Affordability Knowledge Center A Partnership of PEJE and the OU

July 2013 Av 5773

“SO I, TOO, PLANT THESE FOR MY CHILDREN”: ENDOWMENT DEVELOPMENT By Charles Cohen Orthodox Union (OU) The Orthodox Union is the largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization in the , representing nearly 1,000 congregations. Through its many programs, the OU seeks to strengthen our Jewish community. Today, a prime focus of these efforts is supporting Jewish day schools and the families who use them through political advocacy. The Afford - ability Knowledge Center is another means through which the OU seeks to achieve this goal in proud partnership with PEJE.

Partnership For Excellence in Jewish Education (PEJE) PEJE believes that day schools are essential for fostering an engaged Jewish people for an enduring future. With our deep knowledge of and relationships with schools, communities, and the field, we increase financial sustainability and affordability in our educational institutions—for the 21st century and beyond. PEJE is proud to partner with the OU on the Affordability Knowledge Center.

Jewish Day School Affordability Knowledge Center To create a hub for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating information about day school affordability, the OU and PEJE jointly established the new Jewish Day School Affordability Knowledge Center. Through the Center, strategies will be shared and analyzed to help day schools and their stakeholders learn from each other. Information will be shared online and through white papers that examine affordability initiatives being implemented in various communities.

Charles Cohen Charles Cohen manages the Jewish Day School Affordability Knowledge Center. A strategic planner with experience building relationships between and among day schools, synagogues , and central education agencies, Cohen served as Planning Manager for Jewish Continuity at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, where he worked with local day schools on the “Free Tuition for Transfer Students” program.

Jewish Day School Affordability Knowledge Center 88 Broad Street, Boston, MA 02110 (617) 367-0001 [email protected] יומא חד הוה אזל באורחא, חזייה לההוא גברא דהוה נטע חרובא, אמר ליה: האי, עד כמה שנין טעין ? – אמר ליה: עד שבעין שנין.– אמר ליה פשיטא לך דחיית שבעין שנין ? – אמר ליה: האי [גברא] עלמא בחרובא אשכחתיה, כי היכי דשתלי יל אבהתי – שתלי נמי לבראי.

“One day he [Choni the Circle Drawer] was journeying on the road and he saw a man planting a carob tree; he asked him, How long does it take [for this tree] to bear fruit? The man replied: Seventy years. He then further asked him: Are you certain that you will live another seventy years? The man replied: I found [ready grown] carob trees in the world; as my forefathers planted these for me so I too plant these for my children.” 1 Babylonian Talmud, tractate Taanit 23a

1 Translated by Harold Fisch, On1Foot.org 4 Affordability Knowledge Center

Introduction

ewish day schools are central to an enduring Jewish future. No other Jewish experience affects lasting Jewish identity more than Jewish day school education. 2 However, Jtoday’s day school parents are finding it less and less affordable. That is why so much effort and attention is spent on finding ways to help families pay for day school education. Communities and schools are looking to well-established tactics as well as cutting-edge strategies to address this critical challenge. To create a hub for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating information about day school affordability, the OU and PEJE jointly established the Jewish Day School Affordability Knowledge Center. Through the Center, strategies are shared and analyzed to help day schools and their stakeholders learn from each other. Information is shared online and through White Papers that examine affordability initiatives being implemented in various communities. The White Papers—the fourth of which is printed here—have two goals. The first is to provide a snapshot of affordability strategies as they exist today, laying out their successes and challenges. Based on interviews, academic research, and other data, these documents will help the field think more effectively about what it takes to meet the ongoing challenge of providing an excellent, affordable Jewish day school education to the next generation of committed Jewish leaders. The second goal is to analyze each strategy so you can learn from communities that have implemented the project. That knowledge will help you decide whether or not to take on the initiative, help you avoid obstacles, and show potential supporters that a given approach can achieve desired outcomes.

2 Cohen, S. & Kotler-Berkowitz, L., “The Impact of Childhood Jewish Education on Adults’ Jewish Identity: Schooling, Travel, Camping and Youth Groups,” United Jewish Communities (July 2004). Endowment Development 5

Endowment Funds 3

ndowment funds are critical to providing students an excellent, affordable education and to a school’s long-term financial health. They provide an income stream that Edoes not have to be raised annually or replaced every time a student graduates. Endowment income can give your lay and professional leadership a safety net that allows them to endure economic downturns: Former National Association of Independent Schools President Pat Bassett says, “The schools that will be most secure and in existence in the future will be the schools that have committed to building their endowments...” Endowment funds also can allow your school to experiment with educational improvements and with tuition and financial aid models.

What do endowment funds have to do with affordability? Endowment funds can be invested in the two components of affordability: access and quality. Access refers to a school’s capacity to lower barriers to enrollment, whether they are financial (through flex tuition programs) or educational (through, for example, special needs accommodations). Quality refers to the value parents see in your school’s education: The greater the perceived value, the more they believe your school is “affordable.” Whether endowment donors choose one or the other or both, their investment can free up tuition, annual campaign, or other revenue that can be used to pay for both improving access and enhancing quality.

Improving access “Even if schools are not raising endowment funds specifically for financial aid, that’s how they’re using the dollars,” says Generations 4 coach Janet Levine of Janet Levine Consulting. Donors also have identified financial aid as the primary motivation for their endowment gifts. As described below, several schools have been able to sell donors on the idea that endowment funds are a particularly effective way to cover the steadily rising cost of

3 For the purposes of this paper, “endowment funds” will include planned gifts designated for endowment. 4 Generations is a three-way collaboration among a federation, PEJE, and The AVI CHAI Foundation to leverage the cumulative learning, experience, and results from four programs: the PEJE Legacy Pilot Program, the Camp Legacy Program to the Grinspoon Institute for Jewish Philanthropy, San Diego’s Create a Jewish Legacy, and the MetroWest (New Jersey) Day School Campaign. With fundraising coaching customized for each school and incentive grants to reach campaign goals, schools will build their endowment funds. The goal is to raise approximately $4,000-$6,000 per student after three years. After 10 years, as endowment giving becomes embedded in school giving culture, the amount is expected to grow to $20,000-$30,000 per student ($10 million-$15 million for a 500-student school). 6 Affordability Knowledge Center scholarship. Indeed, a substantial endowment can help reduce the size of annual tuition increases, which helps lower the amount of financial aid eligible families may need. According to former Head of School Dr. Elliot Spiegel, Solomon Schechter School of Westchester uses its endowment income to minimize tuition increases overall. “Our goal is to provide the highest quality education to the largest number of students.” Lower annual tuition hikes—1-2% instead of 5-6%—may result in family incomes (which may rise more slowly, if at all) better matching those tuition increases.

Enhancing quality 5 The Jewish Day School Parent Survey™ data ties educational quality to parents’ willingness to enroll their children in day school and to promote their school in their social circles. 6 By donating endowment funds (or operating income freed up by those funds) that can be used for educational improvements, donors can help your school build and maintain an excellent educational program, which may in turn convince prospective parents to enroll their children at your school.

Taking the long view It may take many years for your endowment effort to have a meaningful impact on afford - ability. According to Kim Hirsh, Director of Philanthropic Initiatives at the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater MetroWest, New Jersey, schools must cultivate donors for 10 to 15 years before they may consider making an endowment gift. Add to that the time it takes to plan and implement an endowment campaign, and you are left with a process that may take decades. This substantial timeline is why endowment fundraising should be paired with other, more immediate affordability strategies. Such a multipronged approach will help ensure that your school helps both current and future families. Because of that daunting timeline, now is the right time to start your endowment devel - opment. According to the Jewish Funders Network, over the next 10 to 20 years a massive transfer of wealth will occur—more than $400 billion passing to the next generation of Jewish major donors. 7 As the older generation passes away, day schools and other not- for-profits will either have to find a way to sustain their generosity in perpetuity, or risk losing that support to another organization. “We’ve been in the education business for 2,000 years!” says Dr. Bruce Powell, Head of School at New Community Jewish High School in Los Angeles, California. “What are we waiting for?”

5 See Cohen, “‘According to His Way’: Blended Learning,” PEJE (April 2013) for a more detailed explanation of how investing in academic excellence relates to affordability. 6 Held, “Learning from Parent Voices: How to Turn Positive Perception into Enrollment Growth,” PEJE and Measuring Success (2013). 7 Katz, “Network of Philanthropists Aims to Hone Grant-giving,” J Weekly (July 1995). Endowment Development 7

From interviews and other research, a few guidelines emerge for schools considering whether to start an endowment fund targeting affordability. The examples set by existing programs show us that identifying and empowering your leadership, engaging your lead donors, aligning donor interests with your school’s needs, and having patience are all essential components of creating a successful endowment effort.

Identify and empower your leadership 8 “ he most common endowment donor for any non-profit is an individual who has given to an organization for 15 or more years. That’s why, with the day school T campaign, we focus on folks with long-term connections to the day schools.”— Kim Hirsh, Director of Philanthropic Initiatives at the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater MetroWest, New Jersey Development is based on relationships. Each stakeholder can play an important role in building those connections and raising endowment funds by cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding current and potential donors. Here are examples of how staff, lay leaders, and parents can help in that process.

Staff All of your professionals should be trained to see the value in every interaction with parents , alumni, and other guests in your school. Jill Goldenberg, PEJE’s Strategy Manager for Endowment and Legacy Revenue, cites maintenance staff as an example: “A janitor may not be soliciting donors for endowment gifts, but he can welcome parents and visitors with a smile and be able to talk about what exciting events are going on at his school that week.” Dr. Spiegel emphasizes the value of development by administrators, particularly those involved with the school’s education: “Raising money, for a headmaster in this day and age, is equivalent to teaching Torah.”

8 While this is an essential component to endowment development, it is just one element of a seven-part compre - hensive endowment development strategy: 1. Creating a culture of philanthropy 2. Writing an endowment development plan 3. Creating a case statement for endowment giving 4. Determining how to invest endowment funds 5. Identifying and training your professional and lay leadership 6. Identifying, cultivating, and soliciting donors 7. Recognition and publicity See PEJE’s Endowment & Legacy Institute’s Knowledge and Resource Center (http://peje.org/index.php/endowment-a-legacy-institute/knowledge-and-resource-center) for more information. 8 Affordability Knowledge Center

Development staff and administrators must be trained to cultivate donors and solicit THE VALUE OF AN ENDOWMENT-FOCUSED endowment gifts. Schools professionals have DEVELOPMENT PROFESSIONAL obtained this training in different ways. When a donor at The Agnon School in Generations schools, for example, have Cleveland, Ohio, wanted to reinvigorate benefited from the program’s professional the school’s endowment, he chose to development component. They are sup - first invest his money in a new devel - ported by coaches who provide one-on-one opment position, specifically to raise consultation and a local program manager endowment funds. Karil Bialostosky who oversees the community-wide project. was hired in 2010 and has increased The Generations schools lead a growing na - Agnon’s pledged endowment funds tional system of day schools building en - from around $1 million to $4 million. dowments. Other schools have hired outside consultants or brought in endowment Focusing exclusively on endowment professionals from other not-for-profits, both development has allowed Bialostosky inside and outside the Jewish community, to to avoid the yearly stress and anxiety train their staff. Karil Bialostosky (see box) of raising annual campaign dollars. “It says there is no reason to reinvent the wheel takes time to know people and learn when learning about endowment develop - what they care about so over time, ment: “Research best practices. Talk to peers. you can solicit them to support those There are plenty of mistakes to be made, but priorities.” it’s nice to make new mistakes.” You may think that when it comes to planned giving, your development team must be experts in the different instruments, like establishing a legacy gift through a will or a trust. But development professionals do not need to know the intricacies of the testamentary options. Diane Scherer, former Program Manager for Generations New York, says that for many not-for-profits, simple bequests are “where the biggest gifts have come from.” If a donor wants to talk about a more complicated instrument, a trust and estates attorney or an endowment professional from the Federation or another local agency can offer more technical guidance. For day school staff, Scherer says the idea to remember is “the long- term legacy of the donor’s generosity and the school’s vision of how that generosity will support the school’s mission in perpetuity.” Endowment Development 9

Without the backbone of strong professional leadership, a school may feel too pressured to meet its annual fundraising goals and will lack the capacity to think strategically about its future. Generations emphasizes the importance of stability for the partner communities and schools. 9 PEJE and its colleagues in Baltimore, Boston, Los Angeles, and New York highly value schools that have the right staff in place with experience cultivating and solic - iting major gifts, and committed to raising money and working closely with lay leaders.

Lay leaders and parents Lay leaders play a critical role in engaging donors. That can mean anything from simply using their networks to promote the school to taking active roles in identifying and soliciting potential donors. Lay leaders are especially useful in serving as your school’s “eyes and ears” to enable you to steward your donors. For example, lay leaders can inform you of a donor selling her business or celebrating the birth of a new grandchild. Staff may drive an endowment campaign, but lay leaders can advise staff on direction, goals, and prospects. The more deeply you engage lay leaders in development efforts, the better their under - standing will be of the school’s needs and of how important endowment giving is to the school’s long-term sustainability

CAPITAL CAMPAIGN: HOW ONE SCHOOL USED A FORWARD-FOCUSED EFFORT TO PREPARE ITS LEADERSHIP FOR RAISING ENDOWMENT FUNDS The Weber School in Atlanta, , had been working on its capital campaign for several years when staff introduced the idea of endowment giving to a few major donors. Development Director Kathleen Neitzel says that, at the time, lay and profes - sional leadership were prepared to pivot to raising endowment funds because “we had prompted major donors to start thinking about their legacy, and they were already in the mindset of making substantial contributions to the school.” If your donors are starting to think about how their investment will benefit your school in perpetuity, they may be ready to start a conversation about making an endowment or legacy gift.

Lay leaders can lead by example. Just as major donors set an example through their philanthropy (and often through more hands-on activity, as seen below), lay leaders can model the right behavior for the rest of your school even if they do not have the capacity to make large gifts to your endowment.

9 For a list of readiness criteria, see Appendix B: “PEJE Endowment Readiness Quiz.” 10 Affordability Knowledge Center

Another way lay leaders can participate in your endowment development is by promoting the effort through their social circles. Betty Winn, Head of School at Abraham Joshua Heschel Day School in Los Angeles, California, recommends that schools “try to find a couple of lay leaders to help spread the word, even if it’s just to talk up the importance of endowment.” This word-of-mouth marketing can be very effective once your endowment effort begins in earnest, and your lay leaders can start telling their peers about the success of the program and its impact on your school. Not every parent or board member comes to your school knowing how to cultivate donors. Training them—as part of a larger program like Generations, in partnership with Federation or other organizations, or as a learning experience for your school’s volunteers—to under - stand this critical role will further develop your culture of philanthropy and demonstrate to your volunteers that they are essential to your endowment development efforts. For in - stance, in addition to the training they received through Generations, lay leaders at Solomon Schechter School of Westchester participated in several retreats devoted solely to learning about endowment development . Pressman Academy in Los Angeles, California, found a way to directly involve parents in their endowment development. A few years ago, the school added an endowment contribution to its tuition contracts. With a required investment of $250 per year for each student, the campaign yields about $60,000 per year. Former Head of School Mitch Malkus says that the motivation for the effort is the “rising cost of Jewish day school, not just for our school, but for the entire system.” According to Malkus, the strategy has been an effective way to educate the entire school about the importance of endowment funds and allows parents to feel like they are contributing to the school’s long-term sustainability .

Engaging your lead donors ead donors are those who make the first investment in a campaign, whether as a match or a standalone gift. They can be more or less active in your endowment L campaign overall. Their roles depend on school culture. Some may want to simply invest: At The Ramaz, School in New York, New York, for example, cultivation and solicitation is handled almost exclusively by staff. In this fairly unique setup, there is a lay committee that advises Development Director Kenny Rochlin and his team, and it provides input into potential solicitations on a case-by-case basis. But the development professional do most of the actual work. While Ramaz has raised several million dollars using a staff-driven and staff–controlled process, your school can only benefit by engaging lead donors in your endowment devel - opment. Robert Evans of EHL Consulting, Inc. (and a Generations coach), says that “the passion and commitment of lead donors is one of the most effective ways to get others to come forward” and invest in your endowment campaign. Here are a couple of different ways lead donors can actively support your endowment development effort. Endowment Development 11

Launch THE ROLE OF A CONSULTANT 11 Lead donors can provide the initial gifts and act as the public face of your campaign. According When in West to Evans and Avrum Lapin, “Obtaining the Orange, New Jersey, began considering first leadership gifts that initiate and ‘set the launching a major endowment and pace’ are the key to every successful capital campaign, it knew its donor fundraising campaign.” 10 base fairly well. But because this was going to be such an ambitious under - The Weber School began its campaign by taking, a consultant was hired to en - soliciting two of its major donors, who both sure that everything that could be made substantial investments to kick off the was being done to make their effort effort—one to support operations, and the a success. other for financial assistance. Once the funds were set up, each donor made a second gift, Director of Development and Alumni to the other’s fund. Weber highlighted the Relations Stephanie Bash-Soudry says generosity and commitment of those donors that “hiring a consultant was a very as part of its initial marketing effort. This important step” to kick off their commitment to the school and the endow - campaign. The consultant helped ment campaign by Weber’s largest supporters leadership create a development plan, has inspired other donors to invest. According trained lay leaders and staff on how to to Kathleen Neitzel, this is because they have solicit endowment gifts, and provided seen the two lead donors openly modeling essential research about both current two crucial behaviors: investing their own and prospective donors. “It turns out,” funds and soliciting their peers. Bash-Soudry says, “that we could ask donors for a lot more than we previously thought. With the consultant’s research, we were able to more accurately match Match/challenge grant a prospect’s true capacity with our Here are two examples of how a lead school’s needs.” donor’s matching gift can stimulate an endowment campaign. Golda Och Academy: A lead donor’s passion parallels a school’s highest priorities The Och family has supported Golda Och Academy for many years. School leadership approached Daniel Och to kick off its $30 million Building on Tradition Campaign in 2010. The Campaign has three parts: tuition assistance, academic excellence, and a capital component for the lower school building. Och offered a $15 million match challenge and designated two priority areas for his endowment gift—tuition assistance and academic excellence. As part of MetroWest New Jersey’s Day School Campaign, 12 Och set certain parameters for his investment: He would match every endowment and capital gift 1:1, and every legacy gift 1:2.

10 “Getting a Campaign Started: The Importance of Leadership Gifts,” eJewish Philanthropy (April 2013). 11 Consultants and coaches can both maximize your endowment development. See Zorfass, “PEJE Guide to Coaching,” PEJE (2010) for an explanation of the differences between the two roles. 12 For a more detailed description, see Cohen, “Yehoshua ben Gamla’s Vision in Practice: Kehillah Funds,” PEJE (December 2012). 12 Affordability Knowledge Center

The match has been an essential tool for the school to raise other funds by showing prospective donors how their investment would be leveraged by Och’s matching gift. The school has raised $18 million toward its $22 million goal for scholarship, enabling the school to discount tuition for more than 50% of its students and covering the cost of the “GO Grants,” 13 Golda Och’s tuition reduction program for middle-income families.

Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School: Donor recognition leads to a matched endowment gift In the spring of 2003, Charles E. Smith (CES) instituted its first gala and honored Robert H. Smith, son of the late Charles E. Smith, to recognize the Smith family’s lasting commitment to the school and, more specifically, to demonstrate the school’s deep appreciation for Smith’s interest in ensuring the school’s vitality. Both the event itself and its preparation were a success, as Smith become more engaged in CES. This increased involvement led Robert Smith and his family to take a stronger interest in the school’s financial future, which resulted in the Smith/Kogod Endowment Challenge, a $5 million gift over five years to match up to $5 million raised in outright or deferred endowment gifts during that period. The Smith/Kogod Endowment Challenge catapulted endowment fundraising to the top of the school’s institutional priorities and led the school to raise more than $16 million, $14 million of which was allocated to affordability.

Pacesetters cultivate and solicit others Your donors are more than their capacity; they have passions and interests, and most importantly, they have friends. Engaging lead donors as solicitors can be an important strategy. Research shows that donors who are solicited by their peers are more likely to give. 14 As seen in The Weber School example above, when major donors actively solicit other substantial gifts, they may inspire others to step forward and invest their own funds, or raise endowment gifts from people within their social circles. Golda Och’s Stephanie Bash-Soudry says that “staff are conductors. They identify the right leadership and donors, but they need lay people who will be major donors and role models, who will solicit their peers.” Taking a more active role in your school’s campaign also may encourage your donors to get more involved in other parts of your school: as recruitment ambassadors, in-class volunteers , or board members. Endowment gifts, usually the product of a long relationship, can be the means by which you invigorate your donors and amplify their passion for your school.

13 Golda Och’s GO Grants provide $4,000-$7,000 per student per year for up to four years for families who are in the middle third of the income range within the school. 14 Meer, “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? Peer Pressure in Charitable Solicitation,” Journal of Public Economics (2011). Endowment Development 13

Align donor interests with your school’s needs: Restricted vs. unrestricted funds ach of the school leaders interviewed for this paper emphasizes their preference for unrestricted gifts but recognizes that is not always how donors want to invest in E their schools. Development professionals may use different strategies to align donor interests with their school’s needs.

The : Cultivating donors to support existing programs One advantage of working with donors who have a long history with your school is that they are more knowledgeable about its mission and its needs than new donors. Development Director Kenny Rochlin says that this history allows him to provide donors with investment opportunities that relate to their interests but do not conflict with the school’s existing programs. “We allow donors to invest in and name specific programs, but we try to make sure they are programs that already exist,” he says. Restricted gifts are most effective if they match your school’s needs with your donors’ passions. But to maintain some financial flexibility, Ramaz keeps its endowment agreements very broad, so if the program ends, the school may still be able to use the gift to support other programs or general operating costs.

Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School: Using data to show donors the impact of their investment Data play a critical role in discerning which of your long-time supporters have the most capacity and willingness to endow your school. Data can be particularly helpful when showing donors how their investment has achieved their objectives. Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School in Baltimore, Maryland, already had an endowment fund when it began Generations in 2012. So when the school went back to the donors who had already given, it was able to clearly show these donors the impact of their initial investment. Mandi Miller, Beth Tfiloh’s Development Director, says that she was able to show a $1 million investor how, over 20 years, his gift yielded more than $1 million in scholarship funds. By sharing the data on his “return on investment,” Beth Tfiloh convinced the donor to make another endowment gift. 14 Affordability Knowledge Center

Have patience hile several day schools have endowment funds that began in the 1970s or earlier, 15 the few schools that are engaged in endowment development have W only begun active campaigns over the past 15 years. Many of these more recent campaigns have been tied closely to affordability. One of the first major efforts to reinvigorate interest in endowment fundraising was George Hanus’ “Operation Jewish Education.” 16 Announced in 1998, the project called for every Jew to donate 5% of his or her estate to a day school endowment of his or her choice. Interest in Hanus’ idea, and the potential of endowment fundraising, grew over the next few years. 17 The first example of communal interest in endowment fundraising for Jewish day schools was the Chicago Jewish Day School Guaranty Trust, launched in 2001 by the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago. 18 Then, in 2005, the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater MetroWest, New Jersey, introduced the MetroWest Day School Campaign. The Campaign, a Kehillah Fund 19 meant to raise endowment funds for all three MetroWest day schools, has raised more than $60 million in less than eight years. One requirement the schools agreed upon was that each would establish a middle-income affordability program with a portion of the funds. Since 2005, funders like the AVI CHAI and Jim Joseph Foundation have worked closely with schools and communities to prioritize endowment development. These efforts have been facilitated in part by PEJE, whose Generations program offers a template for a communal strategy for donors to support individual Jewish day schools. Non-Jewish independent schools have built endowments for decades and, in some cases, centuries. Each of the top 16 endowments exceeds $200 million. 20 Contrast that with Jewish day schools: As of July 2012, the endowment funds held by more than 100 day schools total about $270 million. 21 See the chart for a comparison of endow - ment , enrollment, and budget information between independent and Jewish day schools.

15 See Appendix A for more information about the schools mentioned in this paper and their endowment efforts. 16 Hanus, “Operation Jewish Education: Our 5% Responsibility,” Sh’ma (December 1998). 17 See, e.g., Unterman, “A Day (School) Dream,” Ten Da’at (Winter 2000); Wertheimer, “Talking Dollars and Sense about Jewish Education,” AVI CHAI (2001). 18 Schatz, “Chicago day-school funding innovation tops $10 million,” JUF News (May 2013). 19 See Cohen, “Yehoshua Ben Gamla’s Vision in Practice: Kehillah Funds,” PEJE (December 2012) for more information about the MetroWest Day School Campaign. 20 “Educational Wealth,” The New York Times (January 25, 2008). 21 Data collected through Generations. Endowment Development 15

2011-12 ENDOWMENT AND BUDGET COMPARISON

INDEPENDENT JEWISH DAY SCHOOLS* DAY SCHOOLS** Average enrollment 517 310 Median endowment/student $11,535 $4,468 Annual return/student $577 $223 Total annual return, school $298,180 $69,254 Cost/student $19,209 $18,596.27 Average budget $9,931,053 $5,764,844

*Source: NAIS Facts at a Glance (2011-12). ** 65 day schools reported enrollment, budget, and endowment information in JData in 2011-12.

It may take many years of endowment fundraising to have meaningful, lasting impact on the affordability challenge. Endowment development depends on strong lasting relationships. And those take time to develop. It can take many years of positive, meaningful interactions before a donor is willing to endow your school. Depending on your donors’ capacity, you may be able to raise several million dollars in just a couple of years, which would provide a substantial source of consistent reliable funding that does not have to be solicited every year. Those funds can cover the cost of financial aid, or improve your school’s education and, in turn, its value proposition. But it may take longer to use endowment funds to address affordability by reducing tuition. A school with 300 students, for example, would have to raise $18 million to discount everyone’s annual tuition by $3,000. And while some schools (such as Golda Och) may be able to raise that amount of money in just a few years, they are the exception rather than the rule. Of the estimated 100 schools that have raised some endowment funds, fewer than a dozen have raised more than $10 million. A school may be able to use endowment funds to address affordability through reducing the cost for families several years from now. But if your school is looking to make an immediate impact, other strategies should be explored while you keep raising endowment funds at the same time. 16 Affordability Knowledge Center

Recognize your donors Donor recognition can help your development professionals and donors celebrate the more immediate impact of your endowment development even as the full benefit may not be felt for several years. Endowment donors may only get to see a portion of the benefit their gift provides your school; and if their gift is a bequest, they pass away before any of their investment benefits the school. That is why recognition is so important for endowment donors—you can honor the donor at the time of the gift so they will see some connection between their gift and your school, even though most of the benefit will attach long after they are gone. PEJE felt that donor recognition was so important that it created the L’Dor V’Dor Society in 2012. L’Dor V’Dor is a national giving society providing day schools with a vehicle to honor their most generous supporters. According to PEJE board chair Michael Bohnen, it “will raise the profile of these generous donors on a local and national level, and will help make planned giving part of the conversation in the community.” Its national profile is already working as an incentive for donors to commit to new endowment gifts. The Weber School, for example, used L’Dor V’Dor’s reporting deadline to get a donor to finalize a commitment to their endowment campaign so the donor could be recognized through L’Dor V’Dor’s initial promotional effort. Community endowment campaigns also can be an effective way to engage and recognize donors. Kehillah Funds targeting major donors—MetroWest, New Jersey; GEN J in Montreal ; and Pittsburgh’s Centennial Fund for a Jewish Future—all have found ways to recognize those leaders. MetroWest’s Day School Campaign, for example, combines communal funding with school-specific endowment campaigns. Its Herskowitz Society of MetroWest is “recognizing donors with a commitment of $100,000 or more to a day school fund” held by the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater MetroWest, New Jersey. Whether your school recognizes its major donors on its own, through a community endowment campaign, or through L’Dov V’Dor, acknowledging your most generous supporters is one way for them to see what their gift means to your organization, both now and into the future. Endowment Development 17

Summary

• Identify and empower your endowment development leadership. From professionals to lay leaders to parents, each stakeholder has a role to play. By training them to understand those roles, your school can maximize everyone’s involvement in your endowment development. • Engage your lead donors. You can never have too much information about your donors. Once you have a firm grasp of their capacity and their interests, you can encourage them to lead—through their philanthropy and in more active roles as fits your school’s culture and plan. • Align donor interests with your school’s needs. Restricted gifts need not hobble your school. By aligning donors’ passions with your school’s mission, designated donations can ensure that your most important programs are supported in perpetuity. • Have patience. Endowment takes time to build to a level at which it can meaningfully benefit your school’s bottom line. Still, it should be a regular part of your development strategy so your school will remain sustainable. Endowment funds have allowed Harvard University to offer free tuition to families making less than $65,000 per year. Endowment funds kept several independent schools afloat during the leanest years of the recent recession. And endowment funds will help ensure that, when the next generation of Jewish leaders is ready to enroll their sons and daughters in affordable, excellent schools, they will have plenty of options to choose from. 18 Affordability Knowledge Center

Appendix A

Endowment as 2011-12 Endowment/ 2011-12 Endowment Schools Contact of July 2011 enrollment student operating budget priorities

Abraham Joshua Larry Kligman, Head of School** $240,000 231 $1,039 $12,500,000 n Academic excellence Heschel Day School* [email protected] n Financial assistance Los Angeles, CA (818) 368-5781

Beth Tfiloh Dahan Mandi Miller $10,260,000 726 $14,132 $5,070,000 n Academic excellence Community School* Development Director n Financial assistance Baltimore, MD [email protected] (410) 486-1905

Charles E. Smith Sharon Roll $13,670,000 1,140 $11,991 $23,994,000 n Financial assistance Jewish Day School Development Director n Special programs Rockville, MD [email protected] (301) 881-1400

Golda Och Academy Stephanie Bash-Soudry $36,720,000 534 $68,755 $11,422,000 n Academic excellence West Orange, NJ Director of Development n Affordability & Alumni Relations [email protected] (973) 602-3612

Maimonides School* Frederique Smits $11,200,000 531 $21,092 $11,251,000 n Academic excellence Brookline, MA Development Director n Special programs [email protected] (617) 232-4452

New Community Dr. Bruce Powell $550,000 368 $1,495 $7,703,000 n Academic excellence Jewish High School* Head of School n Affordability Los Angeles, CA [email protected] (818) 348-0048

Pressman Academy Rabbi Joel Rembaum $1,840,000 345 $5,333 $5,321,000 n General operating of Temple Beth Am* Interim Head of School n expenses Los Angeles, CA [email protected] (310) 652-7353

Solomon Schechter Dr. Michael Kay $10,000,000 867 $11,534 $21,000,000 n Academic excellence School of Westchester* Head of School n Affordability Westchester, NY [email protected] (914) 948-8333

* Generations Schools ** Kligman replaced Dr. Betty Winn as head of school in June, 2013. *** Dr. Kay replaced Dr. Elliot Spiegel as head of school in June, 2013. Endowment Development 19

Endowment as 2011-12 Endowment/ 2011-12 Endowment Schools Contact of July 2011 enrollment student operating budget priorities

The Agnon School Karil Bialostosky $1,300,000 260 $5,000 $3,682,000 n General operating Cleveland, OH Director of Endowment/ n expenses Grants Coordinator n Special programs [email protected] (216) 464-4055

The Ramaz School Kenny Rochlin $12,600,000 979 $12,870 $27,784,000 n General operating New York, NY Development Director n expenses [email protected] n Special programs (212) 774-8041

The Weber School Kathleen Neitzel $900,000 231 $3,896 $5,000,000 n Financial assistance Atlanta, GA Capital Campaign and n General operating Major Gifts Director n expenses [email protected] (404) 917-2500

Generations Communities Program Manager Participating Schools

Boston, MA Amanda Rossi, Larry Tobin Cohen Hillel Academy Combined Jewish Philanthropies [email protected] Gann Academy [email protected] Jewish Community Day School (617) 457-8500 Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston The Rashi School

Baltimore, MD Helen London Bais Yaakov School for Girls The ASSOCIATED [email protected] Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School (410) 369-9295 Bnos Yisroel of Baltimore Krieger Schechter Day School Talmudical Academy of Baltimore Torah Institute of Baltimore Los Angeles, CA Rebecca Spain Abraham Joshua Heschel Day School Builders of Jewish Education of Los Angeles [email protected] Adat Ari El Day School (323) 761-8612 Cheder Menachem Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy Pressman Academy of Temple Beth Am Sinai Akiba Academy Valley Beth Shalom Harold M. Schulweis Day School

New York, NY TBD* Hannah Senesh Community Day School UJA-Federation New York Solomon Schechter School of Manhattan Solomon Schechter School of Westchester The Schechter School of Long Island Westchester Day School Yeshiva of Flatbush

* Position vacant as of July 1, 2013. 20 Affordability Knowledge Center

Appendix B

PEJE’s Endowment and Legacy Readiness Quiz If you can check off all of these boxes, you are ready to succeed in your endowment and legacy campaign! o Your head of school has no plan to leave in the next 12 months o Your school is not on the brink of closing a division, merging with another school or closing altogether o Your board of directors understands its responsibilities to raise funds and is actively engaged in prospect identification, cultivation and solicitation o Both your board of directors and head of school are committed to raising endowment dollars as evidenced by the allocation of professional and lay resources to create and execute a successful endowment and legacy campaign o Your school has a professional development director who works more than half time for the school on development o Your school has and uses a donor tracking system to steward both prospects and donors after they have made their gifts. o Your school has a respected and inspiring lay-professional team to lead the campaign, cultivate donors and solicit gifts o Your school has a track record of successful face-to-face solicitations o Your school will invest in hiring an experienced campaign coach to guide and train your team and ensure you hit your campaign goals o Your school leaders are committed to educating the grandchildren of your current students Jewish Day School Affordability Knowledge Center A Partnership of PEJE and the OU

Jewish Day School Affordability Knowledge Center

88 Broad Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02110 n (617) 367-0001 n [email protected]