Lehigh Valley Smashes LIFE & LEGACY Community Goal in Year 1

By Stephanie Smartschan
JFLV Director of Marketing

Supporters of the 10 local Jewish organizations working together to assure Jewish tomorrows came out in force on June 20 to celebrate a successful first year in the LIFE & LEGACY program.

With the backing of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, the Lehigh Valley brought in 244 commitments in the first year of participating in the national planned giving program. Those commitments represent an estimated $4.7 million.

“When we applied to the LIFE & LEGACY program, I knew the Lehigh Valley would succeed. I had confidence that every one of our participating organizations would reach its goal of 18 commitments,” said Jim Mueth, director of planned giving and endowments for the Jewish Federation and the lead community coordinator. “What I didn’t expect is that our community would smash through the goal of 180 commitments and collect 64 more.”

For reaching or exceeding their goals, each of the participating organizations received an incentive check from the Grinspoon Foundation. That money will be used to propel the organizations into Year 2 of the four-year program.
LIFE & LEGACY motivates Jewish organizations to secure legacy gifts, steward donors and integrate legacy giving into the philanthropic culture of the Jewish community.

The Jewish Federation is the lead community sponsor, in partnership with Congregation Am Haskalah, Congregation Brith Sholom, Congregation Keneseth Israel, Congregation Sons of Israel, the Jewish Day School of the Lehigh Valley, Jewish Family Service of the Lehigh Valley, the Jewish Community Center of the Lehigh Valley, Temple Beth El and Temple Covenant of Peace.

Interested in supporting one or more of these organizations with a gift in your will, trust, retirement account or life insurance policy? Contact Jim Mueth at 610-821-5500 or jim@jflv.org.

0Comments

Add Comment