The Ottawa Jewish Community Foundation is proud to continue its partnership with the Harold Grinspoon Foundation through the Life & Legacy Plus initiative.
Started as a partnership of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation with Jewish Foundations across North America, Life & Legacy assisted communities by promoting after-lifetime giving to benefit Jewish day schools, synagogues, social service organizations, and other Jewish entities.
Following its successful participation in the Life & Legacy program from 2020 to 2024, which resulted in 351 donors committing legacy gifts at an estimated value of $20 million, Foundation aims to further normalize legacy giving and cultivate a culture of philanthropy within Jewish Ottawa.
“The original four-year Life & Legacy program focused on establishing legacy giving by encouraging donors to sign a Letter of Intent, committing a percentage of their assets to the organization(s) of their choice,” said Foundation’s Development Associate Joel Scully. “Life & Legacy Plus is the natural next step, encouraging people to firmly embed legacy giving in the culture of the organization.”
This initiative asks organizations to help people cement their legacy giving by formalizing their Letters of Intent directly into their wills, making it legally binding.
“Foundation will reimburse up to $1,000 in legal costs if a donor leaves a minimum of $10,000 or 1% of their estate to the organization,” explained Scully. “The donor can then select the endowment fund they want their gift to support.”
There are six participating organizations: Congregation Machzikei Hadas, Hillel Lodge LTC Foundation, the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, Kehillat Beth Israel, the Ottawa Jewish Community School, and Temple Israel.
“Each organization leads its own Life & Legacy campaign, while Foundation is responsible for investing the funds and disbursing the annual allocations,” said Scully.
This opportunity will help ensure that Jewish institutions across the city will be able to keep functioning well into the future, for our children and grandchildren.
Legacy gifts can become transformational investments that allow organizations to plan further ahead and respond to changing community needs with greater confidence. Endowment funds created through these gifts can help sustain educational programming, synagogue life, senior care, youth engagement initiatives, and social services for years to come.
By strengthening long-term financial stability, participating organizations are better positioned to continue serving the community regardless of economic uncertainty or shifting fundraising trends.
To learn more about the Life & Legacy Plus program, email Foundation’s VP of Development, Michael Reznick at [email protected].