The Jewish Community Foundation (JCF) has received a multi-million dollar grant from the Stanley J. Bushman Supporting Foundation to establish the Bushman Legacy Initiative, a renewed community-wide effort to strengthen and sustain the Jewish community through a focus on planned giving.
This initiative will build upon the success of the Bushman Community Endowment (BCE) program which ran from 2008-2016. BCE put planned giving at the forefront of the communal agenda and raised millions of dollars in realized and future funding for Jewish agencies and synagogues.
In 2006, through his involvement with JCF, Stanley Bushman (z”l) was introduced to a planned giving program at the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego that changed the way he thought about philanthropy. Bushman, a past JCF president, was inspired by the effort in San Diego and worked closely with local JCF leadership to develop a similar program in Kansas City. Together, they created the Bushman Community Endowment program, in which JCF collaborated with professional and lay leadership from more than a dozen communal organizations to establish bequests and other planned gifts. JCF provided intensive training, consulting, coaching and marketing support, along with financial incentive grants. Due to these efforts, more than 1,000 planned gifts have been established by community members, including $89 million in realized planned gifts and another $125 million in future commitments.
“I think this is the best investment I ever made in my life,” Bushman said about the program. “Every dollar I put in has been returned 50 times. It’s incredible what this community has done, and this is just the start.”
During his lifetime, Bushman established the Stanley J. Bushman Supporting Foundation of the Jewish Community Foundation and hand-selected a trusted board to serve as stewards of his philanthropic resources. After Bushman’s passing earlier this year, the trustees identified a funding opportunity which reimagined a planned giving program that built on the success of BCE. The Supporting Foundation honored Bushman’s charitable intentions through this gift to JCF to establish the Bushman Legacy Initiative, an effort to continue Bushman’s vision of ensuring a strong and vibrant community for future generations.
“We are hopeful and confident that the dimension and scope of this new effort will make it one of the most impactful charitable initiatives in the history of Kansas City’s Jewish community,” said Charles Helzberg, president of the Bushman Supporting Foundation and Bushman’s lifelong friend and business partner.
“In the true spirit of legacy giving, Stan put plans in place through his estate to ensure that his vision would continue to grow,” said Merilyn Berenbom, a supporting foundation trustee and friend of Bushman. “This initiative will support local donors across the full lifecycle of giving, emphasizing the growth of our endowments through gifts both during donors’ lifetimes and from their estates. It is the truest expression of who Stan was, helping each of us to be our best, make a greater difference, and strengthen our own legacies in the process.”
The Bushman Legacy Initiative will be developed and implemented by JCF over the course of the coming months. Through the new program, JCF will provide organizations with professional and lay leader training, prospect identification and cultivation, comprehensive marketing resources, access to stewardship events and ongoing education and development support. The program will include substantial financial incentives to motivate best practices for securing legacy gifts and for donors to help realize their ability to make an impact. In addition to planned giving, the program director will promote JCF’s resources for the “Philanthropic Life Journey,” which includes educational touchpoints along life’s milestones such as marriage, starting a family, making an impact through tax-smart giving in peak earning years, and retirement planning.
According to JCF president and CEO Josh Stein, “One of the things that initially brought me back to K.C. was Bushman’s vision and foresight to make legacy giving a priority in this community. I am now humbled to be able to honor Stan’s legacy in a manner reflecting his personal approach, through supporting and stimulating the legacies of others.”
“The Stanley J. Bushman Supporting Foundation is honored to continue to support Stan's transformative vision for the Kansas City Jewish community,” said Lauren Mattleman Hoopes, Supporting Foundation trustee and former JCF executive director. “Stan’s wisdom, warm heart, and open hand continue to provide a lasting legacy of leadership and love.”
More information about the Bushman Legacy Initiative or supporting organizations through a planned gift is available by contacting Suzanne Galblum Dicken at or (913) 327-8286.