First Quarter 2014
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Introducing the Gottesman RTW Academy
The recent renaming of the Hebrew Academy of Morris County (HAMC) to the Gottesman RTW Academy recognizes a $15 million challenge gift from the Gottesman Family Supporting Foundation of the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater MetroWest NJ (JCF), and honors the founding families: Michael and Midge Rubenstein, Charlotte and Alvin Turner, and Beatsy and Morty Wertheimer.
The new name also reflects decades of history, the Gottesmans’ deep ties to HAMC and its families, and the Gottesman Foundation’s pioneering of innovative programs that have become local and national models for Jewish day schools in Greater MetroWest and across the country.
The Gottesmans’ transformative gift is the foundation of a $23 million capital and endowment campaign called “Our Future Together,” which will bring the Gottesman RTW Academy a new building (on land adjacent to the current school on Dover Chester Road in Randolph), a renovated campus, and significant support for the endowment for affordability and academic excellence.
The new campus is expected to have broad community use, and become a central focus of Jewish life for Morris County. (The space occupied by the current building will become a parking lot and athletic fields.)
Paula and Jerry Gottesman moved with their family to Morristown in 1975, eight years after HAMC began in the basement of the Morristown Jewish Center. For years the school moved from one “home” to the next. At the March 2, 2014, groundbreaking for the Gottesman RTW Academy, Jerry Gottesman recalled that when two of their daughters, Jane and Abbie, first enrolled in 1976, it was housed in a former Catholic school in Boonton. Later it moved to Temple Shalom in Succasunna.
“Finally, in 1980, our present building was dedicated, just in time for Jane’s graduation ceremony,” he said. Jerry noted that he and Paula developed personal ties with the founding families that continue to this day. Members of each of the founding families were present at the groundbreaking.
In 1998, Paula Gottesman became concerned that Jewish day schools were pricing out middle income families, who earned too much to qualify for traditional scholarship programs, but not enough to afford day school tuition. Through the Gottesman Foundation, the family began the “Base Grant” program, one of the nation’s first tuition subvention programs at a Jewish day school. The program helped to spur many similar programs in other communities and foreshadowed a national debate on helping middle income families afford Jewish day school.
In 2007, the Gottesmans created the largest program endowment in the history of the Greater MetroWest community by endowing the HAMC tuition program and leading the establishment of one of the first community-wide endowment campaigns for Jewish day school education, known as the MetroWest Day School Campaign. This highly successful effort has led to commitments of more than $60 million toward funds for excellence and affordability in Jewish day schools in Greater MetroWest from more than 100 donors.
Following the success of endowment development in Greater MetroWest, Steven Levy, a member of the JCF Board of Trustees, and Kim Hirsh, JCF director of philanthropic initiatives, were invited to serve on a national committee of the AVI CHAI Foundation to address endowment development for Jewish day schools.
The recommendations of this group, based largely on the Greater MetroWest model, became a national program called “Generations,” sponsored by the AVI CHAI Foundation, the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education (PEJE) and local communities. The program has had success in Baltimore, Boston, New York, and Los Angeles, and is expected to spread to other communities nationwide.
“What started as discussions at Paula and Jerry’s dining room table has reverberated across the country,” said Levy, who is also one of the founding donors of the MetroWest Day School Campaign and current vice chair of the JCF Day School Council. “The idea was that Jewish day schools — just like private independent schools and colleges and universities — need to look beyond today and build sustainability for the future, and a key way to do that is through endowments.”
The naming gift for HAMC, which will transition to the Gottesman RTW Academy, marks the second time a Jewish day school in Greater MetroWest has been named with a $15 million gift. The former Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union was renamed the Golda Och Academy in 2010 through a $15 million challenge gift from the Jane and Daniel Och Family Foundation, made in memory of Daniel Och’s mother, Golda, a school founder.
The Gottesman gift includes $8 million in up-front support and $7 million in matching funds toward gifts from other donors. The campaign, propelled by the Gottesman gift, is expected to raise a total of $18 million toward the new facility, plus $5 million for the endowment.
“In 1975, when Paula and I moved to Morris County, we did not envision how important Jewish day schools would become to us and to the entire American Jewish community,” Jerry Gottesman said. “We have been truly enriched by our involvement in and support of Jewish day school education in general, and our Hebrew Academy in particular.”
Levy, who with his wife, Beena, chairs the Our Future Together Campaign, noted while the Gottesman’s philanthropy has stretched across the Jewish community and beyond, the couple rarely agrees to add their name on a project or program, choosing instead to honor or memorialize others. This makes the Gottesman RTW name even more special.
“We are deeply honored that because of their depth of commitment to this school, Paula and Jerry agreed to let the school bear their name,” Levy said. “We will carry it well into the future.”
From left to right: Moshe Vaknin, Head of School, William Rubenstein, Charlotte Turner, Morty Wertheimer, Hannah Levy, Laurie Levy, Paula Gottesman, Sol Barer, Meri Barer, Judith Turner, Jerry Gottesman, Jonathan Ramsfelder, Steve Levy.
Need a Gift? Why Not Make Someone a Philanthropist?
by Eileen Russ Heltzer, Development Officer
What do spring graduations, weddings, even new babies have in common? All are simchas traditionally celebrated with gift giving. But what to give? This year, consider giving a loved one the gift of becoming a philanthropist by giving them a Donor Advised Fund (DAF) at the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater MetroWest NJ (JCF) in their name.
A DAF is sometimes described as a “charitable savings account.” With a DAF, the donor receives tax deductions on contributions made to the fund, which is invested by JCF. Donors — or those they designate — then recommend grants to qualified nonprofits in New Jersey, Israel, or around the world at their convenience.
Perhaps best of all, DAFs can be named for your loved one, e.g., the Rachel Cohen Donor Advised Fund. This personalization adds to the unique quality of the gift, as does the responsibility you are bestowing upon the recipient. The gift of a DAF underscores your trust in the recipient to make independent decisions as they support their community.
You can open a DAF for just $10,000, although some families contribute a year’s worth of tuition, $18,000 (chai ), or some other amount that is meaningful to them. Establishing a DAF removes the assets from your estate and doesn’t impact your ability to make cash gifts directly to the graduate, bride or groom, or other loved one. In addition, you receive a tax deduction for the full amount of your contribution.
DAFs are wonderful tools for empowering young people. Because the DAF is housed at JCF, your Jewish values are shared with the giftee, who is welcomed into the JCF “family” of DAF holders. DAF holders receive quarterly statements, updates via email, and professional relationship management from JCF staff. They can stay connected to the fund electronically, regardless of where the future takes them, while maintaining a connection here “at home.”
What better way to celebrate a simcha than with the “gift” of a Donor Advised Fund at JCF? To learn more, please contact Eileen R. Heltzer, development officer, at (973) 929-3039 or eheltzer@jfedgmw.org.