San Diego, CA (special) -- Don't quote that old saw about the "devil being in the details" to Marjory Kaplan, executive director of the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego.  She'll promptly tell you it's quite the reverse; it's all a matter of "God being in the details."  And to illustrate her concept, Kaplan can point to the phenomenal growth in local Jewish philanthropy over the last decade. 

I shouldn't have been surprised when I arrived for a 9 a.m. appointment on Tuesday, Aug. 28, that waiting for me along with Kaplan at the Foundation offices were public relations consultant Bernie Rhinerson, a copy of the Foundation's most recent annual report and a helpful fact sheet.  

Kaplan explained to me later that she translates her philosophy of "God being in the details" into such actions as "how well prepared you are; that the letter looks beautiful and well-spoken; whether the meeting is prepared; whether you are ready to welcome the donor in - all those details."

In 1990, four years before Kaplan became its executive director, what was then the Community Foundation of the United Jewish Federation had attracted assets of $14 million. In 2000, with the Jewish Community Foundation recently incorporated as a separate entity, assets had grown to $138 million-a 900 percent increase.  During the same period, Jewish philanthropy was increasing nationally by 300 percent, from $2 billion to $8 billion.

A study of Jewish community foundations throughout the country found that San Diego's had been "the fastest-growing foundation three out of the last four years, and we were a close second that off-year," Kaplan said proudly.   

Helping to fuel the local growth were the fortunes amassed by Jewish San Diegans who believed in the prospects of Sol Price, back in the days when he was starting such companies as Fedmart and Price Club, and those who invested with Irwin Jacobs and Andrew Viterbi, when they were founding Qualcomm, Kaplan said.

There were many positive factors, she said.  "A great stock market, a tremendous community, lots of growth in the Jewish community, where there were more and more needs."

You can even chalk up some of the growth to what's fashionable:  "I think that we are paralleling a national trend, that giving is 'in,'" Kaplan said.  "The BMW of the 90's is the charitable fund of this year.  A private foundation has become a status symbol."

But there is no discounting the importance of the personal element in persuading potential donors not only to set up charitable funds but also to entrust the Jewish Community Foundation with administering them.

"It's all about how you treat people," Kaplan told HERITAGE.  "If you say you will call them back, you do.  What is that saying? 'There is not a lot of travel in the 'extra mile.'  I think it is true."

Kaplan said she considers it a "calling" to help implement the Foundation's mission statement, "To be the center of Jewish philanthropy in San Diego by promoting charitable planning and giving that benefits the Jewish and general communities, by helping donors achieve their philanthropic goals, and by increasing endowments to support a vibrant Jewish community in San Diego and throughout the world."

Running such a program "is almost a sacred trust-my gosh, I can help this community go to the next level," Kaplan said.

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Born Marjory Joshel to a father of Russian Jewish background and a mother of German Catholic ancestry, Kaplan's first taste of religious life was attending a Presbyterian church in a blue-collar neighborhood of Chicago.  But then, her mother found a liberal priest who was willing to accept the family, even though she had married a Jew outside of the church, "and I was baptized at the age of 7," Kaplan said.  "I remember my little brother throwing holy water back at the priest."

Her father had difficulty with the idea of raising his children as Catholics but "out of love of my mother and her love of her religion, he went along with it," Kaplan said.  When he took his children to register at the local Catholic school, it was overcrowded with 60 children per classroom.  He decided to send them to public school instead.  

Kaplan confided that she did not really understand what being "Jewish" meant through much of her childhood. If she associated it with anything, it was with "crying" because her father-who had been stationed in London during World War II-had learned about the Holocaust and would accumulate all the material he could get his hands on about the genocide of the Jews.  Reading the material, "he would sit and just cry," she remembered.

She said she was scheduled to receive an award during the eighth grade from the Daughters of the American Revolution for her scholarship.  One day, a teacher whom she considered a mentor came to her, very upset, to tell her that the D.A.R. had learned that Marjory's father was Jewish and had withdrawn the award from her, just a day or two before the ceremony.  The mentor, who herself was married to a Jew, was very emotional about the unfairness of it all.

In high school, Kaplan became very involved in journalism-and an important influence on her life was a teacher who was Jewish.  "But I didn't connect (to Judaism) until I got married in Denver to Sandy Kaplan (from whom she is now divorced)," she said.  After moving to San Diego, they joined Congregation Beth Am, where she worked the auctions and even served as head of the membership committee.  Not planning to have children, she had felt no necessity to convert before her wedding.  After finding a spiritual home at Beth Am, she studied, was examined by a Beth Din headed by Rabbi Wayne Dosick, and completed the conversion process in the mikvah at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles.

Her career meanwhile also took her into unexpected waters. After teaching rhetoric at the University of Wisconsin, she went into the banking business as a human resources officer at the Bank of America's corporate headquarters in San Francisco.  From there she went to First Interstate Bank headquarters in Denver, where she served as vice president for human relations, but later transferred to the vice presidency of the bonds department.  There she did a lot of investing for foundations, as well as considerable work on the "fixed-income investing side of the portfolio."

After moving to San Diego, she worked for a while as a private banker, and then decided to devote more and more time to various volunteer projects, including those at Congregation Beth Am.  Along the way, she decided to enroll in classes about charitable foundations, and wound up taking a job as development director for Scripps Foundation.   After three years, she decided to go into consulting work - with the Jewish Community Foundation, then directed by Dan Weinberg, as one of her clients.  When Weinberg made arrangements to leave that position, he urged Kaplan to apply.   

Instead, she wrote the questions for the United Jewish Federation to ask applicants.  The position was offered to one gentleman from Buffalo, whose ideas Kaplan said were very exciting.  When he turned the position down, she decided perhaps to follow Weinberg's advice and apply herself.  She had one great advantage, she laughed.  She already knew what questions she would be asked.

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When Kaplan took the reins in 1994, the foundation was managing approximately 150 charitable funds.  Today there are approximately 300 charitable funds at the Jewish Community Foundation, and "100 families with some kind of relationship with us."  There are group funds that the Jewish Community Foundation also helps to manage --  a favorite of Kaplan's being the Community Youth Foundation.   This fund is directed by Jewish children, each of whom makes a minimum contribution of $36-"double chai."  The youthful directors visit non-profit agencies around town, interview their personnel about their needs, then come back and recommend which charities to support.  A guideline is that like the Jewish Community Foundation, it will direct money both to Jewish and non-Jewish organizations alike.

Kaplan said while the amount of grants made by the Community Youth Foundation is only between $4,000 and $5,000, fundraisers for charitable organizations take the questions of the youth representatives very seriously.  They recognize that the youngsters are just beginning what may become a lifetime of philanthropy.

Rhinerson mentioned that his daughter, Dana, was among the youngsters who recently participated in fact-finding for the Community Youth Foundation.  "There were about 20 kids and they went in teams of three and four to visit charities," he said.  "My daughter went to Headstart and interviewed them about what their needs are."

Donors with whom the Jewish Community Foundation interacts generally fall within two broad categories, those who have set up current giving programs, and those who want to leave their money for charitable causes after their deaths.

In a typical scenario, a "current giver" will sign over stock to the Foundation, which in turn will sell it without having to pay capital gains.  The proceeds from the sale then are placed in a charitable fund administered by the Foundation.  Donor families have the right to suggest which charities should be the ultimate recipient of the funds.

Back in 1990, when the assets were $14 million, the Community Foundation was able to donate $1 million to various charities, Kaplan said.

By comparison, in the Fiscal Year ended July 31, 2000, the Jewish  Community Foundation distributed $29 million in grants, which were divided nearly equally between organizations in the Jewish community and outside of it.

Grants increased to approximately $43 million in the fiscal year just completed, but for which the accounting still is being finalized, Kaplan said.

Borrowing an idea that has been successful in 38 other Jewish communities, San Diego's Jewish Community Foundation plans to institute a "Book of Life" program, shortly after it and the United Jewish Federation move their offices later this year from 4797 Mercury Street  a few miles east to 4950 Murphy Canyon Road.

"What it is, is when you make a promise to leave something for the Jewish community - we don't ask how much or for what - but when you make a promise, you get to sign a community 'Book of Life'" Kaplan explained.  "It is going to be a volume and you get a whole page and you get to write why you are doing this for the community and what it means to you.  And then you get a framed replica of that page."

Kaplan said a counterpart in another city told her the program is so popular among donors that "she doesn't visit a home without seeing it hanging on the wall.  I think it will be really important here.  We already have 100 names of people we know, and there may be hundreds more out there.  It can be a tremendous catalyst."

So excited is the United Jewish Federation about the project that it plans to house the Book of Life in the front lobby of the new building, which will be dedicated  Oct. 30.

Although the two organizations cooperate in many spheres, both the United Jewish Federation and the Jewish Community Foundation find it advantageous to keep their identities separate.  Kaplan explained that as the Jewish Community Foundation is a conduit to many charities, not just to the United Jewish Federation, it is important that donors understand a contribution to the Jewish Community Foundation is not the same as to the United Jewish Federation.

Also, she said, donors who entrust money to the Jewish Community Foundation need to know that all information is kept confidential, with no one except the Community Foundation staff - not even the United Jewish Federation - having access to such information.

More and more, the Jewish Community Foundation has been providing technical support to synagogues and Jewish agencies. Kaplan gave the example of a rabbi at a certain synagogue who called up to say that a congregant wanted to donate a paid-up insurance policy.  The rabbi wanted to know whether the synagogue should take it, what it should do with it, should it be cashed out, how much was it worth?  

"We can do the technical backup for the Jewish community and I think that is really important," Kaplan said.