I am honored to be serving as President of the JFS Board of Directors, which gives me a unique opportunity to understand and appreciate how JFS changes the lives of so many in our community. The opportunity to be of service to JFS allows me to express my deeply held value that we should always take care of “family.”
In the course of my professional work, I have many opportunities to observe and admire the positive legacies that individuals create for their communities. In the course of our own planning for the future, my husband and I have provided for organizations that do work we value and that we want to continue supporting after we are gone.
The notion of leaving behind support for an organization is not new. Most of our country’s major institutions have been supported for years by the generosity of people who have left gifts—both big and small—to those institutions. An individual does not have to be Andrew Carnegie, whose generosity built public libraries all over America, in order to leave a gift that will help sustain your values beyond your own lifetime.
More and more people are beginning to think in terms of their own legacy to the community—not just to their immediate family—when preparing their wills. Like me, they want to leave a message of support for those organizations they valued and supported during their life. Creating a meaningful personal legacy of any amount helps provide financial security for an organization, and it feels absolutely terrific to know that you have done so.
Just as my life’s work includes JFS, my life’s legacy will include JFS. Do not forgo the opportunity to leave your very own legacy. Whatever organizations you choose, your legacy will help to make the world a better place and remind those you leave behind of who you really were.
By Gail Mautner
Gail has served as a member of the JFS Board of Directors since 2005 and is currently its President. She is also the Immediate Past President of Temple De Hirsch Sinai and a partner in the Seattle office of the Lane Powell PC law firm.
Feature image by Kevin Dooley.
