Focus on TOP Jewish Foundation

by Kevin Fritz

With a $68 trillion transfer of wealth from older generations to their heirs expected in the next 25 years – and $6.3 trillion of that expected to go to charities – the TOP Jewish Foundation is working with the Harold Grinspoon Foundation and the Jewish Foundation of North America to further enhance its mission of securing the future of the Jewish community through legacy giving programs.

“There is a transfer-of-wealth opportunity,” says Ellen Weiss, TOP’s executive director. “We think this is so critical for the Jewish future.”

The new joint effort keeps TOP’s legacy programs evolving at a time when endowment-building can have such a major impact.

“We had an event a couple of weeks ago to celebrate all of our legacy donors,” notes Ellen, who says speaker Mike Leven of Jewish Future Pledge shared the transfer-of-wealth data to the donors. “It was a huge success.”

Jewish Future Pledge encourages Jews to pledge at least half of their charitable giving to support the Jewish community and/or the State of Israel. The initiative mirrors that of the Giving Pledge, which saw Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and other billionaires promise to dedicate half of their wealth for those in need.

Ellen says legacy donors are those who generally contribute after-lifetime gifts through TOP to their favorite charities. From those gifts, endowments are created that provide ongoing revenue. Ellen says these funds are vital for all nonprofit organizations to survive for the next generation and beyond.

“These organizations can’t survive on annual campaigns and events alone,” she explains. “They need supplemental, ongoing revenue.”

Overall, TOP manages more than 700 funds with assets topping $60 million. The group’s mission is to ensure that the organizations it serves survive and thrive for generations to come. 

Noting that TOP has been in the legacy business since its inception in 1980, Ellen says TOP has partnered over the past several years with about 20 organizations in the Life and Legacy program supported by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation that assists communities with promoting after-lifetime giving.

TOP continues to be open to working with other organizations that want to build their programs, and Ellen adds that many such initiatives are now incorporating grassroots efforts to bring the Jewish youth into the fold.

“The younger generation of Jews are not affiliated with synagogues as they were in the past,” she says. “So they may not give Jewishly. These grassroots efforts start at home.”

For more information, visit TOPJewishFoundation.org.