As we continue to navigate the immediate health, financial and political effects of the ongoing pandemic, Jewish community professionals also remain committed to helping young people thrive through what is known as the “shadow pandemic,” the emerging Mental, Emotional, Social and Spiritual Health (MESSH) crisis, specifically for our adolescents and emerging adults (ages 10-26). This shadow pandemic has been years in the making and has only been exacerbated by Covid-19. The past two years have laid bare the pervasive and increasing levels of this age cohort’s stress, anxiety, depression and loneliness. 

Our Jewish organizational leaders and direct service professionals, from the CEO and senior management to the social workers, classroom educator to the camp counselor, have stepped up heroically, marshaling all of their training, their best instincts and the wisdom and resources of Jewish tradition to steer adolescents and young adults through uncertainty. This work can be relentless, yet it is championed and led by empathic, dedicated professionals. One might say that these leaders have become “like superheroes in reverse: heroes in public with secret identities of normal people who break down into tears and struggle in private,” imagery explored in a recent book on relationships.

We must both acknowledge and attend to our leaders’ own MESSH and wellbeing, especially during this critical time. This is how we become a kehillah kedoshah, a sacred or holy community. “Wellbeing” includes having the ability to think clearly, act in ways that are aligned with our values, and hold deep relationships. According to the Global Wellness Institute, “People with mental wellbeing know themselves and their needs, have clear boundaries and are emotionally literate. They are generous, wise and compassionate. They make good decisions on behalf of others.” Therefore, supporting the well-being of our leaders is vital to promoting the mental health of all. 

Without a sense of their own wellbeing, it’s difficult for leaders to show the empathy and genuine care their teams and constituents need. Leaders need to be authentically present, a difficult task if they are preoccupied with their own stress and anxiety. We must help safeguard and promote their own well-being if we expect them to go to incredible lengths to protect our community.

We, the colleagues, executives, lay-leadership and community members in position to support our Jewish professional leaders, start this by deeply getting to know them, both their stressors and their needs. Each of us has the ability to ensure we offer our leaders the same level of care we do for our broader community. We must work each day to help them feel blessed.

Board members, lay leaders, human resource professionals and fellow colleagues all have a role in contributing to the MESSH of our leaders. Strategies include:

Foster meaningful relationships through supportive work environments.

To be in relationships with others is an obligatory matter of Jewish tradition. We are commanded, for example, not only to pray but to pray as a people, a congregation and a community with each other. The rabbis of the Talmud require us to chant Torah and sing our liturgical prayers in a minyan (a minimum group of ten worshippers). Our relationships with each other foster a deep sense of belonging to something bigger than ourselves, which fuels us and our work deeply. Focusing on understanding and oneness in the workplace can nurture a strong, supportive community.

Invite leaders to bring their whole selves to their work.

Work-life balance feels impossible to achieve these days. Even work-life integration, in which we can selectively mix our two lives together, can also prove difficult. As a new approach, we can stop thinking of work and life as separate. Rather, we invite our leaders to bring their authenticity, humility, and vulnerability to work, as Mike Robbins writes in Bring Our Full Selves to Work:

Authenticity: Encourage them to bring their integrated selves to their role, and not hide any part of themselves either in the room or on the Zoom.

Humility: Listen intently to what they may need and invite leaders to share in part by sharing our own struggles and missteps.

Vulnerability: Create a safe and inviting workspace of non-judgmental listening, in which leaders sharing fears and concerns openly is valued and not critiqued.

Create and champion opportunities for leaders to rest. 

Leaders can feel especially worn down during this prolonged crisis period as if they have nothing left to give. From Anne Helen Peterson’s work for Culture Study: “You keep going, but the returns diminish, your capacity diminishes, your feeling of control… every day there’s less of it. And yet—you are beloved and worthy of rest.” Rest, ranging from a quiet day or hour to a sabbatical, offers proven benefits to mental health, creativity and community. As we just closed out another pandemic year, let’s propose a year of Shmittah (meaning release in Hebrew) in which we must honor the needs of our leaders to step back, rest and recharge, knowing they will return stronger. 

Standing on this ever-shifting sand, we are in each other’s hands. In the words of Martin Buber, “I think no human being can give more than this. Making life possible for the other, if only for a moment.” 

Harnessing Buber’s words, we must have the kavannah, intentionality, to ensure our leaders, and therefore our entire community, feel both held and blessed. One of the hallmarks of wellbeing is the ability to make a contribution to the community. Now more than ever, we must help the helpers. Advocating for and taking these actions can (re)inspire our leaders, help them reignite joy and ripple outwards to all they serve.

In November of 2018 I got stuck - literally. I got out of bed and was unable to move. The slightest effort sent electric shocks up and down my back. The eventual MRI revealed two ruptured disks from which a small piece had broken off and was pressing on a nerve cluster. 

Could it have been prevented? Absolutely! I had been having back pain for months, but I was too busy to do anything about it. Instead, what followed were almost eight weeks of bed rest, nerve blockers, and cortisone shots until my body could heal. A good portion of that time was spent bargaining with God, making all kinds of promises to take better care of myself. Slowly but surely, my back did heal. And I did keep my promises. 

Then came March 2020. The world was in crisis, and schools right along with it. Governments closed schools and we, fearless school leaders, were left to pivot to online learning, to become experts on the pandemic, and to develop health and safety protocols. Emergency calls and meetings with all levels of community and government became the norm. Along the way, the mental health of our students, our faculty, our staff, our parents, our families and our communities became our primary concern.

We are ambitious, overachieving, take-charge people. We fix problems–other people’s problems. But what good are we if we ourselves end up out of commission, laid out because our bodies finally tell us “Enough is enough?” Below are a few of the lessons I learned the hard way.

Limit Stress.

When you are done laughing at this one, please hear me out. I am referring to self-imposed stress, the “I shoulds,” as in “I should be doing [fill in the blank].” Over the past two and a half years, while trying to keep all the plates spinning at once, a good number of those plates crashed to the floor. Amazingly, no one noticed. There will be time for them eventually, but for now, stick to what must be done.

Don't skimp on sleep.

Sleep is a basic human need that is important for stress management, memory, weight management, reduced inflammation and to stave off depression. Sleep deprivation affects your mental health and wellbeing and your overall ability to cope. Go to bed at a decent hour and catch your zs.

Decide on a cut-off time and stick to it. 

Select a time when you will end your workday. This means no more checking email, texts, or WhatsApps, having your work bag packed for the next day, and pushing away from your desk. Whatever work did not get done will still be there waiting for you in the morning. Odds are it will be easier to tackle after a good night’s sleep. I hate to break it to you, but you are not an ER doctor on call; even they get breaks.

Exercise daily. 

In 2022, this one does not need further explanation. Still, do not create artificial obstacles for yourself. Stop researching the best exercise location or routine or equipment. Get up off the sofa, get out of bed, and go for a walk in whatever you are wearing–don’t even bother changing. It doesn’t matter what you do, just move. The fewer the obstacles, the more likely you are to get moving. Believe it or not, you may even come to enjoy it!

Join the 5am club. 

Not to cram in more work, rather just to have a quiet moment in the day to be alone with your thoughts. We work in schools, those wonderful, noise-filled institutions. Having some time in the morning to sit with a warm drink cradled between your hands and just listen to the silence and hear yourself think can be quite restorative.

Rediscover your hobbies.

School leaders are ambitious and driven individuals who likely took part in all kinds of extracurricular activities when they were younger. When is the last time you played piano, painted or picked up some needlework? Having a hobby can have wonderful health benefits, and you don’t even have to be good at it. You enjoyed them once; why not give them another try?

Lean on others.

The desire to be strong or at least to be perceived as strong often prevents leaders from allowing themselves to be vulnerable. Find a trusted someone with whom you can openly discuss your challenges and concerns. Just being able to articulate our problems lessens their burden. Sometimes, a fresh perspective from a caring individual can make all the difference.

Reconnect with family and friends. 

The past couple of years has shot our jobs into overdrive. We jump from one crisis to another and always seem to find the time to do so. Don’t keep putting your family on the back burner. Remember that these are people you love. Make time for them as well.

Breathe.

Take a few moments here and there in your day to inhale deeply and exhale deeply. No special technique required. It can be quite surprising to notice how shallow many of us are breathing throughout the day. A few slow, deep breaths can lower your heart rate and help focus your thoughts.

Show yourself some grace.

There is enough pressure for school leaders without us piling on more stress. Gentle that inner voice.

There is no script for leading schools in 2022. One thing is for sure: today, the job of school leadership is not what any of us signed up for. We have entered a new era of education where the old rules no longer apply. Embrace the freedom that this brings and rewrite the script. Your schools need you. Take the time to care for yourself, and put your oxygen masks on first. Right now, it’s the best investment you make for yourself and your schools.

In her essay Women & Power: A Manifesto, classicist Mary Beard prompts us to think about power in ways that are countercultural to current norms. Power, she argues, is often treated as “something elite, coupled to public prestige, to the individual charisma of so-called ‘leadership,’ and often, though not always, to a degree of celebrity.” On these terms, narrow and limiting as they are, power is an object of possession that very few people can wield, and, as she argues, since it is “coded male,” it is one from which women as a gender are excluded. 

Given the exclusionary nature of such a structure, she proposes that we think about power in a radically different way. She argues that power should be separated from public prestige and thought of less as something that one possesses and more as an attribute. To effect systemic change, we should be thinking collaboratively about the power of followers, not just of leaders. It is through the joined hands of the many that the greatest changes can take place, and that is where the real power lies - in the products (or movements) that result when individuals come together with common goals and shared vision.

Beard offers the Black Lives Matter movement as an example of power dynamics at play in such a model. The movement was the brainchild of three women - Alicia Garza, Patrisee Cullors and Opal Tometi - who joined together with an idea that resulted in one of the most influential political movements of the last decade. While very few people recognize their names, together they had the power to effect far-reaching social change through collaborative forces and global efforts. 

To take Beard’s thinking a step further, the notion of collaboration as power that is most effective and far-reaching is one that is rich and diversified. It is this model of power and of leadership which we find deeply entrenched in biblical thought and as a core value of Jewish life. Leadership in Tanakh is divided between different kinds of roles, temperaments, and offices. There are prophets and poets, politicians and priests, shepherds and kings, each with their own style and mandate. In the language of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks,

“In Judaism, leadership is less a function than a field of tensions between different roles, each with its own perspective and voice… a musical form defined as the technique of combining two or more melodic lines in such a way that they establish a harmonic relationship while retaining their linear individuality. It is this internal complexity that gives Jewish leadership its vigour, saving it from entropy, the loss of energy over time.”

The more voices involved, the more powerful the notes of the chorus will be.

Collaborative Power in Judaism 

This sensibility is deeply rooted in Judaism’s evolution from biblical times through to the rabbinic period as well. There is a sense of collaborative power and of inclusion at the core of rabbinic thinking, which trickles down to the role that each individual plays in the great symphony of Jewish life. 

The most salient expression of this can be found in the very institution of the Anshe Knesset Ha-gedolah (“The Great Assembly”), the body of leaders who ruled in the period post-prophecy up until the development of rabbinic Judaism in 70 CE. According to rabbinic traditions, the Assembly was not only an administrative and legislative council but a body that instituted enactments of all kinds and shaped Jewish texts and practices. Much of Jewish liturgy, including Kiddush, Havdalah and the Amidah are said to have taken form under the auspices of the Assembly. The Assembly members are credited with redacting particular books of Tanakh, and even for the process of canonization of Tanakh as a whole. In these and many other ways, the Assembly democratized Jewish education and learning, making the Torah the possession of all, and not limited to the priestly class.

What is remarkable is that we do not know the names and identities of the Assembly members. It is likely that there was no fixed membership, or set number of members, and that the accomplishments took place over the course of a number of centuries. The core group was responsible for shaping and forming Jewish texts and traditions through its individual and collective hands. That this anonymous body is responsible for much of what Jewish life and ritual looks like today is an astounding testament to the power of a collaborative, diversified and cohesive leadership model.

A Contemporary Jewish Leadership Platform 

Over the past three and half years, I have been privileged to play a role in gathering, curating and conducting such a symphony of voices and leaders in a project which rests on the power of diversified and rich collaboration. 929 English, the daily Tanakh study project and platform, has brought together over 9,000 pieces of content from over 500 contributors from across geographic and denominational lines, all reflecting on unique aspects of an individual chapter of Tanakh: 929 chapters, one a day, for 3.5 years. 

The platform has joined the voices of scholars, rabbinic leaders, artists, intellectuals, musicians, historians, graphic designers, podcasters, poets, students, novelists, photographers, playwrights, filmmakers, politicians, doctors, bankers, teachers, lawyers, archaeologists, lyricists, university presidents and kindergarten children who are all reflecting on the same words. It is a democratized space and a creative space, where power emerges from the combined thoughts of the many - young and old, scholar and student, artist and intellectual - sitting side by side. 

Similar to the leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement and to the Anshe Knesset Ha-gedolah, individuals might not be aware of the names and faces of the hundreds of contributors to the 929 project, but they are deeply impacted by its collaborative force nonetheless. For me personally, working within this model has been a humbling gift, and a true testament to the strength, harmoniousness and powerful impact that diversified Torah learning and collaborative leadership can yield. 

The model of collaboration as power feels particularly resonant at this moment of pandemic disruption, as traditional leaders have been tasked with all kinds of new challenges and opportunities, and as leadership as a whole has found itself shifting under the weight of a new reality. The need for collaboration and diversity of leadership - a leadership model comprised of individuals all anchored in a common narrative and shared goals - feels more critical than ever. At this moment of continued isolation, the power of the many is there to draw us in, to ground us, and to connect us in ways that we might have thought were unimaginable before.

What should we be thinking as we prepare to go to synagogue this Saturday, this Shabbat, Sabbath morning? Should we be reviewing our security training? Wondering if the guard showed up? Telling ourselves that what happened in Colleyville is an anomaly, as was, Poway, as was Pittsburgh…? And what about our children; what do we tell them with images from last Saturday still fresh in our minds? 

By now we all know, Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker threw a chair at the terrorist and made a run for it with the two others being held hostage in his synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, this Shabbat, this Saturday. I would bet that that was the first time in his life that he threw a chair at someone. In his CBS interview, he comes across as a gentle soul, serving his congregation with love and intentionality. That love and care moved him to open the door in a gracious act of generosity, to help a fellow human being. He was rewarded for that gesture with violence and threats to his life and to the life of three of his congregants. He describes the moment in prayer, as his back was turned - hearing the alarming click of a gun. He knew right away that the situation was taking a menacing turn.

You too must befriend the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt, Deuteronomy 10:19

This Biblical exhortation is taken seriously by the Jewish community. Our doors open, as did the doors of the tent of our ancestors Abraham and Sarah; their tent doors are said to have been open on four sides. 

We teach our children this practice from when they are very young. We construct that tent yearly, the week that we read the Torah story of the radical hospitality that they offered to the three strangers. A sign is placed over those tents that we fashion: “Welcome to Abraham and Sarah’s Tent.” Teachers show the students the four doors; open to all directions; ready to welcome guests from far away. We invite our children to play-act how they will welcome the stranger—how they will open one of the four doors to let outsiders in. What shall we teach them now?

Jewish Family Service, here in Seattle, actively welcomes refugees from all over the world. This fall intensely those from Afghanistan, in response to the humanitarian crisis brought on by the fall of Kabul. A representative from JFS was our speaker at our very first Middle School assembly this year. After months of no guest speakers on account of Covid, we made an exception. How could we not share this new pressing information with our students? We Jews know what it is to seek refuge. My own parents found refuge here in America, as did my in-laws. We teach our students, as we were welcomed, so must we welcome. What should we teach them now? 

I’m from Pittsburgh. I grew up in Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood. My heart still aches from the shooting that happened in Squirrel Hill on October 27, 2018. Used to be, I’d say where I was from and there would be a lively exchange of folksy banter, now there is, instead, a deep breath; “Oh my.” Tree of Life Synagogue was hosting Refugee Shabbat on the Saturday that they were attacked. Are we fools for continuing this addiction to helping others?

On one of the holiest nights of the year, the Passover Seder, we begin our ritual meal with an invitation, “Let all who are hungry come eat.” We symbolically open our doors, teaching our children from generation to generation that we do not sit at a festive table laden with plenty, without thinking of others. This is core to our beliefs. Maimonides writes, “One must be more meticulous toward the commandment of charity than any other commandment, any other mitzvah. For charity is a sign of a righteous person, the offspring of Abraham.” 

“More meticulous” led Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker to open the door and “more meticulous” will compel us to do the same. Let us hope the world will deal kindly with us.

Pat Bassett, former president of the National Association of Independent Schools, observed, “In any model of financial sustainability for independent schools, endowment growth is a key factor. The schools that will be most secure and in existence in the future will be the schools that have committed to building their endowments.”

The last fifteen years of day school economics were sandwiched by financial crises: the 2008 recession and the early days of Covid. In the middle is the mounting financial challenge facing day schools: demand for an ever more excellent (and costly) educational product coupled with an affordability crisis resulting in growing scholarship rolls and/or declining enrollment. All told, the sandwich can cause a lot of heartburn. 

Recognizing the profound impact that day schools have on the vibrancy and vitality of a Jewish community, we aim towards creating a day school system that is affordable and sustainable and offers an excellent education. Our work in building endowments—both a communal fund and individual school endowments—is a piece within our larger efforts to establish a culture of giving to day schools across the community.

Our Journey 

The Toronto day school story of the last five years can be told in four chapters, the two most recent of which comprise endowment building.

The TanenbaumCHAT Affordibility Initiative

TanenbaumCHAT, Toronto’s community high school, peaked with 1500 students in 2007. Over the next decade, as tuition increased and competition from local public schools grew, enrollment dropped to 900 students. During this time, retention from the five elementary feeder schools decreased from 72% to 55%. Without intervention, we projected that high school enrollment would drop to 650 students by 2021. 

While the precise numbers weren’t known publicly, the challenges the school was facing were regular Shabbat table conversations. 

With the goal of turning the ship around, two donor families came forward and partnered on a bold plan. Through a combination of $14M in gifts, significant cost cutting and a commitment to grow the school’s annual campaign, we would cut tuition by nearly a third for five years and pound the pavement to reach the greatest number of students with a Jewish high school education.

The result: ninth grade enrollment was 175 students in March 2017, when the Initiative launched. Today, that number is 355. Moreover, the program was a catalyst to deepening a culture of philanthropy for day schools in our community. 

Growing Annual Campaigns 

A month after the TanenbaumCHAT Affordability Initiative was announced, our community’s heads of school began planning a single, united day of giving to raise support for their schools’ annual campaigns. In June 2017, we ran the first Day of Giving; $1,905,203 was raised from 2,431 gifts. The schools demonstrated the best of co-opetition: cooperation as they built a platform and marketed fundraising together, coupled with competition, as they sought to put forth the strongest campaign. 

At our fifth Day of Giving in December 2020, $10,531,112 was raised from 7,591 gifts. Over the span of these five years, our elementary schools have increased their total annual fundraising by 30%, driven in large part by a 66% increase in the non-Orthodox schools. TanenbaumCHAT, compelled by the success of the Affordability Initiative, has increased its annual campaign (excluding the two major gifts) from slightly more than $600,000 to $2,100,000.

The Generations Trust 

Driven by the success of the TanenbaumCHAT Affordability Initiative, three years ago we began down a path to establish the Generations Trust, a community endowment to dramatically increase the number of families eligible for day school scholarships. In addition to UJA Federation’s annual investment of $10M in scholarships for lower-income families, the Generations Trust enables middle-income families to receive scholarship support for Jewish elementary school. A partnership between our community’s leading philanthropists, UJA Federation, and nine elementary schools, the Trust has raised over $125M, as well as financial commitments from participating schools. 

Unlike funding from UJA’s annual campaign, a key to the Generations Trust has been establishing the program as an endowment. When a family makes the decision to enroll their child in elementary school, it’s a ten-year commitment for that child (in Ontario). With two or three children, a family’s journey with the school can be upwards of 16 years. Only an endowment can offer the long line of sight a family needs to know that scholarships will be there throughout their journey in the school.

LIFE & LEGACY 

The Generations Trust is driven by our community’s leading philanthropists, and its funding is targeted towards scholarships. As the culture of philanthropy develops, there are families who want to be part of the long-term future of our schools but cannot make a significant current endowment gift. Last year we partnered with the Harold Grinspoon Foundation to bring the LIFE & LEGACY program to our schools. (See the article by Arlene Schiff in this issue of Kaleidoscope.) Working in partnership, UJA, fourteen schools and the Grinspoon Foundation are seeking to create a culture of legacy giving to grow school endowments. 

In the last three months we have received more than 75 new legacy commitments and momentum is growing. For us, the key marker of success of LIFE & LEGACY is the number of gifts, rather than the amount. While day school giving has often been characterized by current gifts given while a child or grandchild is attending the school, our goal through LIFE & LEGACY is to strengthen the long-term financial viability of the schools by creating a culture of endowment building.

What We've Learned 

The lessons are many. Along the way we have failed, pivoted and tried to chart our learning. Some of the lessons include:

A lead donor is critical. The TanenbaumCHAT Affordability Initiative, Generations and even the days of giving and LIFE & LEGACY have been driven by lead donors who step forward, make early commitments and then bring others along. These leading philanthropists are critical in driving success.

Yoked philanthropy. There are many things for which schools need to raise funds. Throughout the initiatives, however, we have adopted a theory of yoked philanthropy where the philanthropic support of one program supports the other. For example, while the dollars are separate, the TanenbaumCHAT Affordability Initiative needs Generations just as Generations needs an affordable TanenbaumCHAT.

Major donors and grassroots giving. We have yo-yoed between major gifts (TanenbaumCHAT and Generations) and grassroots giving (Days of Giving and LIFE & LEGACY). Each form of giving has its place; each motivates the other. Major donors are motivated when they see thousands of smaller gifts to support causes they are passionate about. Similarly, grassroots supporters are driven when they can be part of a transformational initiative. 

There is always a good reason to defer endowment building. There is always a pressing need. We need to buy masks, we need to renovate a classroom, we need to enhance our curriculum, we need to give more scholarships. It is very easy to focus on today and not institute the structures—in this case, endowments—necessary to safeguard the long-term. It takes a dedicated board that sees its role as long-term (as well as some dedicated donors) to compel a long-term view.

Building endowments can inspire communities to look toward the future. For the first year of Covid, it seemed that every conversation was about what masks to buy, how to pay for the additional scholarship need, and the costs of extra staffing. Our gaze was on the here and now as we were bailing water. As we moved Generations and LIFE & LEGACY forward, we noticed an excitement among donors who felt that, for the first time in many months, they could lift their gaze upwards and think about the future. We are in a powerful moment, a moment to consider not only the here and now, but the future vibrancy and vitality of our community.

Several years ago, I was sitting in shul with my oldest son who was 15 at the time. He was wandering through the depths of his fertile imagination during the sermon when the rabbi said something about legacy. Suddenly, my son perked up and said, “Legacy…planting seeds in a garden that you never get to see grow.” Welling up with pride, I turned and looked at him prepared to fully acknowledge that he a) was paying attention in shul and b) had uttered such poignant words. Sensing that this was coming, he preempted me by saying, “Dad, it’s from Hamilton.” Regardless, the message stuck. When we leave a legacy gift, we are taking a leap of faith by investing in something for those who we will never meet and making an impact that we will never see. 

As Jewish communal leaders, we have a shared, sacred obligation to ensure that future generations have the resources to shape the future of our Jewish world and ensure our Jewish communities flourish. Each one of us is the beneficiary of those who came before us, who shaped the community that we inherited and steward today, and it is now our turn to give to others what we have all been given. When it comes to legacy giving and endowment development, lay leadership in general and board leadership in particular must play a central role in pushing our organizations to elevate legacy giving.

All of our organizations benefit every year from donors who created legacy gifts: endowments that support our programs, services and operations. Contributions from endowments are a critical source of ongoing annual funding that helps to make possible much of the vibrant, diverse Jewish experience from which we benefit today. A robust culture of philanthropy puts legacy giving at its core. 

When engaging board leadership in the process of understanding why this work is so critical, it is important to understand our current philanthropic landscape in the Jewish community. On one hand, shifts in philanthropic giving and an aging donor base mean that current annual fundraising levels are likely unsustainable. On the other, the opportunity to make legacy giving a priority is particularly timely as many donors (as a direct impact of a global pandemic) are more connected to their values and are actively thinking about the legacies that they want to leave. Therefore, we must engage in a different conversation with our donors to ensure that we have the resources that will enable our communities to remain strong and vibrant for generations to come.

In order for legacy giving and endowment development to become a priority for our communities, our boards must take a proactive approach to holding themselves and their professional partners accountable for engaging donors in conversations about their philanthropic legacies. There are three primary case elements that should guide the process of understanding and internalizing the driving forces behind this work: the business case, the moral case and the relational case.

The Business Case 

Organizations should view endowment development through the lens of organizational sustainability. Creating a culture of legacy giving is sound business, and can lead to potential outcomes such as:

• Mitigating risk that is associated with an aging donor base
• Diversifying overall revenue streams
• Developing targeted resources for specific programs and services 
• Alleviating pressure on the annual fundraising as the sole source of funding
• Leading to financial flexibility in the future if core dollars are protected via securing permanent resources
• Demonstrating long-term investment/planning in the community 

The Moral Case

Early in the pandemic, as nonprofits were facing severe financial shortfalls, Jewish School Management president Dr. Bruce Powell made the powerful argument that endowments are a moral imperative. As leaders, we have the opportunity and obligation to provide the next generation of communal leaders with the same kinds of opportunities—and safety nets—previous generations left for us. As board members, imagine the impact that you can have on your institutions and your communities if one of your core values is to take steps today that empowers leaders of tomorrow.

The Relational Case

Putting the donor at the center of our work is critical. This does not simply mean doing what the donor wants us to do. Rather, it necessitates a fundamental shift in our outlook, focused on the unique connection that relationship development and donors play in your work. This requires organizations to move away from transactional fundraising and embrace a relational approach to donor engagement. Our donors need to see us as partners in helping them achieve their philanthropic goals and share their philanthropic values. This approach demands that we take the time to understand their passions and the change they want to make in the world. 

When we take the time to engage donors in conversations about legacy/endowment, we:

• Communicate their unique value as a human and as a donor 
• Provide the opportunity to protect their investment in our programs and services
• Empower them to create ripples through their philanthropy and values legacy example
• Deepen relationships with donors and strengthen their connection to our work. (Donors are more likely to increase giving once a legacy gift has been established.) 

Homework

As with anything in life that requires planning, organizational leaders must do their homework to understand the case elements that are unique to their organization. This includes the following: 

• What is the current contribution from endowed gifts into our organization?
• Does our organization set goals for legacy gift development?
• Is it an expectation that every member of the board will have a legacy conversation during their term?
• Do we ask our donors if they have included our organization in their charitable gift planning?
• Do we know how many donors have done this?
• What percentage of major donors (to be determined by the organization) have made a legacy gift?

A legacy gift is a fundamental act of faith. We do not know what is going to happen in the future, so legacy gifts require a belief in the future of the Jewish people. Such gifts are more than monetary; when we transfer our assets, but not our values, then we rob the next generation of these beautiful visions for our community. By sharing in what we believe, about what we care the most, and from what and whom we have learned and grown, we galvanize an unbreakable connection between the past and future. 

As organizational leaders, you have the power to build cultures of philanthropy that put legacy and endowment at the core of our relational work and continue building these intergenerational bonds.

Teachers truly provide some of the most formative influences in our lives. As both a school administrator and the proud parent of three alumni of Golda Och Academy (GOA), I have experienced firsthand the incredible dedication of Jewish day school teachers. These committed and inspiring educators really see and know our children and work tirelessly to help them develop and realize their own unique potential as they go on to university and beyond. At GOA, we have sought opportunities to increase our investment in our faculty—in their development, their compensation, and their satisfaction. That is why, in early 2021, we were thrilled to secure a $10 million endowment challenge gift to invest in faculty excellence. 

We had previously engaged in a successful $30 million campaign to establish an endowment focused on affordability and the enhancement of academic programs, as well as to meet major capital needs. While all of these major fundraising efforts focus on different strategic needs within our school, there are several core components that have helped us achieve success in inspiring endowment giving. 

The first of these is a bold vision. Sometimes it is necessary to take a step back from day-to-day operations of the school and think about the major investments needed to advance a Jewish day school for the next ten to twenty years. Bold visions have the potential to inspire transformational support.

In our most recent case, investing in faculty was one of the primary pillars of our school’s five-year strategic plan that was adopted by the board of trustees in 2019. At that time, we also participated in the inaugural cohort of the Legacy IDEAS Institute for Day School Excellence and Sustainability, which provided our school with matching funds to invest in consulting, capacity building, coaching and significant professional development for our professional-lay team. This program challenged us to imagine an exciting, bold and aspirational path for our school and helped us to translate our vision into concrete plans. Subsequently, we have been able to articulate this compelling case for giving to our community of partners and donors.

Second, the leadership of our school administration, and board of trustees has been key to the success of inspiring endowment. We have been fortunate throughout our school’s history to have dedicated and visionary heads of school and board chairs who not only made fundraising a priority, but also remained focused on our school’s strategic vision in the midst of day-to-day challenges. As a result, despite the pandemic’s impact on all dimensions of school life over the past two years, we at GOA have remained focused on developing our vision and the plans needed to properly invest in our strategic priorities and inspire donor support.

Having the appropriate team and support system in place has helped us to execute on our vision and ultimately achieve our goals. We have been most successful when our head of school, director of development, chief financial officer, board chair and campaign chairs have worked seamlessly together. We have also been fortunate that there have been members of our board of trustees who have served as campaign leaders and advisors and have set an example for our community through their tremendous philanthropy toward our school, inspiring others, including major philanthropists, to follow their lead. Nothing is as effective in gaining support as when the school leadership sets the bar high. 

The retention of expert campaign counsel from CCS Fundraising has been instrumental in helping our school to transform bold visions into concrete plans and proposals that help to inspire our donors. In addition, we are grateful to our Jewish Community Foundation of Greater MetroWest and transformational community day school donors for providing invaluable support. They have not only raised our sights on what is possible but have also helped us to build our fundraising infrastructure, enabling our community to grow day school endowments over the last 15 years. Federation day school endowment match challenges have also encouraged our day school donors in our community to increase their generosity even more. The support of local Jewish communities of Jewish day school endowment fundraising is truly a critically important factor and important to cultivate.

All of these factors have created a unique environment at Golda Och Academy and in our community that supports and encourages day school endowment giving. The combination of a bold inspiring vision, concrete plans, a dedicated leadership team, major donor stakeholders, expert assistance, combined with Jewish community support, can lead to success in achieving major endowment investments that will help secure the futures of all our Jewish day schools.

It was spring 2020, and Covid-19 was running rampant in Los Angeles. Schools, both public and private, had closed their buildings, and many had moved to online education. The timing of the pandemic coincided with re-enrollment for the upcoming school year.  One prominent Los Angeles Jewish day school, Sinai Akiba, was looking for a way to support its families and to keep the community together. Their solution was to offer a 30% tuition reduction for any time that students spent learning virtually. Sinai Akiba understood that this tuition reduction could potentially cost them several million dollars in lost revenue. How could they make up for this lost tuition revenue? The answer was clear; they would utilize their endowment.

Over the last two decades, Sinai Akiba has amassed a nearly $30 million endowment, thanks, in part, to its participation in Generations, a community-based endowment building program run by PEJE (now part of Prizmah). Sinai Akiba was one of seven participating Los Angeles schools that benefited from this community-based approach to endowment building. To quote Rebecca Kekst, a Sinai Akiba board chair, “We learned firsthand that having a large endowment is critical not only for long-term sustainability but also to help weather unexpected circumstances along the way.”

Communal Endowments Pay Dividends 

Similar to Los Angeles, day school communities across North America are increasingly looking to endowments as one way to mitigate the high cost of tuition and to help ensure their financial sustainability. The existence of an endowment has been especially valuable to schools that made the decision to roll back planned tuition increases during Covid. Endowments also enabled some schools to provide even higher levels of tuition assistance without the need to reduce staff or sell hard assets.

Prizmah estimates that approximately 75% of day schools have an endowment, with a value totaling nearly $1 billion. Less discussed, but equally important, are community-based endowments, representing nearly $500 million.

Toronto is just one example of a community that has utilized a communal endowment as a source of funds for tuition subsidies for its day school families. (See the article by Daniel Held in this issue of Kaleidoscope.) Over the last five years, Toronto’s Generations Trust, a community-based endowment-building program, has raised over $100 million. Income from the trust enables several Toronto day schools to offer lower tuition rates to middle-income families. In the case of TanenbaumCHAT, Toronto’s Jewish high school, every school family benefited from a 40% tuition reduction that was made possible, in part, due to endowment dollars.

Communal endowments in Montreal and in Greater Metrowest, New Jersey, have similarly provided critical funds for school affordability. With tens of millions of dollars in communal funding, Montreal schools are able to offer middle-income families significant tuition reductions. The Montreal program has provided hundreds of middle-income families with a more affordable tuition level. The Greater Metrowest N.J. Day School Initiative has supported each of the four Jewish day schools in the community to be able to offer its own, customized middle-income tuition program.

At least half a dozen additional communities across North America are considering a communal endowment program. For some, a communal endowment is seen as a way to attract funders who would prefer to give to a group of schools rather than an individual one. For others, a communal endowment is a way to galvanize Jewish day schools in their community and to get a group of otherwise independent entities to work together for a common good and cause. It is also a way for schools to learn from one another and to adopt a series of best practices in fundraising.

Prizmah's Partnership in Endowment Building

Over the next few months, Prizmah is expanding its work in the field of endowments. Our work will focus on school-level endowments as well as communal endowments. We are exploring ways in which incentive funds might help catalyze new endowment gifts or increase existing ones to individual schools or communities. The Prizmah team is ready to work with your school and your community to strengthen your capacity for endowment building. We are positioned to work with federations, foundations and other central agencies to support your work in development of communal endowment funds. 

Today, there are more than a half dozen communal endowment funds throughout the US that provide millions of dollars each year toward initiatives such as school excellence, middle-income affordability, and enrollment management. Please reach out to Prizmah to discuss ways in which we can help your school and your community build its endowment.

Endowments are no longer a luxury, but rather a critical component of every school’s financial stability plan. Building an endowment, to provide a consistent source of annual funding for your operations, takes planning and commitment. School boards must make it as much of a priority as annual fundraising and donors must be given the opportunity to contribute to the school’s long-term sustainability in a way that makes sense for them. While there are donors who have the financial capacity to contribute to endowment campaigns with current cash assets, many school parents, teachers, alumni and supporters are unable to or comfortable doing so now.

This is why, for the past 9 years, the LIFE & LEGACY program of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation has been encouraging day schools and other organizations to make legacy giving a priority. Legacy giving allows every donor to be a philanthropist. Donors commit to leaving a specific dollar amount, or percentage of their assets, to your school upon their passing. Most of the time these commitments are larger than any gift the donor is able to give during their lifetime.

To date, as part of LIFE & LEGACY, 70 day schools have secured more than 3,400 legacy commitments with an estimated value of $110.5M in future gifts, of which almost $6 million has already been placed in endowments. More than 22,000 donors have made legacy commitments, valued at over $1.2 billion, to the 750 Jewish organizations across North America who are part of the LIFE & LEGACY network.

Getting Started

So how does a school begin to establish a legacy campaign? First, you need people power, a team of four to six individuals who are prepared to make a legacy commitment themselves and who are willing to ask others to join them. We recommend legacy teams consist of at least one Jewish day school professional and several lay leaders. To set up a process that will continue in perpetuity, it is helpful to have legacy giving be part of the portfolio of a board member so that there is always someone who is ensuring legacy giving remains a board priority.

With your team in place, the first task is to develop a legacy plan, a document that will serve as your road map for launching and sustaining your legacy initiative. Integrating legacy giving into your school culture isn’t a short-term campaign. It requires a culture shift, and that takes time. Our goal is to make legacy giving normative behavior, so every donor who gives annually understands they also can leave a legacy.

In developing your plan, start by assigning each team member a role in addition to having legacy conversations. These roles range from overseeing marketing the concept of legacy giving to your school community, reporting to the board of directors on your legacy initiative, sending out handwritten thank you notes to those who make a legacy commitment, stewarding donors throughout their lifetime and keeping track of legacy commitments and other documents both in paper files and electronically. Someone on the team should be designated as the team lead to make sure everyone else is fulfilling their responsibilities and your legacy plan is implemented in an effective way.

Next, develop a case statement. This statement is intended to remind donors of the impact your school has had on their life, the lives of their children, grandchildren and the community and encourages them to take a step that will ensure that this impact continues for future generations. The case statement is shared with donors as part of the legacy conversation, and it also serves to get all your team members familiar with the language you want to use to promote the concept of legacy giving to your school community.

Once your case statement has been finalized, create a list of target audiences to contact for legacy conversations. The best prospects are your most loyal donors, people who have given to you consistently for five years or more, no matter the level. For your school community, this list would include current and former members of your board of directors, parents who continue to contribute to the school even after their children have graduated, community members who have been long-time supporters, volunteers and alumni who remain in contact. Then list individuals and families who fall within each of these categories, and identify which legacy team member is the best person to contact them.

Next Steps

One way to make legacy giving normative behavior is to continually drip the message that your school accepts legacy gifts just like local hospitals, arts organizations, colleges and universities. Think about the way you communicate with your school’s supporters. Find ways to include the legacy message in your school newsletter, on your website, in email signatures, email blasts and direct mail. Is there a place in your school where you can visibly promote legacy giving, on a poster or digital display? Are there individuals who have already made endowment gifts whom you can interview and then share their stories? Where can you list those who have made legacy commitments to encourage others to join them?

Donor stewardship is how we show our appreciation and gratitude to donors, keep them engaged and remind them that their legacy commitment is a good investment. As part of your legacy plan, think about methods of stewardship that you can integrate into your school culture, so they happen year after year. Donors have noted in surveys that the stewardship they most value are handwritten thank you notes and personal phone calls. Make sure donors receive these upon making a legacy commitment and at least annually until their gift is received. Invite donors to events at the school so they can see the impact their legacy gift will have. Gather your legacy donors together at least once a year to thank them for their commitment, and honor them among your general school community.

You will be successful in securing legacy commitments if you set a goal and work to achieve it. Aim to get 6 legacy commitments in your first year, 12 the next, 18 the following until you get to 50 or so. Then plan to secure 4-6 commitments each year in perpetuity so you are always securing new commitments for your endowment pipeline.

Launching the Program

The final part of your plan is an implementation strategy, putting all these pieces together on a timeline so everyone is aware of what is going to take place each month and whose responsibility it is to make sure the task is completed. Now you have a strong foundation upon which to begin your initiative.

Notify your day school community that you are launching a legacy initiative, and if they have included the school in their estate plan to please let you know. Begin listing the names of those who have made legacy commitments somewhere in the school building, on your website and in newsletters. Assign prospects to team members and begin having legacy conversations.

Over time, your list of legacy donors will grow and ultimately, your endowment will grow and provide your school with the funding you need to continue to impact future generations of Jewish leaders.

For more information on launching a legacy initiative, check out Legacy Giving: A Step-By-Step Guide, produced by the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago and LIFE & LEGACY.

Crisis as the Catalyst 

What better time to continue raising funds for times of crisis than when we are already in one? 

When faced with running a school during a pandemic, most of our school’s actions, like every school’s, were focused on the next pivot to adjust to the changing demands of the situation. When it came to our development strategy, we took a different approach: staying the course on our strategy for growing our endowment even as so much was changing around us. 

We knew that we would need to raise sufficient annual giving dollars to help offset the hundreds of thousands of dollars of Covid expenses. We knew there were families in the community facing hardships, and we, with our Temple, wanted to make sure we supported them through the difficult time. Those had to be our priorities, and they were.

At the same time, we were also aware that many of our families’ finances were not negatively impacted during the pandemic. They were ready and willing to advance their philanthropic interests where they could make a positive difference. They recognized how quickly Brawerman pivoted over and over to continue providing a stellar education for their children, no matter the obstacles thrown our way. They understood the significant Covid-related expenses for additional staff, technology and modifications made to our campus to allow their children to return safely to school. This made the pitch for annual giving dollars clear, and our campaign was a success exceeding our goal and setting a new school record. 

But there was something else that became clear during all the adjustments, shifts and hard work; there was clarity for parents on the importance of sending their children to Brawerman. There was a deeper appreciation for the joyful Judaism that permeates their homes thanks to the school. In a time of crisis, Brawerman was a blessing in their lives. They wanted to ensure that the school is around for generations to come.

Cultivation Pre-Covid 

Before COVID-19 hit, one of our success strategies for new endowment gifts came from small upper grade-level dinners for select families. A family who had already given to the Brawerman endowment would open their home to host, and Brandon would give a presentation to educate guests about endowments, the importance of endowments for Jewish and independent schools, and the importance of an endowment for the school specifically. The host family would also share why they chose to make an endowment gift to the school. The intimate setting was warm, welcoming, and allowed families to feel comfortable asking questions. 

We did not make any ask at the dinner, despite all guests knowing the purpose of the dinner when they were invited; however, we made it clear during the presentation that a minimum endowment donation for Brawerman is $25,000 that can be paid over five years. Rebecca followed up with each family who attended the dinner by inviting them to meet with us in person to continue the conversation. Some families reached out to us on their own following the presentation, prepared to make a gift. For the others, we came prepared with a specific ask amount for each family during individual follow-up meetings. Each dinner we have had has resulted in at least one endowment donation, resulting in four endowment donations totaling $1,150,000.

Cultivation During Covid 

While the dinners were effective at educating the community and acquiring meaningful gifts, we had to find an alternative way during the pandemic. Instead, we reached out individually to families to meet with us for a personal endowment presentation, via Zoom. We chose families who we knew had a deep love of the school and the capacity to give to the endowment. We considered making these Zoom presentations for larger groups, but the platform does not lend itself to garnering the warmth and connection we strived for in our dinners, and we felt that keeping them limited to individual families was an important move.

Although we lost some sense of community, we felt that the positive feeling of having our full attention and time, both valued commodities especially during Covid, was a valuable tradeoff. And it worked. In the last year, we have held three of these meetings netting donations of $125,000. In addition, we recently received our second ever Brawerman grandparent endowment donation of $25,000.

Cause for Gratitude 

An important takeaway from these meetings is the deep gratitude these families have for giving in such a meaningful way. There is recognition that these dollars were not going to pay for the extra teacher, the extra Plexiglas or the extra Zoom licenses needed to get through the pandemic. They wanted to do something that would be enduring. They wanted to do something that their grandchildren would value and benefit from. They wanted to do something that has permanence in a time when so much seems fleeting. The endowment gift is its own blessing.

Forward 

We chose “kadimah” as our school theme for this year. It fit the moment, and it has been a good reminder of our philosophy on development during the pandemic. We kept moving forward. Prior to the pandemic, we made headway in educating our community on the importance of building Brawerman’s endowment. That critical work made it possible to reach out to families to raise endowment funds even during this difficult time. This is the work ahead as we continue to pursue new endowment gifts to ensure Brawerman is here for a very long time to come.