‘Work We Believe In’
After seeing JDC's work firsthand serving and rebuilding Jewish communities around the world, Hilde and Colin Alter decided to include the Joint in their will.
For Hilde and Colin Alter, it all started with a 2005 cruise from Athens to Vienna and a hunger to see what Jewish life looked like in the cities they visited along the way.
"We knew about the Joint, but we believed, like most everyone else in our generation, that it went away after World War II," Hilde says. "But then every place we stopped, we visited a Jewish site, and every single synagogue or JCC we visited, there were large signs that said 'funded by the Joint.' We came back and made a contribution to JDC."
The Alters were so taken with the work of The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (the Joint, or JDC) that they changed their family's model for charitable giving, consolidating what had been small gifts to a wide range of organizations to a more meaningful contribution to JDC and a few key other institutions. They also included a gift in their will to JDC.
"This is an organization that's doing work we believe in," Colin says. "My wife and I don't like to call ourselves 'philanthropists' because that suggests we have tons of money. We have reprioritized our international giving because, with JDC, we have seen what the money accomplishes."
Work in Action
Since getting connected to JDC, the Alters, who are based in suburban Maryland, have traveled around the world to see the work in action—experiencing everything from a Shabbat service in Mumbai to visiting elderly Jews in Odessa to a job training program for at-risk youth in Jerusalem.
"When we travel, we get to meet people involved with JDC all over the world, and we can see that they use their budget well, they use it in a smart way and they use it humanly," Hilde says.
The Alters have made JDC a family affair, inspiring one of their seven children to begin donating to JDC, too. They encourage others to use their charitable giving to make a bigger impact at a single organization—like the deep connection they've found with JDC.
"Our eyes have been opened to the fact that JDC is not just meeting the needs of the elderly but every generation," Colin says. "This is a little bit of money that does a hell of a lot of good for a lot of people."
Like the Alters, you can make a bigger impact on Jewish people around the world. Contact David Golaner at 212.885.0825 or davidgo@jdc.org to learn more today.