Signer Spotlight:

Bernie and Joan White

Share your unique approach to endowment-based giving

As the well-worn saying goes, “actions speak louder than words.” We wanted our giving legacy to be actionable. For this reason, our three children participate on the committee for the endowment we established through the Dallas Jewish Community Foundation.

The “Joan and Bernard White Jewish Future Fund” endowment provides scholarships for Jewish summer camps, gap-year study in Israel, Jewish Day Schools, March of the Living, and other organizations that create a vibrant Jewish life for young people. Since our children serve as three members of the endowment committee,  they gain operational experience focused on actuating philanthropy specifically for Jewish purposes.

Since our family is not eligible for these endowment scholarships, this adds dimensionality and practice to the Jewish Future Pledge. It is a dual legacy – we established the endowment to outline and ensure our charitable giving is directed Jewishly; our family’s legacy will be to allocate and pass down our traditions and values through the organizations the endowment supports.

Why do you love the Jewish Future Pledge?

The Jewish Future Pledge creates a vector for charitable giving toward your priorities for the rest of your life. It’s because of that approach that we signed on, told our kids, they told their kids, and now all 21 of us are Jewish Future Pledgers.

No one has their hands out with the Pledge; it is a commitment to direct charitable giving to Jewish causes, promoting the discussions that cement Jewish identity in young adults. That is why we find the Pledge to be so critical.v

How else have you passed down your Jewish values?

We teach by doing, demonstrating, and actualizing our beliefs. We translate intent into actions to which people can respond.

About

Bernie and Joan White reside in Dallas, Texas. Growing up, they were both active in their respective shuls and Young Judaea, and were married as university undergraduates in Mount Vernon, New York. They recently celebrated their 54th anniversary in Israel, joined by their three children, their spouses, and all 13 grandchildren ages 14-21. In the coming years, two of these grandchildren will draft into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as “lone soldiers”.

Bernie and Joan are active members of the Dallas Jewish community and are grateful to live in an invigorating environment where they participate in a fulfilling life of family, Yiddishkeit, and the broader secular community.