FEATURE STORY
by
Natella Royzman Vice President, Charitable Gift Planning
Why a Community Foundation? When I arrived at the Jewish Community Foundation in 2017 to work in the Development Department, I knew I had landed someplace special. It hit me immediately: In my prior job as a bankruptcy and business litigation attorney, my work was highly transactional. The focus was always “How can I get (or keep) something from somebody?” At The Foundation, it was a different paradigm altogether; now people called me to ask, “How do I give something to somebody?” I couldn’t have been more thrilled. Four years later, I’m even happier than I was before. I was reflecting on this recently as I thought about how to respond to an inquiry I had received from a potential Foundation donor who wanted to understand the difference between The Foundation and other Donor Advised Fund sponsor organizations he was researching. The answer fills me with pride. Although all organizations that have a Donor Advised Fund program must legally be a public charity, the other organizations this donor was considering are the charitable arms of profit-seeking businesses. They would not exist if they didn’t generate significant business for the financial institutions they are connected to by way of investment management, administrative, and recordkeeping services.
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