Atlanta Jewish Foundation Impact Story
September 8, 2026
For Temple Emanu-El of Atlanta, building a strong financial future has always been about more than dollars. It is about ensuring that the synagogue can continue to be a spiritual home, and a place of Jewish connection and community for generations to come.
That vision recently reached a major milestone: Temple Emanu-El surpassed its $2 million endowment goal, unlocking an additional $250,000 commitment from an anonymous donor and bringing their endowment to $2.25 million.
“It’s a great sense of accomplishment,” says Emily Sanders, co-chair of Temple Emanu-El’s Endowment Growth Committee. “It gives me a sense of purpose and meaning to help the organization that has been such a part of my life and my family’s life to live on into the future. It’s like building a legacy.”
A Renaissance of Interest
Temple Emanu-El didn’t achieve this ambitious goal overnight. Their endowment began roughly 20 years ago with a small committee and a major donor. But after its initial funding, the effort remained largely dormant for about 15 years.
About five years ago, that changed.
As the congregation reached a strong financial position, leaders saw an opportunity to think beyond the synagogue’s immediate needs, and create a source of sustainable revenue for the future. Emily and fellow Endowment Growth Committee co-chair Elliot Siegel embraced the challenge.
“We think it’s extremely important to develop an alternative passive revenue source for the synagogue to ensure that the funding stays at a very high level.”
In less than 5 years, the fund grew over 300%, thanks in part to the Endowment Growth Committee’s strategic timing: “We really rode the market momentum up,” Elliot shares “we made a savvy entry into the marketplace that compounded the individual contributions, and we rode those investments on the way up. It turbocharged the growth.”
Temple Emanu-El’s endowment fund is designed to maintain its principal while providing annual income to supplement synagogue operations and support special projects. At $2 million, the fund is expected to generate approximately $100,000 annually as it grows – providing resources that can help sustain the congregation and its programs over time.
Building an Endowment Takes a Village
Reaching $2 million was not accomplished with a single transformative gift. It took educations, persistence, and the participation of many congregants.
Temple Emanu-El leaders found that one of their biggest challenges was explaining what an endowment actually is and why it matters. They held educational meetings, produced visual materials and met personally with potential donors. Emily and Elliot also focused their outreach on congregants who had a strong connection to the synagogue and its future.
And the response went beyond expectations. “There were folks that stepped up to participate that we didn’t necessarily expect to participate, or participate at the level in which they did,” Elliot says.
An anonymous donor provided another powerful incentive: a $250,000 gift once the congregation reached the $2 million threshold. That commitment helped motivate donors and gave the campaign a tangible finish line.
For Senior Rabbi Spike Anderson, the achievement is especially meaningful because of how it was accomplished. “It’s one thing if you have a very generous, super wealthy family that just writes a check for two million dollars. We don’t have that,” Spike says. “This is your neighborhood shul. It is not a fancy place. And a number of congregants have dug deep and, in doing so, have helped provide for literally the future of this synagogue and this Jewish community.”
Focusing on the Mission
An endowment does something that an annual campaign or special appeal cannot: it creates an evergreen source of support – designed to endure.
For Temple Emanu-El, that means less time worrying about how to meet future financial needs, and more time focused on the synagogue’s mission.
“A sizable percentage of our time, meaning our lay leaders’ time, our staff’s time, our rabbis’ time, go towards figuring out how are we going to pay the bills,” Spike says. “With the growth of an endowment, that conversation becomes less and less frequent, meaning that we can put our time and our energy into what I consider to be more mission-critical things: Judaism, the Jewish community, Jewish connection.”
A Partnership Built for the Long Term
The Atlanta Jewish Foundation has been a partner throughout Temple Emanu-El’s endowment journey, providing investment management, reporting, resources and ongoing guidance. Temple leaders value not only the Foundation’s financial expertise, but also its knowledge of the broader Jewish community.
“We feel like they’re a trustworthy partner in understanding really where Temple Emanu-El and where our endowment fits in the Greater Atlanta community,” Elliot says.
Emily adds: “Their values are closely aligned with ours. We could have gone somewhere else, like a national investment firm, but we chose the Atlanta Jewish Foundation because, you know, they’re our hometown people and really know us very well.”
Temple Emanu-El is one example of how the Atlanta Jewish Foundation partners with Jewish organizations across Atlanta – including synagogues, schools, summer camps and other nonprofits – to help build endowments, invest and manage custodial funds, and create long-term financial stability.
For Temple Emanu-El, $2 million is a milestone, not an endpoint. The congregation plans to establish a new goal and continue growing the fund. “We’re not stopping at $2 million,” Elliot says. “From where we started, to where we are now, to where we’re going in the future – we’re just really getting started with it.”
And that is ultimately what an endowment is about: not simply meeting today’s needs, but making sure the institutions we value have the resources to thrive tomorrow – and for generations to come.
“The mantra of this place for the last couple years has been ‘Am Yisrael Chai’. The nation of Israel lives,” Rabbi Spike says. “With the partnership with the Atlanta Jewish Foundation and the largess from congregants, our future is looking more and more secure, and that is a weight off everybody’s shoulders. The work is not done, but we are off to a really, really good start.”
Click here to learn more about how the Atlanta Jewish Foundation partners with Jewish organizations.
