One doesn’t need a crystal ball or even a Pew study to know that the broader Jewish community is struggling with declining rates of Jewish identification, engagement and affiliation, especially among the younger generations.
These issues are raising many tough questions, among them: How do we innovate and strengthen our institutions to better meet the shifting needs of a more diverse and less traditional Jewish community?
One hugely effective approach to adapting to these realities and investing in the future success of local Jewish institutions recently was implemented by the S. F.–based Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund, and the details are instructive for Jewish communities around the country.
The Community Legacy Project, launched in 2010, was designed to boost legacy giving among 16 Jewish organizations within the federation’s region. After merely two years, the organizations reaped more than $35 million in legacy gifts, typically in the form of bequests. In addition, a related project aimed exclusively at local synagogues achieved a 200 percent increase in annual fundraising.
A legacy campaign differs from traditional fundraising in several significant ways, all of which were critical to the project’s success in the Bay Area:
First, legacy fundraising engages individuals who have strong and enduring relationships with an organization, rather than through blitz emails or form letters to an entire membership list.
Second, the process itself is positive. Too often, those tasked with asking for donations feel trepidation or awkwardness when approaching a donor. In contrast, conversations about leaving a legacy feel natural and deeply satisfying to both donor and asker.
Third, legacy campaigns have taught institutions that paucity of gifts can simply be the result of too few people being asked.
Finally, a legacy campaign is a marathon, not a race. It’s all about developing and maintaining relationships with donors over the long term, rather than getting a person to write a check for immediate use.
Organizations that manage effective legacy campaigns have concluded that the essence of successful fundraising is having conversations with community members, and that such conversations ultimately strengthen the entire community.
An evaluation of the federation’s effort reveals that an organization’s readiness — especially a robust fundraising history — is a strong barometer of success. For a legacy program to be effective, both the organization’s board of directors and professional staff must embrace the project and be able to articulately and passionately communicate the organization’s key mission.
Perhaps most important, there must be one dedicated person who can provide leadership to a team of individuals. These team members are willing, capable and confident in their abilities to engage with legacy donors through a process of “stewardship,” which entails maintaining relationships and properly acknowledging the legacy gift.
In the Bay Area, with a grant from the Areivim Philanthropic Group matched by resources from the federation’s endowment fund, the S.F.-based federation was able to provide supports and incentives to the 16 participating organizations, which included synagogues, JCCs, schools and cultural institutions. These supports included:
• Coaching. Seasoned fundraising professionals were assigned to work with each organization. The coaches helped put together teams of volunteers, then assisted with all aspects of the team’s campaign.
• Incentive grants. Each organization that met specified goals in its legacy campaign was awarded a $6,000 incentive payment.
• Group training. The federation convened group-training sessions several times over the course of the project to assist organizations in a wide variety of fundraising activities.
• The federation also provided opportunities for organizations to engage in peer-to-peer learning.
Without question, the Community Legacy Project was a spectacular financial success: 100 percent of participating institutions reported they had met or surpassed initial expectations. Over the project’s two years, nearly 860 conversations were held across the 16 participating organizations, resulting in 526 gifts. This means that fewer than two conversations per donor were required to elicit a legacy gift — an impressive rate of return.
In an example of how rising tides can lift all boats, the effort also yielded approximately $300,000 in communitywide giving — that is, donations to organizations other than those that solicited the legacy gifts.
Today, as CLP transitions into its next, more streamlined stage, its relationships and strategies continue to offer returns. The federation has devised several innovative, low-cost techniques to provide the ongoing legacy training requested by organizations.
The most creative tactic involves finding replacements for expensive coaching among local — sometimes retired — fundraising and estate professionals to serve as pro bono mentors to the next cohort of CLP organizations. Another strategy builds on popular peer-to-peer learning opportunities.
If there’s one lesson to be learned from the Pew study, it’s that in planning for the Jewish future it’s essential to strengthen the Jewish present. Through its successful Community Legacy Project, the federation has made great strides in ensuring that its partner institutions can continue to evolve and innovate to meet the needs of a flourishing multigenerational community. This is a vital pathway to a sustainable future that Jewish communities should pursue vigorously. The durability of our institutions may depend upon it.
Pearl Beck, Ph.D., was the evaluation director for the S.F.–based Community Federation’s Community Legacy Project and director of geographic studies for the UJA–Federation of New York’s 2011 Jewish community study