This year saw the passing of longtime FJC donor Andrew Lachman, whose commitment to public education spanned his whole career, including his philanthropic giving in retirement.

Mr. Lachman was born in New York City in 1947 and grew up in Westchester and Connecticut.  He began his career in education after graduating from University of Chicago, first as a teacher and later as a public school administrator, and then as the Chief Executive Officer of the nonprofit Connecticut Center for School Change (now known as Partners for Educational Leadership).  There, among many innovations, he developed the concept of instructional rounds, a process that school districts and schools use to observe teaching and improve learning at scale. 

As current PEL executive director Richard Lemons wrote in an obituary of Mr. Lachman:

Andrew’s leadership helped define a new chapter in the life of the Center. During his tenure, he sharpened the organization’s focus on large-scale systems improvement, with particular emphasis on districts as the unit of change. He recognized that to create a lasting impact, we had to work not only with teachers and schools—but with the ecosystems and leadership structures that surround them.

Andrew was more than an organizational leader—he was a culture builder. He nurtured an environment of high expectations, collaborative inquiry, and reflective practice. He invited people to think big and act with discipline. He modeled intellectual generosity and principled decision-making. And he believed in people—deeply. As a result, many of us who worked with Andrew not only grew professionally, but also came to see more clearly what leadership with heart and intellect can look like.

Mr. Lachman’s support of PEL continued long after he stopped working there.  Through his DAF at FJC, he provided multiple years of support to the organization.  He and his wife Ruth Messinger also provided a major grant to the Hebrew Free Loan Society to fund a program that helped hundreds of New Yorkers refinance predatory credit card debt.

As his wife Ms. Messinger recalls:

Andrew came from a lovely well-off kind family that did not have any orientation to charitable giving.

When we were about to be married, after years of knowing each other, working together and becoming a couple, he asked if there was anything about me he didn’t know.  I thought and said, yes, I’m a tither.

Andrew did not know what that was and found it hard to believe I had been tithing at points in my life when I had very little money.  That said, he became an enthusiastic participant in all of our giving—particularly charitable giving to not for profit organizations that spoke to our shared interests.

FJC mourns the passing of Mr. Lachman and looks forward to working with his family to continue his philanthropic legacy.

This fall hundreds of peacemakers and their supporters from around the world gathered at Tanenbaum’s annual gala, to celebrate the life of Leonard Polonsky, one of the event’s honorees. Tanenbaum, a nonprofit committed to interreligious understanding, has spent over three decades transforming workplaces, schools, health care institutions and global areas of conflict. And Dr. Polonsky’s support as a board member and funder has been critical to the organization’s success and growth  since 2000, eight years after its founding by Dr. Georgette Bennett, who later became his wife.

As Dr. Polonsky’s stepson, Josh Tanenbaum, said at the event, “He gave fearlessly, freely and generously, not just his resources but his heart. And when this organization faced its toughest financial moments, when the future of Tannenbaum hung in the balance, Leonard stepped up to the plate to secure its longevity.”  

Before his passing in 2025, Mr. Polonsky was one of FJC’s most imaginative and committed philanthropists.  The donation of his Aspen vacation home to FJC in 2018 raised significant proceeds that helped establish The Polonsky Treasures Exhibition at the New York Public Library.  As described in his New York Times obituary, the exhibition:

… resembles a gilded curio shop of priceless items — among them, George Washington’s copy of the Bill of Rights (with 12 amendments instead of 10); Thomas Jefferson’s annotated version of the Declaration of Independence; a Gutenberg Bible; an Andy Warhol painting of a Studio 54 ticket; and stuffed animals that inspired A.A. Milne’s “Winnie-the-Pooh.”

The idea for the exhibition — which, as of this month, had attracted some three million visitors — emerged from a 2016 meeting Mr. Polonsky had with Anthony W. Marx, the president and chief executive of the New York Public Library.

Mr. Marx happened to show Mr. Polonsky a letter Christopher Columbus wrote in 1493, informing the Spanish royal court of land he had discovered. “The whole colonial enterprise was laid out in that letter,” Ms. Bennett, his wife, said in an interview. “Leonard said, ‘This is the New York Public Library — why am I the only one who’s seeing this?’”

At the Tanenbaum event, Mr. Polonlsky’s son Marc celebrated his philanthropic outlook: “A common thread in his business life and his philanthropy was his faith in people. He would look hard to identify the right leader and then leave them to do their work without undue interference.”

The event also featured a video of Dr. Polonsky describing the values that led him to fund Tanenbaum’s work. “There are so many innocent errors,” he said, “and the only way to put an end to them is education…With a little extra thought you can make sure that this group and that group don’t feel as outsiders.”

At FJC we mourn Dr. Polonsky’s passing while we look ahead with optimism about working with his family to continue his philanthropic legacy.

Alliance Magazine, an international publication celebrating the impact of philanthropy globally, featured a story on FJC’s partnership with Tikkun Olam Foundation (TOF) to provide a philanthropic loan to The Ali Forney Center (AFC), a leading provider of services to LBGTQ+ youth experiencing the harms of homelessness.

Through its donor advised funds (DAF) accounts, FJC allows donors—including private foundations—to recommend loans on below-market terms to the nonprofits of their choosing.  In this case, TOF recommended a revolving line of credit to AFC of $1 million, which it capitalized with a grant to a DAF account at FJC.  FJC then managed the loan origination, legal documentation and loan servicing. 

AFC will use the loan as a source of affordable bridge financing to help offset payment delays from government contracts for committed funds and as an emergency reserve for extraordinary programmatic or operational needs.

From the article:

Sam Marks, CEO of FJC – A Foundation of Philanthropic Funds (FJC), added: ‘The timing of payments from government is more uncertain than ever, and philanthropy can play a key role as capital providers to help nonprofits manage through these challenging times.’

Alexander Roque, president and executive director of AFC, added: ‘The strategic reserve fund is crucial for AFC and will offer the opportunity to enhance and expand our capacity.

‘There is so often a lag between funding and disbursement. We can now allocate resources towards initiatives that further our mission, new programs, expanding international efforts, acquiring properties, or improving existing facilities.’

The loan is the first in a series of planned strategic investments from Tikkun Olam Foundation. Each year through 2028, TOF intends to provide similar strategic loan funds up to $500,000 to provide greater stability and planning capability to nonprofits nationwide.

“In our decade-long partnership with the Ali Forney Center, we have seen them grow their work in response to the increasing need to provide safety, care, and empowerment to trans and queer youth,” shared Tikkun Olam Foundation Executive Director Zev Lowe. “We are excited for our longtime partners at AFC and what this loan will mean for the communities they serve, and also about what this collaboration with AFC and FJC can teach us and the sector about innovative ways to deploy philanthropic resources.” 

Read the full article at Alliance Magazine’s web site.

High school students from around the world took the stage of the Metropolitan Opera this spring as part of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington High School Band Program. The 2025 EE Competition and Festival saw a record 30 bands invited to New York City to compete for top honors, participate in workshops, and learn from peers and mentors. 

Launched in 1995, Essentially Ellington is a free program for high school jazz bands that aims to elevate musicianship, broaden perspectives, and inspire performance. EE provides high school and college band directors with resources for the study and performance of big band music. Each year, high school musicians from across North America travel to New York City to spend three days immersed in workshops, jam sessions, rehearsals and performances at the “House of Swing,” Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Essentially Ellington celebrated its 30th anniversary year, and this meant more bands and a bigger audience, necessitating the move from its usual home (the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center) to the main stage of the Opera House.

This event was covered in a recent New York Times article, “A High School Festival Keeps Duke Ellington Very Much Alive” (May 13, 2025).

Among the longtime funders who made this possible were the former trustees of The Charles Evans Hughes Memorial Foundation, which in recent years closed down the foundation and opened DAF accounts at FJC to carry on the legacy of their family’s philanthropic work. 

“Our relationship with the family goes back many years,” explained Kevin Barnes, Assistant Director of Institutional Giving at Jazz at Lincoln Center.  “We first received funding from the The Charles Evans Hughes Memorial Foundation in 2001 with a grant for EE. The program would have been only six years old!” Barnes notes the continuity of support from the family, even as the foundation closed down and moved its assets to donor advised funds at FJC. 

Members of the family said: “Participation in EE is a life-defining event for these kids. They are wonderfully talented and their joy in jazz is exhilarating to see, hear and feel.  That is what jazz is all about, and we are glad to be able to support it and add joy into the world.”

The Long Island Opportunity Collaborative, a funder collaborative hosted by FJC, was featured in a Newsday article in their February 10 print edition. 

Funding for the program came from a coalition of donors, including leading financial institutions such as Apple Bank, BankUnited, Capital One, Citi, Dime Bank, JPMorganChase, M&T Bank, Nassau Financial FCU, New York Community Trust Long Island, and Santander Bank, N.A.

The 2025 grant program represents a significant investment by LIEOC in tackling economic disparities in the region. Each recipient will receive up to $300,000, along with capacity-building activities structured to support sustainable organizational growth: a planning phase in Year 1, implementation in Years 2 and 3, and an offboarding phase in Year 4.

The three recipients of the 2025 grant program are:

• Woman’s Opportunity Rehabilitation Center (WORC): Focused on workforce development, WORC empowers women transitioning from incarceration by providing job training, leadership opportunities, and re-entry support, enabling them to rebuild their lives and strengthen their communities.

• Minority Millennials: This organization bridges generational and opportunity gaps for millennial and Gen Z communities by connecting them with training, career pathways, and civic engagement opportunities to foster economic inclusion and leadership development.

• MusicBreeds: Leveraging the power of music, MusicBreeds delivers workforce readiness training, social-emotional learning, and financial literacy programs to prepare low and moderate income youth for living-wage careers and economic mobility.

From the article:

Dan Lloyd, founder and president of Minority Millennials, said the grant would further its Civic Works program “that is a direct extension of our mission: to develop the next generation of civic leaders while equipping them with the keys to access economic freedom.” He said that means engaging teens from 16 to 18 to older millennials up to age 38, to help them learn what they are naturally good at, what career areas they’d like to explore, and providing them with resources and mentors.

Diane Gaines, executive director of the Woman’s Opportunity Rehabilitation Center, said, “We’re going to be helping our clientele to receive additional employment services. We can pay for skills training [and] for proper attire— different things to get our clientele prepared for employment.”

Isaiah Grigg, founder and CEO of MusicBreeds, said, “We’re going to be using it to develop financial literacy programs, credit building and educational workshops. We serve in our workforce development capacity, [students]age 17 plus, all the way up to seniors, if necessary. In total we serve about 120 students. We’re looking to increase that. The grant will help there.”

Sam Marks, the CEO of FJC: A Foundation of Philanthropic Funds, the fiscal sponsor of the collaborative, said “We’re thrilled to be able to execute on the strategy of the funder collaborative and create a structure [where] these folks can come together and do their work.”

The full article can be found here.

A recent article in Chronicle of Philanthropy titled “Where Did The Funding Go?” provides a sobering assessment of the nonprofit sector, and highlights FJC’s recent loan to HERE Arts Center as a “creative solution.”

The article by Jim Rendon, published November 20, 2024, notes that organizations across the country are facing dire financial straits that have led to hiring freezes, program cuts, layoffs, and in some cases, closures.  He cites the challenges nonprofits have faced coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic, reduced financial support, and rising costs associated with the recent inflationary economy. 

Finding a bright spot in an otherwise bleak financial picture for nonprofits, the article cites a loan from a new DAF account at FJC, capitalized by donors Jennifer Suh Whitfield, HERE Arts Center’s Board Chair, and her husband Benjamin.

An excerpt is included below, and the full article can be found here.

The past few years have been challenging for HERE Arts Center in New York City. The organization, founded 30 years ago, runs a performance space, but audiences haven’t returned to pre-pandemic levels. The group had been running a deficit for years and was eating into its assets to continue operating. In June, the center’s founding director retired, and it brought on four co-directors.

Donors stepped up and provided additional, often unrestricted funding during the pandemic, but now that the emergency is over, many funders have moved on, says Lauren Miller, one of the center’s new co-directors. Some grant makers changed priorities and dollars have been scarce, she says. Like many new CEOs who have started in the past few years, Miller has found that some donors won’t support an organization in the first years after a leadership change.

“Just when we need new solutions and we need people to think differently and give differently, we’re seeing philanthropy retrench back to the pre-Covid status quo,” she says.

Miller and her co-directors have cut costs. Instead of large, costly productions, the organization is focusing on more one-person shows. It has just nine staff members, down from a peak of 20. The organization is trying to expand its base of donors. The center’s goal is to find a larger number of donors who make modest gifts, rather than depend on a handful of large donors who can give a lot, but who will have a big impact on the group’s finances if their giving changes. Miller wants to partner with other arts groups to seek funding together — many of them have similar missions and even work with the same artists, so why should they compete for money?

The center’s board chair came up with an innovative solution to help it address the financial shortfall. She created a donor-advised fund to give HERE Arts Center a loan. It was money that Miller says the chair was planning to give to charity, perhaps over several years. By structuring the support as a low-interest loan, the group got the money it needed up front. The center is paying back only interest on the loan to start, so the payments are low now while the group needs to conserve funds. The money that the group pays on the loan goes back into the DAF so it can be used for other charitable purposes later.

“By creating these very favorable conditions that can move the money quickly to where we needed it, it protected the organization. It was a real lifesaver,” Miller says. “We could start the next fiscal year fresh without having to make dramatic cuts to our staff or to our programs.”

The DAF was created, and the loan is being serviced by FJC – A Foundation of Philanthropic Funds. The group works with donors to help nonprofits fill funding gaps that government, banks, and other donors and grant makers won’t. A commercial lender never would have made the loan to HERE Arts Center, says Sam Marks, FJC’s CEO.

“You really needed a lender that was looking at it not just from a perspective of credit risk, but from a perspective of really understanding the fundamental business and committed to the mission — a real friendly, mission-based lender,” says Marks.

This creative approach has made Miller optimistic that the center can thrive in the coming years — and also that philanthropy, at least in some places, is starting to become more agile and listen to the needs of nonprofits.

“Those of us who are doing things differently and who are trying to innovate and create more interconnection, partnering with our peers instead of competing with them, and bringing new programs in and widening the aperture of what’s possible for our service, we’re being forced to take calculated risks to survive the present circumstances,” she says. “I think we need philanthropy to be as entrepreneurial and risk taking and innovative if they want to see us succeed in those risks.”

Visit Chronicle of Philanthropy at https://www.philanthropy.com/

On the recommendation of donors Andrew Lachman and Ruth Messinger, FJC has provided $1 million to Hebrew Free Loan Society, which will help hundreds of New Yorkers refinance credit card debt, helping them regain financial stability.

The grant funds the Fresh Start Loan program, which provides New Yorkers of all backgrounds 0%-interest, no-fee loans to pay down expensive credit card debt.  Due in part to pressures from price inflation, the Federal Reserve reports that credit card debt is at an all-time high. For lower-income households, credit cards can carry a rate of interest as high as 36%.  This can present an insurmountable obstacle to repayment, and many New Yorkers often find themselves with high monthly payments that can drag down their efforts to regain financial stability.  

Borrowers under Fresh Start are able to consolidate and pay off these expensive loans with a new, 0% interest loan.  They can pay off these new loans over five years.  Monthly payments average $300. 

To find qualifying borrowers, HFLS receives referrals from the coaching teams at four leading financial counseling organizations: Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners, New York Legal Assistance Group, Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration, and the Community Service Society.  In this way, the loan and the financial coaching add up to more than the sum of their parts.  The program improves borrowers’ chances of success and their ability to work out money saving arrangements with their creditors.

Case in point, one program participant who gave her name as Amanda. “As a twenty-year-old living in New York City, I found myself drowning in student debt and credit card bills that only grew worse over time as the interest compounded,” says Amanda.  “Before learning about HFLS, I had been considering filing for bankruptcy. Thanks to this $20,000 interest-free loan from the Hebrew Free Loan Society, I was finally able to manage my debt and gain the financial stability needed to stay in nursing school and save for my future.” 

The revolving nature of this grant was another compelling aspect for the donors.  When borrowers pay off their Fresh Start loans, funds are recycled immediately into new loans, multiplying the impact of the original gift for decades. Mr. Lachman and Ms. Messinger intend to contribute additional funds from their DAF account over the next several years, with the goal of increasing her commitment to $3.5 million.  According to David Rosenn, President and CEO of HFLS, this level of commitment would enable the program to originate $2 million in new loans each year indefinitely, assuming continued strong repayment performance.

“Performance on the loans is excellent, and we have had no defaults in the program,” says Rosenn.

“The Hebrew Free Loan Society represents a Jewish community that serves all in need,” says Ms. Messinger. “David is a longtime friend and colleague, who has brought creativity to the organization.”  Mr. Lachman added, “We’re always looking for targeted ways that our philanthropy can help New Yorkers in need. Helping people escape the credit card debt trap seems like something very specific that we could do.”

Another borrower, Mukarramhon, faced significant financial challenges when she needed to cover her mother’s medical expenses and her daughter’s college tuition. “As an immigrant originally from Uzbekistan and a financial counselor,” she said, “I am grateful to have benefited from this program and am always on the lookout for clients who need similar help. The support from HFLS not only helped me clear my debt but also provided peace of mind and allowed me to focus on my future. I’m now saving money, working on closing out my credit cards, and even starting a new business in tourism—a project I’m passionate about.”

Like so many nonprofit organizations, HERE Arts Center encountered a cash crunch this year, and also like so many nonprofits, its borrowing options were limited.  The organization had assets, including a recently renovated building serving as its theater, community space, and headquarters, but the building was already mortgaged by a bank.  They needed a lender that approached the relationship with mutual trust, support, and collaboration, rather than simply credit risk and collateral.

They found just that kind of lender with FJC and HERE Arts Center Board Chair Jennifer Suh Whitfield. She and her husband Benjamin quickly opened a Donor Advised Fund (DAF) account at FJC and contributed appreciated stock that, when liquidated, capitalized a $200,000 loan to the organization.  FJC closed in the loan within two days of opening the account.

“Through our DAF account, FJC provided a loan to HERE quickly, and at a lower interest rate than what was otherwise available from FJC or other lenders,” explains Ms. Whitfield. “We have long been supporters of this organization, and this is just another tool we can use to help the organization smooth out its business operations.”

Founded in 1993, HERE was envisioned as a welcoming, safe environment that could attract and launch a variety of artists. Since its inception, HERE has been home to such acclaimed artists and works as Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues, Taylor Mac’s The Lily’s Revenge, and Basil Twist’s Symphonie Fantastique. HERE has produced and presented over 1,200 original works, served over 15,000 artists, and welcomed over one million audience members. HERE’s work and artists have received 16 OBIE Awards, 2 Pulitzer Prizes, 6 Drama Desk nominations, 2 MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowships and most recently, 7 Tony nominations.

“We are thrilled to receive this support from Jennifer, Benjamin, and FJC,” the co-directors of HERE Arts Center—Annalisa Dias, Jesse Cameron Alick, Lanxing Fu, and Lauren Miller—said in a statement. “The loan came at a crucial time of transition for HERE, and has been a key part of setting our new leadership team up for success as we steward this season of extraordinary art and build towards a thriving future for the organization.”

On October 14, FJC account holder Jeff Bekos road his bicycle to the Philadelphia chapter of the Ronald McDonald House, capping a 4,000 mile bike ride that generated philanthropic support along the way for local chapters of the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC).  The effort raised over $600,000 in sponsorships and individual donations, including a portion that was processed through an FJC collective giving account.

Jeff’s relationship with RMHC began in 2013, when his daughter Hailey was being treated at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for Anti-NMDA encephalitis, a rare disease that affects 1 in 1.5 million people worldwide. Jeff’s family spent 254 nights at the Philadelphia chapter, in keeping with the organization’s mission to provide a haven for families with children in the hospital. 

“They provide all of the comforts of home,” said Jeff. “It becomes your home away from home and so anything and everything that you need, they’re there to help and support you in any way that they can.”

To demonstrate his gratitude and ensure that other families receive the same support as he did, Jeff planned this cross-country bike ride, which he called One Dad’s Mission, during which he visited 26 local RMHC chapters across the country, raising money along the way. Jeff’s daughter Hailey, now 24 and fully recovered from her illness, joined her father for the kick-off and welcomed her dad in Philadelphia at the end of the ride as well.

“The kindness that we saw across the country was amazing,” Jeff said.

See local Philadelphia press coverage of Jeff’s ride at WABC and WCBS.

Brick Underground, an independent digital media publication covering New York City real estate, featured an article about a philanthropic donation from an FJC donor to the Center for New York City Neighborhoods. 

The article, Housing Nonprofit Secures $1 Million to Extend Foreclosure Prevention Program, describes the impact of a $1 million grant, made anonymously, which will fund 0% interest loans to low-income homeowners pay off arrears and avoid foreclosure.

CNYCN provides loans of up to $50,000 to pay off an owner’s arrears, which is repaid when they sell the property, refinance, or die, said Scott Kohanowski, general counsel for CNYCN. The program, which is only open to New Yorkers over the age of 62 or those with disabilities, has helped 128 households through $3.5 million in loans to date, Kohanowski added.

“The idea is to prevent the loss of a home when homeowners have no other source of potential funds,” Kohanowski said. “It’s money that we’re able to recapture and recycle when the need is no longer there, and we pass that same source of funding onto the next person in need.”

Read the full article here.

Read more about how this grant came about on FJC’s web site.