Give an Invent Penn State Gift with Lifelong Impact
PNC Bank commits $1 million to power Happy Valley LaunchBox
“PNC Bank is engaging with the Invent Penn State initiative to drive economic development in Happy Valley. We have already begun working with startups at Happy Valley LaunchBox, and look forward to seeing the impact our relationship will have in the future.”
Jim Hoehn
PNC Regional President of Central Pennsylvania
Your generous gifts enable the next generation of Penn State student, faculty, and community entrepreneurs and changemakers to rise.
Mentor a Team
Give the gift of time and experience. Student teams need industry experts to participate in customer discovery and mentors who can help them network and advance their ideas.
Sponsor Programs & Events
Provide the gift of immersive educational experiences outside of the classroom. From programs like Idea TestLab, FastTrack Accelerator, and Summer Founders to events like Startup Week and Global Entrepreneurship Week budding entrepreneurs need specialized teaching, coaching, and pitching experiences to accelerate their startups.
Make a Gift
Your gift will provide ongoing support, annual support or meet immediate needs. Your generous major gift may qualify for University matching and place your name on innovation spaces, equipment, and programs—or even entire buildings.
.cls-1{fill:#fff;}hierarchy
Mentor a Team
Give the gift of time and experience. Student teams need industry experts to participate in customer discovery and mentors who can help them network and advance their ideas.
.cls-1{fill:#fff;}employee
Sponsor Programs & Events
Provide the gift of immersive educational experiences outside of the classroom. From programs like Idea TestLab, FastTrack Accelerator, and Summer Founders to events like Startup Week and Global Entrepreneurship Week budding entrepreneurs need specialized teaching, coaching, and pitching experiences to accelerate their startups.
.35 64305fd-53e4-4f61-b670-6278cf385055{fill:#fff;}university-building
Make a Gift
Your gift will provide ongoing support, annual support or meet immediate needs. Your generous major gift may qualify for University matching and place your name on innovation spaces, equipment, and programs—or even entire buildings.
Connect with Penn State Development’s Director of Strategic Initiatives
Giving Opportunity Examples
Penn State's Newest Innovation Space
This six-story, state-of-the-art, multi-use innovation facility is now open on South Burrowes Street in downtown State College. The facility is the new home of Happy Valley LaunchBox powered by PNC Bank and offers high-tech digital, wood, and metal makerspace as well as coworking space, accelerator programs, and events. Your gift will enable student, faculty, and community entrepreneurs and makers to connect, learn, and turn their ideas into valuable products and businesses. Learn More.
The Eric J. Barron Innovation Hub is the cornerstone of the Penn State entrepreneurial ecosystem.
LaunchBoxes & Innovation Network
Your gift to one of 24 LaunchBoxes and innovation spaces will connect startups to the resources they need to build sustainable and scalable businesses—no-cost coworking space, makerspace, accelerator programs, legal and intellectual property resources, and more. Since 2015, these innovation spaces have supported 9,785 entrepreneurs, engaged 28,921 students and faculty, graduated 1,320 startups, and completed 1,061 product development projects.
Students and community entrepreneurs co-work and collaborate at a Happy Valley LaunchBox powered by PNC Bank as they turn ideas into startups and scalable businesses.
Summer Founders Program
Your gift to the Summer Founders Program provides student teams support they need to work full-time on their ventures over the summer and get access to resources like mentorship, accelerator programing, coworking space, raw materials for prototyping work, expertise like programing, and funding for travel and customer discovery.
Members of the 2025 Summer Founders Program cohort gathered throughout the summer to collaborate, build connections, and grow their startup ideas.
Invent Penn State Venture & IP Conference
One of the largest tech startup conferences in the Mid-Atlantic, the Invent Penn State Venture & IP Conference highlights innovations from high-growth and emerging markets such as FinTech, EdTech, Energy, Advanced Manufacturing, Biotechnology, and Healthcare. The event draws 600+ attendees from across the US—70+ startup ventures, 40+ venture capital firms, A-list keynotes. Your gift enables a showcase of emerging Penn State technologies, startups, and student entrepreneurs.
The Student Startup Showcase provided student startups with the opportunity to pitch their startups to a crowd of investors and entrepreneurs.
Sign up for the monthly Invent Penn State newsletter