Jennifer Tuvlin
Jennifer Tuvlin began working for The J as the PJ Library director in 2013, and grew the program from 240 participants to 350. Along the way, she also took on Shalom Baby, The J’s program for infants and their mothers, and responsibility for welcoming newcomers.
Now, Tuvlin is ready to undertake a new challenge. She has been named the coordinator of the Jewish Federation of Louisville’s LIFE & LEGACY program and is looking forward to helping the Federation, The J and Louisville’s Jewish agencies and congregations secure new legacy gifts that will ensure a stable future for the entire Jewish community.
LIFE & LEGACY is a program of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation. It is a four-year partnership program that assists communities to promote after-lifetime giving to benefit a wide range of Jewish organizations. It encourages local Jewish organizations to work together to build endowments that will sustain them in the future.
The HGF will match 33 percent of each community’s LIFE & LEGACY budget for four years up to a maximum of $100,000 a year. The Federation has also received a grant from the Jewish Heritage Fund for Excellence to cover the expenses of the program.
The program provides structure, training, mentoring and monetary incentives to ensure the community’s success in integrating legacy giving into its philanthropic culture. It is a community-building enterprise that emphasizes collaboration and works to create a united, strong Jewish community for future generations.
“My position will be to work with every agency that signs on through the Louisville effort,” Tuvlin explained, “assisting them with their administration and the formation of committees to find these legacy gifts.”
Louisville is in the fifth cohort of communities the Grinspoon Foundation has recruited. That means the program already has a track record of success. “Most other communities that have engaged in legacy donations through the LIFE & LEGACY program have far exceeded any requirements the Grinspoon Foundation had established to be member of program,” Tuvlin said. “And it hasn’t just been in big cities. It’s been in smaller and mid-size cities as well, and they’ve had equal success.”
“It’s a fantastic opportunity for our community to work together to ensure the future of Jewish Louisville,” Tuvlin continued. “There are simply too few Jewish people in this city for us to be competing for dollars. Life & Legacy promotes different agencies working together to get commitments for the future.” The cities that have had the most success are the ones where the Jewish agencies and organizations have worked together.
Over the years, the Harold Grinspoon Foundation has been a tremendous philanthropic partner for Jewish communities across North America, including Louisville. The HGF started PJ Library, the program that sends high quality Jewish books and CDs to young Jewish children every month, encouraging families to engage in Jewish discussions and participate in Jewish activities.
It is also responsible for the JCamp 180 program which has provided professional support to the J Summer Camp program here in Louisville, enabling this wonderful program to do strategic planning, improve financial planning and fundraising, use technology effectively and to engage in leadership development.
In her role as PJ Library director, Tuvlin saw the original program, which, once a month, sends high quality Jewish books and CDs to children from birth to age 6, expand to PJ Plus, which extended the program to 7 and 8 year olds, and later through PJ Our Way to offer options to 9 and 10 year olds and through PJ Grandparents, to send book to seniors so they could read with their grandchildren.
During her tenure, she also developed special programs to complement the program. Among these efforts, she oversaw the Rick Recht concert and instituted the successful fall Tea and Fashion Show program.
Tuvlin grew up in Louisville and has been a leader both as a young adult and as a teen. In 2009 and 2010, she co-chaired the Young Adult Division of the Federation Campaign and in 2009, received the Lewis W. Cole Memorial Young Leadership Award for all her hard work.
She chaired the Campaign’s Pomegranate division in 2011, co-chaired the Women’s Division event with Rachel Shoretz in 2012 and is a member of the Women’s Philanthropy Cabinet.
She serves as secretary of the board of the Jewish Heritage Fund for Excellence and is a member of the JCC, Congregation Adath Jeshurun, The Temple and National Council of Jewish Women. In the community, she is a member of the PTSAs at Dunn Elementary School. Meyzeek Middle School and DuPont Manual High School. She has also held many positions, including serving on the Site Based Decision Making Council at Dunn and as High School University liaison at Manual.
In the past, Tuvlin was a member of the JCC’s Board and chaired its Early Childhood Department. She was also on the Keneseth Israel Preschool Board and helped with the formation of the merged Sunday School program for Adath Jeshurun, Keneseth Israel and Temple Shalom that today is part of Beit Sefer Yachad.
Although she was born in New York, Jennifer Tuvlin moved to Louisville with her family in 1980. She was very active in BBYO and won the Ellen Faye Garmon Award while she was in high school.
She did her undergraduate work at the University of Michigan and attended law school at Emory University. Before returning to Louisville, she worked as an attorney for eight years, concentrating in reinsurance and coverage law.
She and her husband, Jeff, a gastroenterologist, came home to Louisville in 2004. They have three children, Andrew, 16; Ethan, 13; and Jared, 10.
“I was ready to for new challenge,” Tuvlin said, “so I’m excited to continue working with Jewish Community of Louisville but with a different focus. I care about the Louisville Jewish community greatly – not just for my family, but for everyone else – and about having a successful Jewish community. I think that a legacy gift is great way to ensure that many of our programs can continue and that we will be able to develop new ones for what people want today as Jews.”