Another year has passed for the LIFE & LEGACY™ program as we wrapped up Year 9 on June 30, 2026. It has been an eventful year, including an ice storm in January that canceled our annual celebration. In March, we welcomed a visit from Nicole Caine, our new Harold Grinspoon Foundation community representative.
The Nashville Jewish community has participated in the LIFE & LEGACY™ program since 2017. As of early June 2026, the program has generated more than $29.5 million in promised gifts to 14 participating organizations. The organizations have already received more than $5.2 million from donors.
The LIFE & LEGACY™ program was created by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation to support Jewish organizations across North America through partnerships with local Jewish federations and foundations, promoting after-lifetime giving.
Becoming a LIFE & LEGACY™ donor is an easy, straightforward process. A donor must sign a letter of intent (LOI), pledging a gift to one or more participating organizations. Donors in Nashville currently promise to leave a gift to an average of 2.2 organizations. Donors may then take up to a year to formalize their LOIs by adding a bequest to their will or naming their chosen organizations as beneficiaries of a retirement account or life insurance policy.
When donors formalize their gifts, they may also choose the type of endowment fund that will be created when their gift is received. For example, a donor can establish a memorial fund or a donor-advised fund (DAF). Donors can also create written instructions describing how they would like the annual distributions from the fund to be used.
Another option is to create an annual campaign endowment (ACE) fund or a permanent annual campaign endowment (PACE) fund. The annual distribution from an ACE or PACE fund created at the Foundation of the Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville will flow into the grants pool and support a variety of Jewish organizations locally and globally. Ensuring the financial resilience and longevity of the Jewish community has never been easier.
To celebrate this program, the Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville will host communitywide events in August and October. These events will include guest speakers covering a variety of topics, including a death doula (an individual trained to support families during a terminal illness or the final days of a loved one) and the importance of creating a will and health care directive for college students and young adults. More details will be shared soon.
If you are not already a LIFE & LEGACY™ donor, you can obtain more information by contacting one of the participating organizations or the staff of the Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville.
The Jewish Observer is published by The Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville and made possible by funds raised in the Jewish Federation Annual Campaign. Become a supporter today.