selected to receive the highest award given to Penn alumni, the 2016 Alumni Award of Merit. She said it’s rewarding not only to be recognized for her work, but also in light of the fact that so much of her success at USC Shoah Foundation has been connected to fellow Penn alumni. Through her Penn connections, she has gathered some of USC Shoah Foundation’s most committed board members, enabled Penn to be a full access site of the Visual History Archive, and offered a teaching fellowship for Penn faculty to use the VHA in their courses.

“It is especially gratifying that I was able to merge all these different aspects of my life and here this university that I care about partnered with USC Shoah Foundation which I care about. It’s been a really fruitful relationship,” she said.

While people often assume her job at USC Shoah Foundation is “depressing,” Perilstein said it is anything but. She finds the resiliency of the survivors who gave their testimonies very inspiring, and believes USC Shoah Foundation delivers on its mission to use the testimonies for good.

“It’s our ability to change attitude and behavior and to be able to do it one person at a time,” Perilstein said. “I think what we do in the classroom in particular, we’re able to make an impact one person at a time and show [students] that their behavior and attitudes do make a difference. That gives me hope.”