Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Ann Arbor
Building Our Jewish Future
Established in 1998, the Jewish Community Foundation is the planned giving arm of the Jewish Federation. The Foundation enables donors to create or contribute to permanent endowment funds that address community needs now and for the next generation of Jewish community in greater Ann Arbor. The Foundation currently manages more than $10 million in assets that do good for our local community and around the world.
Through the Jewish Community Foundation, you can make a difference during your lifetime or by leaving a legacy that will impact the community for years to come through the Life & Legacy® program.
Interested in the possibilities below from the Jewish Community Foundation and want to talk more about what’s right for you? Email Eileen Freed or call at 734-773-3537.
How can you work with the Foundation to ensure a thriving Jewish community?
The Jewish Community Foundation maintains and invests endowment funds set up by Jewish congregations and organizations in the greater Ann Arbor Jewish community. These invested monies grow over time and are drawn upon to support the causes you care about most. In addition, the management of these funds generates fees that benefit the Foundation (rather than a for-profit financial institution) and can be re-invested in projects that meet the community’s needs right now.
Contribute to a Community-Wide Fund
Community-wide funds are established by individuals or organizations and managed by the Jewish Community Foundation. They are open to contributions from anyone who would like to help them grow.
Irene Butter Fund for Holocaust and Human Rights Education
Generations After, Temple Beth Emeth’s group of descendants of Holocaust survivors established this fund to support projects that embody Irene’s mantras of “Never a bystander,” “Refusing to be enemies,” and “All people are our kin.”
Establish a Donor Advised Fund
Funds deposited in a Donor Advised Fund are immediately tax deductible and serve as a vehicle for you to recommend distributions to those causes and organizations (qualified 501c3) about which you are most passionate, within the Jewish community or not.
Establish an Endowment Fund
An endowment fund is a meaningful way to provide ongoing support for local Jewish congregations and organizations, or for specific projects and programs you wish to sustain. An endowment is meant to last. To preserve the principal, only a percentage of the fund’s interest may be withdrawn by the organization benefiting from your endowment.
Endowment funds can preserve your gift to the Jewish Federation’s Annual Community Campaign through a Perpetual Annual Campaign Endowment (PACE) or a Lion of Judah Endowment (LOJE).
Endowments can also be set up to preserve your annual commitments to other community organizations and can pay for things like synagogue dues or participation in annual campaigns in perpetuity.
You can support the community and projects you care about by contributing to one of our existing Foundation Endowment Funds.
Create a Bequest through the Life & Legacy program
A bequest is a future gift promised to an organization or congregation you wish to sustain. It can be made as a percentage of your estate or as a specific amount in your will or living trust. The monies go into endowments already established by the organization, or they can be used to create new endowments.
Bequests are commonly made by naming a congregation or organization as the beneficiary on a retirement plan, life insurance, or life income plan.
You can learn more about the Life & Legacy program here.
Make a Gift of Stock
A gift of appreciated assets may provide tax benefits for you while you support the community. It’s easy to set up with this form.
Foundation Partners
The Jewish Community Foundation is proud of and grateful for its partnership with the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Pittsburgh which provides management and investment services for our local funds.
In partnership with local Jewish organizations, the Foundation works to build permanent endowment funds that can sustain these institutions into the future. We are grateful for all they do to enhance the lives of Jews throughout our community.
Ann Arbor Orthodox Minyan
Beth Israel Congregation
Chabad House of Ann Arbor
Eastern Michigan University Center for Jewish Studies
Hebrew Day School of Ann Arbor
Jewish Community Center of Greater Ann Arbor
Jewish Cultural Society
Jewish Family Services
Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor
Temple Beth Emeth
University of Michigan Hillel
Estate Planning Resources
Personal Estate Planning Course Record Book
Questionnaire to Assist with Estate Planning
“Assuring a Jewish Ann Arbor” educational program – Recording and slides (originally presented 3/21/21 via Zoom)