The following is a reprint of the JCF's Money Matters column, published in the March 20, 2024 issue of the Jewish Community Voice, titled, "Create a legacy that benefits the Katz JCC":
Each year, the Katz JCC hosts fitness and wellness activities, preschool, summer camp, events, and much more to engage tens of thousands of local residents. Wow! The professionals and volunteers who keep up the beehive of activity, day-in and day-out at the Katz JCC and the JCC Camps at Medford deserve mountains of praise.
Another group of individuals that deserves heaping recognition: donors who want to see the Katz JCC succeed for future generations and thus created endowment funds at the Jewish Community Foundation (JCF) Inc., to provide reliable annual income.
Please enjoy several of the many stories about donors who have created legacies by benefiting the Katz JCC through endowment funds with the JCF:
Last year, David Kaufman, with his wife, Gerry, established the Mindel Kaufman Life Long Learning Art Institute Endowment Fund to celebrate his mother’s dynamic life. Minnie (z”l), as most people knew her, sadly died in December at age 105, but for decades, she attended the Katz JCC and loved art-related classes in particular. This new fund will ensure that countless others get to enjoy the arts the way that Minnie did.
Recently, Gloria Back established the Ira F. Back Swim for Life Endowment Fund to remember her beloved husband, Ira (z”l), who enjoyed supporting the Katz JCC’s competitive swim programs. He even chaired the Maccabi swimming events when they took place here in Cherry Hill in 1999 and 2014. The fund will provide financial support to Jewish children so they may participate in the JCC’s swim programs. Learn more at jcfsnj.org/back
The Barney and Amy Kaplan Family Endowment Fund supports Jewish ritual and holiday programming and adult education in conjunction with the Katz JCC. Through the fund, the Kaplans and the JCC recently hosted a screening of the film “One Life” for hundreds of Jewish community members, and previously funded a trip for 300 attendees to visit the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia.
Any attendees of the Katz JCC’s Festival (Arts, Books, Culture & Film) knows that dozens of renowned speakers and films are brought to the “J” for the public to enjoy. To keep this high-profile event thriving annually, the following three funds were established by generous donors, all of whom gained personal joy from the Festival over the years: the Faktorow Jewish Film Festival of the Katz JCC Endowment Fund, Valerie Gladfelter Arts & Culture Endowment Fund, and Goodfriend Family Endowment Fund.
The Lisa Blumenfeld Special Needs Endowment Fund, created by Alan Blumenfeld to celebrate his sister, Lisa (z”l), provides yearly funding for the Community Inclusion ACHaD Basketball Program, which has some 50 participants who play basketball weekly at the JCC from October to May. Similarly, to memorialize his father, Charles (z”l), Alan also established the Blumenfeld Family Men’s Basketball Endowment Fund, since his father loved basketball.
It’s notable that the JCC has also received nearly 50 legacy commitments from donors who intend to leave a legacy gift after their lifetimes, by way of the Life & Legacy® initiative of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation. By including the JCC as a beneficiary of a portion of your estate, IRA, life insurance policy, or other asset, you, too, can leave a lasting legacy at little or no cost during your lifetime. Interested in leaving a legacy? Contact the JCC’s Director of Donor Relations Nancy Caporusso at 856.424.4444 x1267 or ncaporusso@jfedsnj.org to discuss in more detail.
The Katz JCC has a long and gleaming history of serving the South Jersey Jewish community, and, thanks to endowment and legacy donors, many generations hence will continue to enjoy what the J has to offer.
Chag Purim Sameach!
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