Federation’s New Foundation
The annual community campaign is the highest-profile fundraising effort by the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, but the donations to Federation’s endowment have grown in size and importance over the years.
As of January, those gifts have a new destination: the Atlanta Jewish Foundation, the rebranding of what was Federation’s Planned Giving & Endowment department.
Itai Tsur, who leads the foundation, said PG&E was one of the best-kept secrets at Federation and drew increasing interest, but it also was associated almost entirely with legacy giving at death.
“It was informally called the Department of Death,” Tsur said. “People don’t like to talk about death.”
When Eydie Koonin became the chairwoman of Planned Giving & Endowment, Tsur said, they both concluded that the organization needed a relaunch. The initial plan to make a cosmetic change became something more.
“It’s rebranding, but it’s also a change of focus away from legacy giving,” Tsur said. The Atlanta Jewish Foundation wants to get more gifts now to Federation’s endowment and to other Jewish causes in the community.
“We’re broadening our efforts and defining success in a broader fashion,” he said.
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