Agencies Jewish Federation and Jewish Foundation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee 801 Percy Warner Blvd., Suite 102 Nashville, TN 37205 www.jewishnashville.org (615) 356-3242 info@jewishnashville.org JewishNashville @JewishNashville Steven Hirsch, president Eric B. Stillman, executive director (615) 354-1660 eric@jewishnashville.org Every day, we help Jewish life thrive in Nashville, Israel and in 70 countries around the world through support from our annual campaign and Foundation. We inspire engagement in Jewish life and in assuring a Jewish future. We help vulnerable people. Your generosity makes it all possible.
Our Nashville community We’re the central voluntary organization of the Nashville Jewish community, with a population of at least 11,000 Jews and non-Jews living in 4,700 Jewish households and growing. Through fundraising, planning and community relations efforts, either independently or with other Jewish organizations, we work to pro-mote the general welfare, viability and cohesiveness of the Nashville Jewish community and to ensure the continuity of the Jewish people locally, in Israel and around the world. Over the years, we’ve looked to the community leaders and volunteers to direct our activities and plans. Starting with Best Jewish Nashville in 2010, which identified community needs, and following up with a broad-based community study in 2015, our goal is to understand our community and serve its needs. Best Jewish Nashville 2.0 updated the initial assessment of needs and priorities. Our work centers around five areas: • convening local Jewish organizations to implement shortand long-term community-building strategies, • efficient fundraising through a centralized annual campaign, • funding ongoing and innovative programs that promise to improve Nashville and world Jewry, • creating endowments to ensure a Jewish future for generations to come, and • deepening connections between Israel and the Middle Tennessee Jewish community.
In virtually every area of Jewish Federation activity and programming, we’re making significant progress. We’re reaching out to young adults and families through NowGen programming. There are frequent and varied events for newcomers through our Welcoming Ambassadors program. The Community Relations Committee, through which the Jewish community builds strong and positive relationships with the larger Nashville community, has made significant structural and governance changes in order to expand communal outreach and education efforts on the domestic front and in the area of Israel advocacy and education. The LIFE & LEGACY™ program, now in its second year, is an initiative of the Jewish Federation in partnership with the Harold Grinspoon Foundation. LIFE & LEGACY™ coordinates and provides financial incentives to help 13 Nashville Jewish agencies, including all five synagogues and many other local community organizations, build firm financial support through a systematic approach to creating their own income-generating endowments. More than 250 people throughout the community have signed over 500 letters of intent pledging to support Jewish Nashville with after-life gifts, and we’re helping them learn more about legacies in our Professional Advisory Committee’s seminars. The PAC is a group of attorneys, accountants, financial planners, and wealth advisors that provide education to the Jewish community related to wealth transfers to families and for charity. Our Jewish Federation has emerged as a key leader in our Partnership2Gether program, which brings together the Hadera-Eiron region in north central Israel and several Jewish communities in the southeastern United States, including Nashville. Nashvillians are taking national leadership roles with the P2G Joint Steering Committee and on the Jewish Federations of North America’s board of trustees. We thank you for your generosity in partnering with us to create and sustain a vibrant Jewish community. We look forward to continuing our work with you. The Guide to Jewish Nashville 2020 • 5
