Photos co urtesy o f Mort Plot nick
Big new gifts bring the Jewish Community Center's
campaign past the halfway mark.
LONNY GOLDSMITH
StaffWriter
fter almost a
year of fund-
raising in the community,
the Jewish Community
Center of Metropolitan
Detroit has gotten a big boost from
the outside.
The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg
Foundation in Baltimore has delivered
a $2 million pledge while a meeting
for Detroit snowbirds nesting in Boca
Raton, Fla., earned a surprise
$500,000 towards the JCC's $25 mil-
lion capital and endowment campaign.
The Weinberg gift benefits the $7
million endowment effort the JCC has
made a priority (the $18 million bal-
ance of the $25 million goes to bricks-
and-mortar improvements). The
endowment would generate $825,000
Lonny Goldsmith can be reached at
(248) 354-6060 ext. 263, or by e-mail
at: lgoldsmith@thejewishnews.corn.
1999
6 Detroit Jewish News
a year
to enhance programs beyond
revenues from memberships and fees.
The Weinberg gift is a matching
grant. For every $1.25 million raised
for endowment, the JCC will receive
$500,000 from the foundation.
"The more commitments we get,
the more we get from them," said
Hugh Greenberg, chairman of the
capital campaign.
He said the JCC has already
received the first $500,000 install-
ment.
Founded in 1959, the Weinberg
Foundation focuses on capital cam-
paigns, building construction and ren-
ovation, endowment funds and
matching grants. It ranks among the
top five Jewish philanthropic organiza-
tions in the country.
Left.
A crowded living
room at Dan and
Betty Kahn's Boca
Raton home.
Above:
Mark Davidoff
Hugh Greenberg,
Dan Kahn,
David Sorkin
and Larry Wolfe
at the Kahn's.
In the fiscal year that ended Feb.(
28, 1997, it had more than $1.2 bil-
lion in assets and gave nearly $57 mil
lion in grants. It ranked 26th and
24th in those respective categories
among foundations in the U.S.
For their gift, the names of
Harry and Jeanette Weinberg will
be attached to what has been the
library of the D. Dan and Betty
Kahn Building of the JCC in West
Bloomfield. The 2,000-volume
facility will become the Jewish
Resource Center with multimedia
capabilities; it will move from the
lobby into what has been the execL
tive suite.
The foundation pledge came early
last month; the successful snowbird
meeting was Feb. 16.
The Kahns, whose $3.6 million
donation last year got the JCC cam-
paign rolling, opened their home in
the St. Andrew's subdivision of Boca
Raton to more than 70 native
Detroiters.