One of only eight Jewish communities from across North America selected to participate in the Harold Grinspoon Foundation’s Life and Legacy program, the Tidewater Jewish Foundation is part of the program’s fifth cohort. Life and Legacy now includes a total of 37 Jewish communities.
“The Harold Grinspoon Foundation is very excited to be partnering with the Tidewater Jewish Foundation to establish a culture of legacy giving in Tidewater,” says Arlene D. Schiff, national director of the Life and Legacy program. “The time is right. This legacy program will make the most of the generational transfer of wealth, change the language and landscape of giving and provide generous and forward thinking members of the Tidewater Jewish community with the opportunity to express their passion, purpose and commitment to their most valued Jewish organizations.”
Life and Legacy is a four-year program that assists communities through partnerships with Jewish Federations and Foundations, to promote after-lifetime giving to benefit local Jewish day schools, synagogues, social service organizations and other Jewish entities. Life and Legacy’s goals are to:
• Educate, train, motivate and empower Jewish organizations to engage their loyal stakeholders in conversations to establish legacy gifts.
• Increase community awareness of the power of bequests, other legacy vehicles and endowments.
• Integrate legacy giving into the philanthropic culture of the Tidewater Jewish community.
The program will grant the Tidewater Jewish Foundation with matching funds from the Harold Grinspoon Foundation of up to $100,000 per year to provide participating local organizations the opportunity to receive unrestricted incentive grants based on meeting legacy commitment benchmarks.
Life and Legacy program’s success has been unprecedented in generating excitement and engagement around securing endowments, in order to ensure the future of the Jewish community. As of March 31, 2016, in just three and one-half years, 29 communities representing 303 organizations have secured more than 9,360 legacy commitments with an estimated $376.7 million in future gifts to the Jewish community.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for our community to work in partnership to build a stronger future together,” says Scott Kaplan, president and CEO of the Tidewater Jewish Foundation. “I am excited to work with our local organizations providing everyone the opportunity to shape our future and create our Jewish legacy.”
Life and Legacy is the newest initiative of HGF, which is investing $30 million to engage communities in legacy building efforts to secure the future of vibrant Jewish communities.
For more information about the Life and Legacy program at Tidewater Jewish Foundation, contact Amy Weinstein, TJF director of development, at 757-965-6105 or aweinstein@ujft.org.