Bay Area philanthropist Joe Pedott has thrown down the challenge. To help create a $2 million endowment for Hillel at Davis and Sacramento, he’ll kick in $500,000 — but only if a minimum of $1.5 million is donated by other people.
To sustain Hillel operations into the future, Pedott started the challenge grant last year. It is set to expire in May, and though many contributions have come in, there is still some distance to go before hitting the goal.
“This is a guinea-pig program,” Pedott said. “I’m hoping this will become a tidal wave, and that the Jewish community will come forth and say it’s a very good investment.”
Pedott, a San Francisco businessman who owns a gadget company that has hit big with the Clapper, the “Ove” Glove and the Chia Pet, among other items, is a longtime supporter of the Hillel that serves U.C. Davis, Sacramento State and other colleges in the region. His contributions proved pivotal to the construction of the wood and stone facility that opened in 2012 across the street from the U.C. Davis campus.
But the two-story structure requires a significant income stream to pay the bills, Hillel officials said, and Pedott believes an endowment would constitute a critical adjunct to regular annual fundraising campaigns.
Local and national Hillel executives are on board with the endowment concept.
“It’s like a security blanket,” said Chani Oppenheim, executive director at Hillel at Davis and Sacramento. “It’s money set aside with a somewhat guaranteed return. It’s strategizing long-term as opposed to day-to-day existence.”
Nonprofit consultant Herb Tobin, who works with Hillel International, noted that when Hillel at Davis and Sacramento moved to the new building, it went from a 1,100-square-foot facility to one almost 10 times larger. “You have maintenance and utilities,” he said, “so it needs more staff, more programming.”
Tobin, who oversaw construction of more than 50 Hillel facilities when he was a staffer at Hillel, said expenses for the Hillel at Davis and Sacramento have grown exponentially, while income has grown only modestly.
Officials would not say how much has been raised so far, but Pedott agreed if the total equals 80 percent of the goal by May, he would extend the deadline.
Hillel at Davis and Sacramento opened its doors in 1965. Only an estimated 300 students took advantage of it that first year, but today the center serves more than 3,000 students.
Though other Hillels, including those at U.C. Berkeley and Stanford University, have endowments, Tobin and Oppenheim agree, those locations don’t have one secret weapon: Joseph Pedott.
“This is a unique situation because Joe is unique,” Tobin said. “Joe asked himself, ‘What’s the sense of building this magnificent building if you can’t afford to operate it?’ ”