PHIL ANTHROPY
New opportunities for LIFE & LEGACY
T
he LIFE & LEGACY initiative has its roots in San Diego, CA. Gail Littman, z”l, and Marjory Kaplan, former CEO of the San Diego Jewish Community Foundation, launched the Endowment Leadership Institute in 2004. Word of its success soon reached philanthropist Harold Grinspoon, and in 2008, he invited Gail to launch a similar initiative in his hometown community in Western Massachusetts. After the success in Western Massachusetts and other pilot initiatives, LIFE & LEGACY was launched in 2012 and is now in almost 70 communities across North America. More than a billion dollars has been committed to Jewish legacy giving through this program. After five years of being a formal partner in the Harold Grinspoon Foundation’s LIFE & LEGACY program, the Oregon Jewish Community Foundation is now sponsoring, independent of the Grinspoon Foundation, a new group of smaller organizations that are interested in building endowments and legacy giving. The OJCF will bring training, support and monetary incentives to nine new partner organizations, stretching from Vancouver, WA, to Ashland, OR. These organizations’ leaders know how vital it is to secure resources that will sustain their work for the next generation and beyond. Since the pandemic began, Google searches reveal that interest in estate planning over all demographics is at an all-time high. Charitable gifts within estate planning are also at an all-time high. The new organizations’ legacy teams participated in a LIFE & LEGACY virtual kick-off meeting in November 2020, with guest speaker Arlene D. Schiff, national director of the LIFE & LEGACY program at the Grinspoon Foundation. On February 23, they had their second training session via Zoom with presenter Julie Diamond, OJCF president and CEO. There were 27 people on the call, both professionals and volunteers. 14 MARCH/APRIL 2021 | OREGON JEWISH LIFE
These Legacy donors added their names and personal stories to the community-wide Endowment Book of Life, on display at the Mittleman Jewish Community Center. For the new partner organizations starting out, their legacy donors can also sign the Book of Life. You can visit the Book of Life online at ojcfbookoflife.org. Dr. Jerome M. Reich, of blessed memory
