Effective March 31, the Jewish Heritage Foundation and the Menorah Legacy Foundation merged into a single foundation to be known as the Menorah Heritage Foundation. The announcement was made last week by Frank Sterneck, president of the Jewish Heritage Foundation, and Jeffrey Kramer, M.D., president of the Menorah Legacy Foundation. The combined assets of JHF and MLF, based on Dec. 31, 2015, year-end valuations, are approximately $52.7 million.
The merged foundation will remain a supporting organization of the Jewish Community Foundation and will share JCF’s office space on the Jewish Community Campus. It will be led by Rita Cortes, who became executive director of the Jewish Heritage Foundation last year. MHF will also employ the Jewish Heritage Foundation’s Kim Lewis and Menorah Legacy Foundation’s Diane Cranshaw. MLF had been without a permanent executive director since Gayla Brockman left the organization in December 2015.
Both the Jewish Heritage Foundation and the Menorah Legacy Foundation grew out of sales of Menorah Medical Center, first to Health Midwest and then when Health Midwest was bought by HCA. Both organizations remain deeply committed to the hospital’s tradition of healing and compassionate service. This natural synergy will allow the Menorah Heritage Foundation to continue to support both the Jewish and general communities for an even greater impact.
The Menorah Heritage Foundation will carry on the missions of both prior foundations, with a primary focus on promoting health and well-being in the Kansas City Jewish community and beyond. The new foundation will continue Menorah Legacy Foundation’s Healthy for Life initiative, which supports programs that improve health by fostering transformational change in individual or community behaviors. The new foundation will also retain the commitment to fund innovative and novel projects, such as Menorah Legacy Foundation’s successful Beans&Greens program, which has now found a home with Cultivate Kansas City.
The Menorah Heritage Foundation plans to engage in strategic planning through 2016 to integrate the grant making functions and strategies of the organizations. It is dedicated to ensuring that the agencies who have received prior foundation support will not experience adverse effects from the merger.
The directors and members of the Jewish Heritage Foundation, chaired by Sterneck, approved the merger on March 29, while the directors of Menorah Legacy Foundation, chaired by Dr. Kramer, approved the merger on March 30. Functional integrations of operations will take place over the next 90 days.
Sterneck will serve as president of Menorah Heritage Foundation through the end of 2016, at which point President Elect Howard Wizig will take over the role. Andrew Kaplan will serve as the executive vice president.
“The merger of the Jewish Heritage Foundation and the Menorah Legacy Foundation is the culmination of thoughtful, extended discussions,” said Sterneck. “The Menorah Heritage Foundation will maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of grant making and allow for enhanced support of the Jewish community.”
Dr. Kramer strongly agrees. “The Menorah Heritage Foundation will operate with the values that have been inherent in both foundations and our predecessor, Menorah Hospital. I believe the Menorah Heritage Foundation will have a positive impact on the community. Also, it is our fervent hope that this will serve as an impetus for collaboration between other agencies and key organizations within the Kansas City Jewish community.”
