About the Endowment Leadership Institute (ELI)

ELI is a multi-year capacity building program, in which the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati partners with Jewish communal organizations to secure bequests and other legacy gifts for our community.

The primary goal of ELI is to educate and train agency professionals and lay leadership so that they will be equipped to establish legacy gifts, both for their organizations and the broader Jewish community, by maximizing the positive relationships they already have with their stakeholders. Read ELI Goals

The Federation will provide each participating organization with a focused course of study including group sessions and individual coaching. In addition, a marketing initiative called “Our Next 100 Years,” will create an awareness of the power of bequests, endowments, and other gifts to benefit the overall Jewish community.

ELI will provide communal partners with the tools and motivation to engage their long-term stakeholders to make legacy gift commitments, thus enabling our community organizations to be more successful all-around fundraisers.   We owe it to our children and grandchildren to initiate these important conversations; secure large numbers of legacy gifts, and create a culture of endowment giving for the Jewish community.

The Reason for ELI

Over the last several years, Cincinnati’s Jewish community has strengthened its infrastructure with modern new facilities, and vibrant, quality programs that engage, educate and care for Jews from every walk of life. However, many of our strongest supporters are aging, and the transfer of wealth to the younger generation is well underway.  By substantially increasing permanent endowment resources for our community partners, we will insure that vital programs continue to flourish, dependence on annual campaign fundraising will be lessened, and that long term stability is in place for the benefit of future generations.