Holocaust center creates planned-giving endowment fund

“Society grows great when we plant trees in whose shade we know we shall never sit.”

– Greek proverb

PROVIDENCE – You’ve lived your life as a productive, prosperous and involved member of our community. There have been ups and downs, joys and sorrows, but as you look back, you know that you have been blessed with children, grandchildren, success and a full life.

Thanks to your efforts, you are secure in the knowledge that your family is taken care of. So, now what? What type of legacy do you want to leave? You’ve lived up to the legacy that was left for you, and now it’s time to leave a legacy that is worthy of your children and future generations.

Recently, the Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center (SBHEC) announced a way for you to include the center as part of your legacy:  the Never Again Society. The society is a new planned-giving endowment fund to support SBHEC’s mission to help end genocide, hate and discrimination through Holocaust education.

Simply put, planned giving is the process of making a significant charitable gift that is part of the donor’s financial or estate plan. Whether a donor uses cash, appreciated securities/stock, real estate, artwork, partnership interests, personal property, life insurance, a retirement plan, etc., the benefits of funding a planned gift can make this type of charitable giving very attractive to both donors and the nonprofits they support.

Former SBHEC President Selma Stanzler, who is now a charter member of the Never Again Society, relates, “A few years ago, someone made the chance remark that one did not have to be a multimillionaire to set up an endowment fund, and I was hooked. I really wanted to leave my children an ethical philosophical gift … to have something that would remind them of what I held dear and believed in.

“After careful discussion and planning, I was able to set up an endowment [via a life insurance policy] that would continue our lifelong interests. We were able to craft a statement of intent and belief so that our grandchildren would know what we stood for and what was important to us; how one lived one’s life and to understand one’s responsibility to the community. It was a very heady experience … it felt wonderful!”

And, she added, “Remember, there is no such thing as a ‘too small’ gift – it goes on forever, and so do you.”

Kalu Ndukwe Kalu, a Nigerian-born American political scientist, once said, “The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone, but the things you do for others remain as your legacy.”

SBHEC is honored by, and thankful for, Never Again Society charter members Karen Borger, Judith Jameison, Peter Mezei, Selma Stanzler and May-Ronny Zeidman.

To learn more about including SBHEC in your legacy, contact SBHEC Executive Director May-Ronny Zeidman at 401-453-7860 or may@bornsteinholocaustcenter.org.

LEV POPLOW is a communications and development consultant who writes for the Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center. He can be reached at levpoplow@gmail.com.