To secure legacy funding for many Jewish organizations and institutions, the Harold Grinspoon Foundation is expanding its leveraged philanthropy-style campaign called, Life & Legacy, to eight additional communities across the country, including the Jewish Community Foundation of the East Bay.

Life & Legacy offers programmatic matching grants and incentive grants to inspire Jewish leaders to encourage afterlife gifts for their organizations and for loyal donors to make legacy commitments.

The results are impressive. In just two years, an estimated $70 million has been committed — to 183 Jewish organizations in 15 communities across the country, including Sacramento and Orange County. In partnership with the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, local Jewish federations and community foundations work closely with day schools, synagogues and social service organizations to discuss after-lifetime gifts. To date, 2,000 such commitments have been made, totaling an estimated $70 million in future gifts.

“With the baby-boom generation expected to pass along sizeable wealth in the coming years, these commitments are vital lifelines for sustaining Jewish organizations of all sizes across North America,” said Arlene D. Schiff, Life & Legacy’s national director. “It’s very exciting to see this level of responsiveness to our efforts, and the cooperation that is developing among organizations is inspiring. The collaboration around legacy giving and philanthropic planning with an eye toward sustaining programs and services for the Jewish community as a whole in many communities has been transformative.”