How the Jewish Future Pledge Has Drawn Thousands of Signatories

The Jewish Future Pledge (JFP) first crossed my radar during an interview with Wall Street billionaire Leon Cooperman. Cooperman is a signatory of the better-known Buffett-Gates Giving Pledge, but he’s also one of a number of high-profile philanthropists who has also signed the JFP, geared toward Jewish philanthropists across all income brackets.

The pledge was launched by hospitality industry executive Michael A. Leven. After only about three years, more than 43,000 individuals and foundations have made the pledge, in which they commit that of the funds they leave behind to charity, at least half will be earmarked to support the Jewish people and/or the State of Israel.

Joining Cooperman are other signatories including Charles Bronfman, Bernie Marcus, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, David Zalik and Julie Platt. When Harold Grinspoon and Diane Troderman signed the Jewish Future Pledge in 2021, Grinspoon said, “I want future generations to experience a world that allows them to embrace their Jewish roots, find meaning in Jewish living, and stand tall with pride.” And recently, in the midst of turbulent times both at home and abroad, Leven and others believe the message of JFP is all the more important.

We recently spoke with Leven as well as Home Depot cofounder Bernie Marcus and Los Angeles financier and Birthright Israel Chair Phil de Toledo, to find out more about why they support JFP and how it fits into their overall philanthropy.

Getting started

Leven said the seed of the idea came from a lecture by David Horovitz, the founding editor of the Times of Israel. Horovitz began by expressing his concern about the future regarding the impending wealth transfer. “If all of a sudden that $6 billion went away, or was diminished a great deal, what would be the support for the Jewish organization?” Leven said, referring to the fate of Jewish schools, summer camps, synagogues and more that rely on philanthropy.

For a number of years, these questions continued. Leven eventually reached out and met with Bernie Marcus, a friend and someone he’d worked with for many years, including as a trustee of the Marcus Foundation. Leven said that according to the Marcus Foundation bylaws, over 40% of its giving should be spent in the Jewish community during his lifetime and thereafter. “So I said, ‘What do you think about a Jewish Future Pledge?’ And he thought it was a good idea,” Leven said. In February, JFP will be celebrating its third year.

Notably, after the October 7 Hamas attack, JFP had signed an additional 10,000 pledges by mid-November. Leven said organizers had a goal of 50,000 by the end of 2024, but anticipate hitting that mark much sooner. Leven makes it clear that JFP does not advise people about where to give their money. Rather, their real focus is on awareness and ensuring the next generation is involved in giving toward Jewish causes. “Telling your family, your grandchildren, your children, that you’ve made a pledge for the future,” Leven said.

Demographically, signatories pretty much run the gamut, Leven said. Some non-Jews have signed, as well. In addition to JFP, Leven also runs a Jewish Youth Pledge for donors between 13 and 24, touching organizations like BBYO, camps, day schools and fraternities.

Like the Giving Pledge, each signatory writes a note about why they’ve signed. And for the youth pledge, signatories have to write a letter to their future selves for inclusion in a time capsule. JFP also sends out monthly newsletters. Leven believes that many families in the community don’t talk enough with their kids about philanthropy. But he’s noticed that as JFP has expanded in the community, it’s been a “eureka moment,” and a conversation that can be had during Passover Seder or in other contexts.

A Los Angeles pledger speaks

Phil de Toledo enjoyed a nearly 35-year career at investment management firm Capital Group before retiring as president. Over the past three years since his retirement, de Toledo has focused on nonprofit work with his wife Alyce. Jewish causes loom large for this family, and de Toledo talked about his parents, who both came to the United States two years before he was born.

“I grew up knowing I was Jewish but didn’t have any religious background at all,” de Toledo explained, adding that Alyce was raised similarly. But when the couple had their first son, they decided they were going to provide him with an opportunity they didn’t have.

The family joined a synagogue, took a Jewish holiday workshop class, and later enrolled him in a Jewish school. Around 2007, the family took a trip to Israel, where their younger son now lives.

Their son’s school in the San Fernando Valley outside of Los Angeles, formerly New Community Jewish High School, was renamed the de Toledo High School after the couple made a big gift. For a while, the couple were reluctant to have their name publicized, but school brass convinced them.

The couple also stepped forward by signing the Jewish Future Pledge. De Toledo first met Michael Leven when they were both on the board of Birthright Israel Foundation. Leven is currently an honorary board member and de Toledo was elected chair of the organization in the fall of 2021. De Toledo had been aware of the pledge for a while, but hadn’t signed it because he felt he was already committed to the cause, noting that he had been giving actively to Jewish causes for years. However, he ultimately signed it in the hopes that others would be inspired to follow suit. “If that’s going to help others sign the pledge… I’m all for it.”

Looking ahead, de Toledo wants to continue to focus on supporting and advocating for organizations that impact the community, and has been a longtime supporter of Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. He’s heartened that many of the organizations he supports focus on Jewish youth, noting that it’s harder to stay connected to people after college. “If we can help even a small number have Judaism be an important part of their life, then I feel like we've made a difference,” he said.

A billionaire pledger weighs in

Last time I spoke to Bernie Marcus, who cofounded Home Depot with Arthur Blank back in the late 1970s, he called his philanthropy “lean and mean.” With a net worth of $9.6 billion, Marcus, who signed the Giving Pledge with his wife in 2010, has given away over $1 billion to education, hospitals and Jewish causes. Other interests he supports through the Marcus Foundation include autism research — the Marcus Autism Center is one of the largest in the country — and supporting veterans suffering from PTSD and traumatic brain injury. The Marcus Blood Bank in Israel, Marcus said, opened up just before the October 7 attacks, and has increased the stability of blood donations in the country.

As for the Jewish Future Pledge, he says that Michael Leven came up with a “very good idea” in starting the pledge, influenced by Marcus’ own emphasis on earmarking a percentage of funds for philanthropic causes, including Jewish causes. While there are many ways to conduct philanthropy, Marcus is a major philanthropist who is big on donor intent. “There are so many founders, those people who generated the money to put into their foundation, who don’t leave enough instructions to the trustees on where they want the money to go,” Marcus said.

So Marcus sees JFP as a way for families to make their interest in Jewish causes clear and pass on that message to the next generation. As far as recent work Marcus has done in the Jewish community, he mentioned RootOne, the Marcus Foundation’s summer educational program for Jewish teens in the states that brings high school students to Israel to see what is happening on the ground. The foundation also made a $12 million gift to Passages Israel, a Christian group that organizes Birthright-style trips to Israel for college students. Marcus hopes to curb the forces of antisemitism, which are bubbling up again since the latest Israel-Hamas war began.

Looking ahead, Marcus says that his three children are on the board of the foundation. But ever one for donor intent, he has provisions going forward that a certain percentage of the family will make up the foundation’s board. He adds that he’s given plenty of direction, including videos, books and pamphlets, as far as his vision for the foundation. “Every board meeting is kind of an education… I can’t rule them from the grave. But I can influence them now.” In 20 years, he says his foundation will disappear.

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