Create a Jewish Legacy of Western Massachusetts held an orientation meeting in early February for seven new organizations, bringing to twenty the number of groups involved in this highly successful bequest-giving program. Consultant and program adviser Gail Littman, director of endowments at the San Diego Jewish Community Foundation, facilitated the dinner meeting at the Longmeadow home of Harold Grinspoon for Congregations B’nai Torah, Beit Ahavah and Sons of Zion, day schools Sinai Academy of the Berkshires and the Lander-Grinspoon Academy as well as the Greater Springfield Chapter of Hadassah, and Rachel’s Table, a program of the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts. She emphasized how important it is to seek bequests and other endowment gifts to sustain organizations, both large and small, over the long term.
Commented Beit Ahavah vice president Don Frank: “Tonight’s session makes our future and our fundraising look doable. Gail broke down the process so we can see how to get from here to there – something that in the everyday life of our synagogue may seem overwhelming.”
In her presentation, as inspiring as it was pragmatic, Littman emphasized that the huge generational transfer of wealth – estimated in trillions — is already underway and that those agencies that do not ask for support from loyal donors will not be able to secure their own future. She commended Western Massachusetts organizations for already securing 237 legacy gifts and an estimated $6.7 million since the program launched in June 2008, and she encouraged the new organizations to begin discussing legacy giving with loyal members, volunteers and donor families. “This is all about the size of the heart, not the size of the gift,” she said.
In a good-natured exchange, Smith College Jewish Studies professor and Lander Grinspoon Academy president Justin Cammy agreed to make his legacy gift on the spot. . As he signed his Letter of Intent, Cammy noted: “It’s not enough to pursue Jewish life through academics. The way you become whole is to live your life Jewishly and make it personal.”
Create a Jewish Legacy of Western Massachusetts has two funding partners: The Harold Grinspoon Foundation provides staffing and administration, and the Jewish Endowment Foundation provides annual incentive grants to organizations reaching their goals and technical support in charitable gift planning. In addition, the Jewish Federations of Western Massachusetts and the Berkshires are active program partners. All participating organizations receive coaching and training, marketing material, advertising. Susan Goldman, fundraising vice president of the Greater Springfield Chapter of Hadassah, summarized the initial training session as “direct, simple, and heartfelt.”