More than 150 community members came together at the Jewish Community Campus for Foundation for Our Future, the Jewish Community Foundation’s (JCF) biennial celebration of planned giving.
The Sept. 18 event, which was sponsored by the Sam and Lucy Gould JCF Program Fund, honored the more than 1,000 donors, past and present, who have made planned gifts to a Jewish communal agency or synagogue. Their collective generosity and foresight have generated $89 million in realized planned gifts and another $125 million in future planned gifts for the community.
The evening began with dinner and drinks, followed by remarks of gratitude from JCF President Frank Lipsman and Executive Director Josh Stein. The evening continued with the Foundation’s signature Endowment Book of Life signing ceremony, which recognizes donors who have made permanent commitments of $10,000 or more to local Jewish organizations. The evening concluded with the option to attend a private production of Victor Wishna’s “Tree of Life” play in The J’s White Theatre.
The Endowment Book of Life was created in 2003 under the leadership of former JCF Executive Director Susie Goldsmith. For more than 20 years, the Foundation has periodically held signing ceremonies where individuals and families who have invested in the financial sustainability of Jewish institutions and programs sign the book and add to it their stories and remembrances of love, connection and inspiration.
At this year’s event, 13 new Book of Life signers brought the total number of individual signers to 328. The 2024 signers included Elizabeth Appelbaum; Lewis and Carol Berey; Bill and Robin Carr; Sam Devinki; Martha Gershun and Don Goldman; Kathy Krigel Hawley; Judy Jacobs; Norman Kahn, Jr. and Diana Winyard; Andrea Poisner-Corchine in memory of Larry Poisner; Mary Beth Rohlf; Lisa and Ken Schifman; David Spizman and Karen Loggia; and Wallace Weber.
Martha Gershun’s mother, Gloria Gershun, was one of the first signers of the Book of Life 21 years ago.
“Back then,” Gloria Gershun said, “we didn’t have $5,000 in a lump sum to open a donor advised fund. A few years later, when I was working for Eddie Feinstein at H&R Block, I mentioned that Don and I were going to sell some stock for charity and pay the related taxes. Eddie said, ‘What do you mean pay the taxes? You need to open a donor advised fund at the Jewish Community Foundation.’”
Gershun and Goldman have plans for a gift upon their death to the Foundation to be distributed to charities they have chosen.
“Don and I would like to use some of our financial resources to make the world a better place,” she said. “We feel that the Foundation is most resonant with our values and our interest in efficiency, tax management and legal compliance.”
David Spizman, currently the director of philanthropy and community engagement at Village Shalom, was serving on its board of directors when he and Karen Loggia first learned about the Bushman Community Endowment Program, a 10-year initiative to promote legacy giving that identified hundreds of donors and millions of dollars in planned giving commitments. The Create a Jewish Legacy Initiative, supported by the Sam and Lucy Gould JCF Program Fund at the Foundation, has made the creation of many additional planned gifts possible.
“Karen and I are big supporters of teaching our kids about the value of community,” Spizman said. “The Foundation provides a concierge service which helps us be more planful in our philanthropy.”
For Andrea Poisner-Corchine, signing the Book of Life was an opportunity to honor her father Larry Poisner, whose kindness and generosity shaped her values.
“My father supported the Jewish Community Foundation so that he could contribute at the highest level to make the broadest impact,” she said.
Before adjourning for the play, playwright Victor Wishna shared some of his writing inspiration and provided context for how the play fit into the Foundation for Our Future event. He told the audience, “The play — whose themes revolve around the idea that we are all part of a larger Jewish story — is a good fit for tonight. We never know what form our legacy will take, which is why we build it.”
More information about planned gifts is available by contacting Suzanne Dicken at the Jewish Community Foundation at (913) 327-8286 or .
