Confidential  ·  Dr. David M. Milch Foundation  ·  June 2026
LEDI Benefactor Intelligence Platform
Jewish philanthropy
is changing.
LEDI is ready.
A complete fundraising intelligence platform — grounded in LEDI's verified impact data, the latest research on Jewish giving, and the most urgent moment in Holocaust education in a generation.
29,600+
Students Reached
96.6%
Report Better Understanding of Prejudice
#20
US School District — Official Curriculum
$7.2M
Year 5 Fundraising Target
Lives Eliminated  ·  Dreams Illuminated  ·  Insight, Compassion, Learning Through the Heart of Art
LEDI Center  ·  Jersey City, NJ  ·  Jacksonville, FL  ·  Portable LEDI Worldwide
LEDI Benefactor Intelligence Platform v4 · Grounded in LEDI's verified impact data · Confidential — Dr. David M. Milch Foundation · June 2026   
Benefactor Intelligence Platform · June 2026 · Confidential

LEDI can raise $7 million
by Year 5 — here's the map.

This platform models LEDI's fundraising opportunity across six donor segments, 14 named benefactor targets, 6 grant programs, and a 5-year growth trajectory — grounded in LEDI's own verified impact data. It prescribes exactly who to call, what to say, and how much to ask for.
Year 1 target
$1.2M
Conservative baseline
Year 3 target
$3.8M
2 locations + portable tours
Year 5 target
$7.2M
National & international footprint
Students reached (Y5)
80,000+
Annual — vs 29,600 today
Verified Impact Data · LEDI Impact Report

29,600 students.
The proof is already there.

LEDI is not a promising idea. It is a proven institution — the official Holocaust curriculum of the 20th largest school district in the United States — with documented outcomes that win grants, move major donors, and close corporate sponsorships.
Total students reached
29,600+
Across all programs
Understand prejudice better
96.6%
Post-visit student survey
Official curriculum
130K
Duval County · 20th largest US district
More open to opinions
92.4%
Post-visit student survey
29,600+
Total students across all programs
21,000+
Students in Jacksonville, FL
20
Schools · 7 grade levels
80+
Field trip teaching hours
#20
US school district — official curriculum
What Students Say — Verified Survey Data
The outcomes no other Holocaust museum can claim
Post-visit survey results from LEDI's 29,600+ students — the numbers that win grants, move major donors, and close corporate sponsorships.
"I understand more about prejudice & oppression"
96.6%
96.6%
"I recognize how art builds empathy between people"
95.2%
95.2%
"I feel more open to listening to different opinions"
92.4%
92.4%
"I learned more about the Holocaust here than anywhere before"
86.2%
86.2%
"I feel more confident being an upstander in my community"
78.6%
78.6%
Post-visit student survey · LEDI Center Impact Report · 29,600+ respondents
Year 1 Revenue Blueprint
$1.2M — where it comes from
Claims Conference grant
$400,000
Jewish family foundations (3–4)
$300,000
State arts / humanities grants
$125,000
Donor-advised funds (JCF/UJA)
$125,000
Corporate sponsorship (2)
$100,000
Events / earned revenue
$100,000
DHS Security grant
$50,000
The Philanthropic Context · June 2026

Jewish philanthropy is
being reinvented right now.

The world of Jewish giving is undergoing its most significant transformation in a generation. A $124 trillion wealth transfer, the digital revolution in giving, and the post–October 7 awakening are reshaping who gives, how they give, and what they demand in return. LEDI is built for this exact moment.
Wealth transferring to next gen by 2048
$124T
Glenmede, 2025
Projected to go to charity
$18T
Of the Great Wealth Transfer
DAF assets held nationally
$121B
Growing 12%+ annually
Post–Oct 7 philanthropy
Surge
Unprecedented awakening in Jewish giving
Force 1 — The Great Wealth Transfer
$124 trillion is moving between generations. Organizations that speak to the next generation will capture it. Those that can't, won't.
By 2048, an estimated $124 trillion will transfer from the Silent Generation and Baby Boomers to Gen X, Millennials, and their heirs. An estimated $18 trillion is projected to flow to charity — the largest philanthropic opportunity in human history. Jewish communal organizations built on Silent Generation donors face an existential question: can they speak to Gen X and Millennial inheritors?
The Old Donor Model
Writes checks at galas. Responds to identity-based appeals. Motivated by Holocaust as personal family history. Does not require ROI documentation. Gives out of obligation and community belonging.
The New Donor — Gen X & Millennial
Opens a donor-advised fund. Demands measurable outcomes. Approaches philanthropy with the rigor of investing. Motivated by values alignment and legacy, not obligation. This donor needs LEDI's 96.6%.
The strategic implication for LEDI: LEDI is uniquely positioned for this transition. Its emotional model (portraits, survivor testimony) speaks to the old donor. Its outcome data (96.6%, 29,600+ students, official school district adoption) speaks to the new one. Most Holocaust organizations can do only one of these. LEDI does both.
Source: eJewishPhilanthropy "The More Things Change," April 2026 · Glenmede "Great Generational Wealth Transfer," 2025
Force 2 — The Digital Revolution in Jewish Giving
Philanthropy-Tech is changing how, when, and why donors give. LEDI must be on every platform where Jewish money moves.
Donor-advised funds now hold $121.42 billion nationally and are growing at 12%+ annually. The Jewish community has been a leader in DAF adoption — JCF, UJA-Federation, and Jewish federations across the country are among the largest DAF sponsors in the US. Crowdfunding, digital platforms, and AI-powered donor matching are reshaping the landscape.
$121B
Total DAF assets nationally — LEDI must be a recommended grantee at every major Jewish DAF sponsor
12.1%
Annual growth in DAF grant-making — fastest-growing philanthropic vehicle in the US
75%
Of Millennial/Gen Z investors say they cannot achieve returns on traditional stocks alone — diversifying into impact
84.5%
Of large nonprofit revenue comes from major gifts — LEDI must pursue major donors, not just breadth
LEDI's digital giving action plan: (1) Register with every major Jewish DAF sponsor as a recommended grantee — JCF, UJA-Federation, Jewish Community Foundation of Greater NJ, Atlanta Jewish Foundation. (2) List on Fidelity Charitable and DAFgiving360. (3) Accept crypto donations via The Giving Block — average crypto gift is larger than any other method. (4) Build a digital micro-campaign for the 23 Portraits — each portrait is a DAF-ready named giving opportunity.
Source: Giving USA 2024 · Advisorpedia Dec 2024 · The Giving Block 2025
Force 3 — The Post–October 7 Awakening
A wave of previously unaffiliated Jews has returned to the communal fold. They are looking for organizations worthy of their renewed commitment.
The October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks and subsequent global surge in antisemitism triggered what experts called "an unprecedented awakening — bringing previously unaffiliated or marginally involved Jews back into the communal fold." For many returning donors, Holocaust education is newly urgent and newly personal. They are not giving out of obligation — they are giving out of identity and protection.
Antisemitism Surge
9,354
ADL-recorded antisemitic incidents in 2024. A 344% increase over 5 years. Philanthropic capital is mobilizing at unprecedented speed.
Security Funding Surge
$94M
DHS awarded to Jewish institutions in 2025 under the Nonprofit Security Grant Program. Security has become a "central, non-negotiable pillar" of Jewish philanthropy.
Education Funding Surge
$177M
Claims Conference Holocaust education budget through 2028 — the largest in history. Federal Never Again Education Act reauthorized through 2030.
Force 4 — New Donor Expectations
Today's major donors function like investors. They want ROI, impact data, and partnership — not just gratitude.
eJewishPhilanthropy's April 2026 analysis: Gen X major donors "increasingly approach philanthropy with the same rigor they apply to business and investing. This means a focus on ROI, long-term impact and alignment with personal values." CCS Fundraising's 2026 Portrait of Jewish Giving found that next-generation donors want to be "co-creators of impact," not passive funders. They want to understand the theory of change. They want measurable data. They want to know their gift created something real.
What this means for LEDI's pitch: Don't ask for donations. Invite donors to be co-creators of something already working. "29,600 students have been changed by this. Your gift scales it to 80,000." Data is the invitation. Story is the emotional permission. Named portrait sponsorship is the legacy hook. This three-part structure — data, story, legacy — is the architecture of every LEDI major gift conversation.
Source: eJewishPhilanthropy, April 2026 · CCS Fundraising Portrait of Jewish Giving, February 2026
The Education Crisis · What the Research Shows · 2025–2026

Traditional Holocaust education
is not enough.

Antisemitism is at record highs. Holocaust knowledge among young Americans is at record lows. And a 2025 RAND survey found that nearly half of social studies teachers spend less than two hours per year teaching the Holocaust. The system is failing. Here is what the research shows — and what it means for LEDI.
Americans who can't name a single camp
~50%
Claims Conference 2025
Teachers spend <2 hrs/yr on Holocaust
~50%
Middle + high school · RAND 2025
States with no Holocaust education law
9
29 require · 6 encourage · 9 have nothing · Echoes & Reflections / Washington Times, 2026
18–34 who accept Holocaust accuracy
39%
ADL global survey · 2025
What Four Major Studies Found
The research picture is deeply concerning — and getting worse despite increased mandates
RAND Survey · 2025
Nearly half of middle and high school teachers spend less than 2 hours per year on the Holocaust. Despite mandates in 29 states, the gap between law and classroom is vast. The will exists but the infrastructure doesn't.
Claims Conference 8-Country Index · January 2025
Nearly half of Americans cannot name a single camp or ghetto established by the Nazis. Among 18–34 year-olds, only 39% accept the Holocaust's historical accuracy. The generation inheriting the world has the weakest Holocaust knowledge in the postwar era.
Academic Study · Tandfonline · April 2025
Traditional Holocaust education's emphasis on disseminating historical facts has generated disappointing results. Grounding suffering in "a unique historical moment that lacks clear ties to today's issues" is a fundamental weakness as an educational device.
JTA Analysis · April 2026
Holocaust education hasn't failed — but we have failed Holocaust education. Teachers lack time, training, and tools. The failure is not philosophical — it's structural. The system is under-resourced and over-mandated.
The uncomfortable truth: Antisemitism is at record highs AND Holocaust education spending is at record highs. These facts should not coexist — unless the education model itself is broken. The research is increasingly clear: facts-based, textbook-driven Holocaust instruction does not produce the empathy, moral reasoning, or behavioral change the crisis demands. Something fundamentally different is required.
Why Traditional Methods Fall Short
Five structural reasons the standard model is failing with the generation that needs it most
01
The "ancient history" problem
For Gen Z, 1944 is as distant as the Civil War. Textbook instruction positions the Holocaust as a completed historical event rather than a living warning. Without a human bridge — a survivor's face, a named victim's story — the emotional distance is insurmountable.
02
The "six million" abstraction problem
Psychologists call it "psychic numbing" — the human brain cannot process mass suffering at scale. Teaching six million deaths produces paralysis and distance, not empathy. Research is unambiguous: one named person, one face, one story produces far greater moral engagement than any statistic.
03
The "two hours per year" problem
RAND found nearly half of teachers teach the Holocaust for less than two hours annually. No complex moral or empathetic learning is possible in two hours. Mandates without infrastructure produce checkbox compliance, not transformation.
04
The Gen AI distortion problem
UNESCO's 2024 report warned that AI could be used to fabricate realistic imagery casting doubt on whether the Holocaust occurred. Gen Z encounters AI-generated Holocaust denial daily on social media — and facts-based classroom instruction cannot compete with algorithmically optimized misinformation.
05
The "no connection to today" problem
Academic literature identifies Holocaust education's failure to connect to contemporary hatred as a core structural weakness. Dara Horn's widely-read Atlantic essay argued that "Jewish life cannot be reduced to Jewish death" — education focused only on victimhood without connecting to living Jewish identity and contemporary prejudice leaves students without the moral framework to act today.
The Central Question

If traditional Holocaust education
isn't enough — then what?

The research is clear that facts-based instruction alone cannot produce the empathy, moral reasoning, and behavioral change the crisis demands. So what does? Is LEDI the answer? Part of it? And what else does the ecosystem need? This section addresses the hardest question honestly.
The Honest Answer
LEDI is not the only answer. But it makes a vital contribution.
No single organization can solve the Holocaust education crisis. The problem is too large and too structurally complex for any one museum, program, or curriculum to fix alone. What LEDI can do — and what the research suggests is the highest-leverage intervention — is provide the emotional and moral foundation that everything else builds on.

What the research says actually works

Five interventions have documented evidence of producing empathy, behavioral change, and sustained Holocaust knowledge in young people:

  • Individual testimony and survivor witness — The single most effective intervention across every major study. A Florida DOE study found that exposure to survivor testimony is "strongly associated with higher critical thinking skills and greater social responsibility." 86.2% of LEDI students learned more about the Holocaust here than anywhere before. LEDI does this.
  • Immersive experiential learning — Visiting a physical space dedicated to Holocaust memory produces significantly stronger outcomes than classroom instruction. Research on USC Shoah Foundation's Dimensions in Testimony and the Toronto Holocaust Museum consistently shows that physical presence changes the learning equation. LEDI does this.
  • Named individuals, not mass statistics — Psychologists' research on "the identifiable victim effect" proves that one named face produces more moral engagement than a million unnamed deaths. LEDI's 23 named women are not a pedagogical choice — they are the pedagogically correct choice, grounded in cognitive science. LEDI does this.
  • Art and aesthetic experience — Studies of arts-based Holocaust education show stronger emotional retention and longer-lasting behavioral change than fact-based instruction. LEDI's original portraiture, musical composition, and multi-sensory experience is not decorative — it is the delivery mechanism for the research-backed intervention. LEDI does this.
  • Connection to contemporary prejudice — The most effective Holocaust education explicitly bridges historical to contemporary. LEDI's "leave judging less, hating less" mission is this bridge — Holocaust education not as history but as moral training for today. LEDI does this.
LEDI's Position in the Ecosystem
LEDI doesn't need to do everything. It needs to be an emotional foundation that so much builds upon.
What LEDI is
  • Immersive, multi-sensory experience
  • 23 named women — identifiable victims, not statistics
  • Living survivor testimony (Lusia Milch, 95)
  • Original art + music — emotionally transformative
  • Portable — deployable anywhere in the world
  • Evidence-based: 96.6% measurable outcomes
  • Institutionally validated: official school curriculum
What LEDI doesn't need to be
  • A comprehensive Holocaust history museum
  • A teacher training program
  • A research institution
  • An advocacy organization
  • A replacement for USHMM or Yad Vashem
LEDI does one thing with extraordinary depth — human emotional connection to 23 lives. That is the intervention the rest of the ecosystem cannot replicate.
What else the ecosystem needs
  • Better teacher training at scale (CA Collaborative)
  • Counter-AI-disinformation (USC Shoah Foundation)
  • Digital testimony preservation (Dimensions in Testimony)
  • University curriculum integration (Tikvah Fund)
  • Community security infrastructure (SCN, DHS)
LEDI's partnerships with these organizations multiply its impact — and every referral partnership is also a funding partnership.
The Cognitive Science Case
Why 23 is more powerful than 6 million — the identifiable victim effect
Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman documented what researchers call the "identifiable victim effect" — the human brain responds far more powerfully to one named individual than to mass statistics. When people hear about one child in danger, they act. When they hear about a million children, they feel overwhelmed and disengage. LEDI's 23 women are not an artistic choice. They are a cognitive science intervention.
The research confirms LEDI's design: The same cognitive science that explains why 86.2% of LEDI students learn more about the Holocaust at LEDI than anywhere before also explains why LEDI's fundraising model works. Named portraits. Named women. Named giving opportunities. The identifiable victim effect works for donors too — and LEDI has 23 of them. Each portrait is both the educational intervention AND the fundraising mechanism.
Source: Kahneman & Tversky, "Identifiable Victim Effect" · Echoes & Reflections / FAU Survey, 2020 · LEDI Impact Report
The LEDI Ecosystem Strategy
Four layers — LEDI's role in each
Layer 1 — The Foundation · LEDI's Core Role
Emotional connection and moral foundation
A student visits LEDI and meets Dvora, Edzia, Anna, and 20 other women. They leave with 96.6% improved understanding of prejudice and 92.4% more open to different opinions. This is the foundation. Every other Holocaust education intervention — classroom instruction, documentary, digital testimony — is more effective because of what LEDI has already done to the student's emotional architecture.
Layer 2 — The Classroom · Partner: Tikvah Fund + Teachers
Before and after the LEDI visit
LEDI partners with teacher training programs to create pre-visit and post-visit curriculum. The California Collaborative model — 2,347 educators trained, 89% more confident — shows what funded teacher development looks like. LEDI should be the field-trip destination for every Tikvah Fund and Echoes & Reflections school program in the country.
Layer 3 — The Digital Layer · Partner: USC Shoah Foundation
Extending LEDI beyond physical walls
USC Shoah Foundation's Dimensions in Testimony uses AI to make survivor testimony infinitely scalable. LEDI Online should be the immersive counterpart — a virtual version of the 23 portraits experience that reaches students who cannot visit a physical location. The Portable LEDI is the bridge: physical touring today, digital extension tomorrow.
Layer 4 — Counter-Disinformation · The New Frontier
LEDI vs. the AI Holocaust denial machine
UNESCO's 2024 AI and Holocaust report identified AI-generated Holocaust denial as the fastest-growing threat to Holocaust memory. LEDI's response is not algorithmic — it is human. A student who has sat in the presence of Dvora's portrait and heard Lusia Milch's voice is immunized against AI-generated doubt in a way that no factual counter-argument can achieve. Emotional truth is the antidote to algorithmic deception. This is LEDI's case to funders who care about disinformation.
"Traditional Holocaust education's emphasis on disseminating historical facts has generated disappointing results. A-students can recite dates and death tolls — and still harbor prejudice. The question is not whether they know what happened. The question is whether it changed them."
— TIME Magazine, "How to Get Holocaust Education Right," May 2024 · Synthesized from academic literature on Holocaust pedagogy
The Heart of LEDI · 23 Portraits · 23 Real Lives · 23 Real Names

They had names.
They had dreams.

These are not illustrative characters. These are real women — researched, documented, and honored by artist Lauren Bergman and composer Ella Milch-Sheriff. Each portrait hangs in LEDI's galleries. Each name is spoken. Each life is remembered. And each portrait is a permanent naming opportunity for a donor who wants their legacy to live alongside hers.
Women named and honored
23
All real · all researched · all remembered
Countries represented
10+
Poland · Belgium · France · Hungary · Italy · Bosnia · Netherlands · Germany · Ukraine · Czechoslovakia
Survivors among the 23
3
Esther Polak · Marica Kecskeméti · Lusia Milch
Portrait sponsorships
$50K
Permanent · named · forever
Artist: Lauren Bergman · Composer: Ella Milch-Sheriff · Vision: Dr. David M. Milch
All 23 women. Their real names. Their real stories.
Every portrait in LEDI is based on documented historical research — photographs, archives, survivor testimony, and family records. The artist painted each woman not as a victim, but as a person: with a dream, a world, a future that was stolen. Below is the complete gallery.
Note on survivors: Three of the 23 women survived the Holocaust — Esther Polak, Marica Kecskeméti, and Lusia Milch. LEDI honors them equally. Their survival is not a lesser story. It is the reason LEDI exists.
Tema Schneiderman
Born: 1917, Warsaw, Poland
Died: January 1943 · Treblinka
A Jewish resistance fighter and courier. She became a key figure in the Jewish Fighting Organization (ZOB), formed in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942 to resist the Nazis — carrying messages and weapons between Bialystok and Warsaw. On January 17, 1943, she entered the Warsaw Ghetto to deliver a message. She was arrested, deported to Treblinka, and murdered upon arrival. She was 25 years old. Lauren Bergman painted Tema with a wolf and motorcycle boots to showcase her tough attitude.
Portrait sponsorship available · $50,000
#1 of 23
Henriette Cambridge
Born: 1935, Antwerp, Belgium
Died: July 9, 1943 · Sobibor
A young Jewish girl who was only eight years old when the Nazis began persecuting Jews in Belgium. In 1942, Henriette and her family were rounded up and sent to the Mechelen transit camp, then deported to Sobibor extermination camp in Poland. Tragically, Henriette did not survive — she is believed to have been murdered in the gas chambers at the age of eight.
Portrait sponsorship available · $50,000
#2 of 23
Eva Nemova
Born: 1937, Prague, Czechoslovakia
Died: Unknown · Terezin or Auschwitz
A little Jewish girl from Prague who was just four years old when the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia began. In November 1941, Eva and her family were deported to the Terezin ghetto. Before they were forced to leave their home, Eva's parents managed to have a studio portrait taken of their daughter — a haunting image of innocence that survives her. Eva either perished in Terezin or was transported to Auschwitz. Her fate is unknown.
Portrait sponsorship available · $50,000
#3 of 23
She Dreams of Flowers
Born: Unknown · Lviv, Poland (now Ukraine)
Died: Unknown
To date, this young woman is unidentified — a Polish citizen from Lviv. Like many Jewish women in the area, her fellow citizens turned on her: chasing, beating, and apprehending them with Nazi soldiers and police. This terrified woman's clothes were torn off as she sat in the street. She remains unnamed. LEDI gives her flowers — and gives back the dream that was stolen from her.
Portrait sponsorship available · $50,000
#4 of 23
Anna Zakrzewska
Born: December 24, 1925 · Toruń, Poland
Died: August 11, 1944 · Warsaw Ghetto
A brave young woman who served as a courier and medic for the Polish underground army. She used the code name Hanna and received military training in the Vniteszkowe forest. Anna was only 18 years old when she was killed during the Warsaw Uprising — a major operation by the Polish resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. Despite the danger, Anna risked her life to help her fellow fighters and was known for her courage and dedication. She is remembered as a hero in Poland.
Portrait sponsorship available · $50,000
#5 of 23
Emmy Stein
Born: 1934, Germany
Died: September 30, 1942 · Sobibor
A young Jewish girl who was just seven years old when the Nazis came to power. Her family was forced to flee Frankfurt and go into hiding in Amsterdam, where they lived for several years. Sadly, they were eventually discovered by the Nazis. Emmy and her parents were deported to the Sobibor extermination camp in Poland, where they were all murdered upon arrival. She was seven years old.
Portrait sponsorship available · $50,000
#6 of 23
Family Picnic — Lusia's Family
Born: Lusia Rosenzweig Milch · the only survivor
Died: All others perished
An imagined family picnic from the point of view of the only surviving member — Lusia Rosenzweig Milch (depicted in the foreground of the painting). Lusia's mother, Necha Rubin Rosenzweig, sits in the green dress next to Lusia's grandmother Frieda and her father David Rosenzweig. After David died before the war, Necha married Jacob Goldberg and had a little girl, Ginia. For as long as we remember them, they live on in us. This painting is the heart of LEDI.
Portrait sponsorship available · $50,000
#7 of 23
Eva Schulzova
Born: 1931, Prague, Czechoslovakia
Died: January 1941 · Terezin
Born in Prague in 1931, Eva and her family faced rapidly deteriorating conditions after German occupation began in March 1939. Despite these challenges, Eva attended school and tried to maintain normal life. In 1941, the family was deported to the concentration camp at Terezin. Eva was only ten years old when she died. Her story is a tragic reminder of the millions of innocent lives lost — and the need for compassion and tolerance in our world today.
Portrait sponsorship available · $50,000
#8 of 23
Anyuta Lifshitz
Born: 1928, Kiev, Ukraine
Died: 1941 · Babi Yar, Kiev
Anyuta was only 13 years old when the German army invaded Ukraine in 1941. Her family was forced into a ghetto in Kiev. In September 1941, the Nazis began a mass extermination of Jews in Kiev. Anyuta, along with her parents and younger sister, were rounded up and taken to Babi Yar — a ravine on the outskirts of Kiev turned into a killing site. At Babi Yar, Jews were forced to strip and stand at the edge before being shot. Over 100,000 people were killed there between 1941 and 1943.
Portrait sponsorship available · $50,000
#9 of 23
Ester Gordon
Born: 1921, Lodz, Poland
Died: Unknown · Auschwitz-Birkenau
A talented artist who loved to draw and paint. When the Nazis occupied Lodz, Ester and her family were forced into the Lodz Ghetto. Despite the hardships, Ester continued to create art as a way to cope. In 1944, she and her family were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Even in the camp, she continued to create art using scraps of paper and pencil stubs to capture the world around her. Her strength and resilience in the face of unimaginable adversity is a testament to the human spirit.
Portrait sponsorship available · $50,000
#10 of 23
Bronia Milch & Fela Leifer
Born: 1934, Kosova, Poland
Died: 1943 · Kosova, Poland
Fela Leifer is depicted with her aunt, Bronia Milch. Together with dozens of other family members, they were slaughtered in their small shtetl over the summer and fall of 1943. All are buried in a mass grave in Kosova, which today is in Ukraine. Sometimes there are no photographs. This painting exists because of the memory of Lusia Milch — one of the few who survived to remember them.
Portrait sponsorship available · $50,000
#11 of 23
Esther PolakSurvivor
Born: 1926, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1997, Amsterdam — She Survived
A survivor. Esther was known for her cheerful personality, love of music and dancing, and sharp mind. After the Gestapo arrested her family in June 1943, she was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau. She showed remarkable resilience, forming close friendships with other women in the camp. In 1945, she survived the death march to Gross-Rosen camp and was liberated by the Soviet army. After the war, she returned to Amsterdam and became a dedicated activist and educator promoting tolerance. She died in 1997 at age 71. Esther Polak is one of LEDI's voices of survival.
Portrait sponsorship available · $50,000
#12 of 23
Sunflowers and Butterflies
Born: Unknown · Lviv, Poland (now Ukraine)
Died: Unknown
This unknown woman was a Polish citizen from Lviv. Like many Jewish women in the area, she had her fellow citizens turn on her — chasing, beating, and apprehending them with Nazi soldiers and police. This bloodied woman is screaming for help as she is being chased with her clothes torn off. She remains unnamed. LEDI gives her sunflowers and butterflies — the freedom and beauty she deserved but was denied.
Portrait sponsorship available · $50,000
#13 of 23
Leah & Miriam Schaecter
Born: 1934 & 1936, Czechoslovakia
Died: 1941 · Auschwitz
Miriam (born 1936) and Leah (born 1934) were born in a small hamlet in the Tokai Mountains of Czechoslovakia. They were deported to Auschwitz, where they were murdered in 1941. Sometimes there are no photographs. This painting is based on the recollections of their older brother, David Schaecter — the only survivor of his family. He is the source. He is also the witness.
Portrait sponsorship available · $50,000
#14 of 23
If Wishes Were Horses
Born: circa 1930, Kozienice, Poland
Died: circa 1943 · Radom Ghetto
'This is Rifkale's little girl.' That is the inscription on the back of the photograph, taken circa 1935. Nazi soldiers established the ghetto in Radom in March 1941 and sealed 33,000 Jews behind its gates. By the time the ghetto was fully liquidated in July 1944, its inhabitants had either died of starvation and disease, or been deported to Treblinka and Auschwitz. Only a few hundred Jews from Radom survived the war. She has no other name. Only her grandmother's love, written on the back of a photograph.
Portrait sponsorship available · $50,000
#15 of 23
Judith Gersch
Born: 1932 · Deda, Transylvania, Romania
Died: June 1944 · Auschwitz-Birkenau
Born in Romania, Judith and her family were deported to the Kraków ghetto in 1942. In 1943, her mother and sister were taken away by the Nazis, leaving Judith and her father alone in the ghetto. Judith escaped with the help of a non-Jewish friend and went into hiding in Kraków. She was eventually captured and taken to Auschwitz, where she was murdered in June 1944 at the age of 11 or 12. Her story is a powerful reminder of the horrors of the Holocaust and the importance of remembering those who perished.
Portrait sponsorship available · $50,000
#16 of 23
Katalin Kellerman
Born: 1937, Pecs, Hungary
Died: July 7, 1944 · Auschwitz-Birkenau
A young girl born in Hungary in 1937. When the Nazi occupation of Hungary began in 1944, she and her family were forced to wear yellow stars and subjected to discriminatory laws. Katalin's family was eventually rounded up and deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where they were separated upon arrival. Katalin was likely taken to the gas chambers shortly after arriving. She was only seven years old at the time of her death.
Portrait sponsorship available · $50,000
#17 of 23
Marcelle Bonderman
Born: June 20, 1932, Paris, France
Died: August 28, 1942 · Auschwitz-Birkenau
A young French Jewish girl whose family was rounded up by the French police in July 1942 and deported to the Drancy internment camp outside Paris. From there, they were transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Marcelle was only 10 years old. Upon arrival, her family was separated. On August 28, 1942, Marcelle was murdered at Auschwitz, along with her parents and sisters. Her short life was filled with fear, uncertainty, and pain — but her memory lives on.
Portrait sponsorship available · $50,000
#18 of 23
Marica KecskemétiSurvivor
Born: August 4, 1924 · Szombathely, Hungary
August 15, 2017, United States — She Survived
A Hungarian Jewish woman who survived the Holocaust and became a voice for its memory. Deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau in May 1944, her parents and two siblings were immediately sent to the gas chambers. Marica and her remaining sister were selected for forced labor. She survived a death march to Ravensbrück and was liberated by American forces on May 2, 1945. She immigrated to the United States in 1987 and continued to speak publicly about her experiences until her death on August 15, 2017, at age 93. She was a survivor and a teacher.
Portrait sponsorship available · $50,000
#19 of 23
Miriam Klein
Born: 1934, Bijeljina, Bosnia
Died: 1942 · Jasenovac concentration camp
Born in 1934 in Bijeljina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was then part of Yugoslavia. In April 1941, Yugoslavia was invaded by Nazi Germany. Miriam and her family were forced to wear the yellow Star of David. In 1942, the Jews of Bijeljina were rounded up and taken to the Jasenovac concentration camp in Croatia — one of the most brutal extermination camps in the Balkans. Miriam and her mother were sent to the women's section of the camp. Miriam was only eight years old when she was killed.
Portrait sponsorship available · $50,000
#20 of 23
Mirjam Bosman
Born: December 1, 1933 · Amsterdam, Netherlands
Died: June 11, 1943 · Sobibor
Born on December 1, 1933, in Amsterdam, Netherlands. When the Nazis occupied the Netherlands in 1940, Mirjam's family was targeted for persecution. In 1943, they were forced into hiding. They were eventually discovered, captured, sent to the Westerbork transit camp, and then transported to the Sobibor extermination camp. On June 11, 1943, at just nine years old, Mirjam was murdered in Sobibor along with her parents and younger brother.
Portrait sponsorship available · $50,000
#21 of 23
Rina Di Veroli
Born: October 2, 1933 · Rome, Italy
Died: October 23, 1943 · Auschwitz-Birkenau
Rina was only 10 years old when she was murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau. In September 1943, the German army occupied Italy and immediately began rounding up Jews. In March 1944, Rina and her sister Roma were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Upon arrival, the girls were separated from their parents and placed in the children's barracks. They were subjected to starvation, disease, and brutal treatment. On the night of August 2, 1944, Rina and Roma were likely among the thousands of prisoners forced into the gas chambers.
Portrait sponsorship available · $50,000
#22 of 23
Edzia Littmann
Born: 1926 · Drohobycz, Galicia (now Ukraine)
Died: April 11, 1945 · Bergen-Belsen
Born in Drohobycz, Galicia in 1926, the daughter of a lawyer and a physician. In 1941, when Edzia was 15, the German army invaded Galicia. Edzia and her family were deported to the Belzec extermination camp in 1942 — her parents and sister are believed to have been killed upon arrival. Edzia survived and was transferred through several camps. In early 1945, she was forced to participate in a death march to Bergen-Belsen. She arrived there in April 1945, already severely ill. She died on April 11, 1945 — just days before Bergen-Belsen was liberated by British forces. She was 18 years old.
Portrait sponsorship available · $50,000
#23 of 23
The naming conversation: When presenting portrait sponsorships to a donor, begin with the story — not the price. Spend two minutes with one woman's life. Then say: "For $50,000, your family's name lives alongside hers, in LEDI's gallery, for as long as LEDI exists. Every student who stands in front of her portrait will see your name there too." That is the close.
All portrait stories are sourced from USHMM, Yad Vashem, GENI, The Anne Frank House, family archives, and survivor testimony. Artist: Lauren Bergman. Composer: Ella Milch-Sheriff.
Founding Story · Team · Credibility

A son built this
for his mother.

LEDI was not born from a grant application or a strategic plan. It was born from a son watching his 95-year-old mother — a Holocaust survivor — give testimony to a classroom of teenagers and seeing their faces change. Dr. David M. Milch built LEDI because he understood that what happened in that room was irreplaceable, and that the world needed more of it.
The Founding Story
Lusia Milch survived the Holocaust. Her son made sure her testimony would outlive her.
Lusia Milch is 95 years old. She is one of fewer than 245,000 Holocaust survivors alive in the world today. She survived the unimaginable. She built a life. She raised a family. And for decades, she gave testimony — in classrooms, in synagogues, in community centers — because she believed that silence was complicity and that her story, told, could change a heart.
"My mother used to say: I did not survive so you could forget. I survived so you would remember, and remembering would make you better. LEDI is my attempt to make sure that when she can no longer say those words herself, the world still hears them."
— Dr. David M. Milch, Founder, LEDI Center
Dr. Milch combined his mother's living testimony with original portraiture of 23 named women, commissioned original music, and built an immersive multi-sensory experience unlike anything else in Holocaust education. The result: a program that has reached 29,600+ students, achieved 96.6% measurable improvement in their understanding of prejudice, and been adopted as the official Holocaust curriculum of the 20th largest school district in the United States. LEDI is in Jersey City, NJ. LEDI is in Jacksonville, FL. LEDI travels — in six weeks — to any city in the world.
Why Funders Trust LEDI
Institutional credibility, verified outcomes, and a model that has already worked at scale
Institutional Validation
  • Official Holocaust curriculum — Duval County, FL
  • 20th largest school district in the United States
  • 130,000 students in district
  • Partnership with Museum of Science & History, Jacksonville
  • 20 schools served across 7 grade levels
Verified Impact
  • 29,600+ total students reached
  • 96.6% report improved understanding of prejudice
  • 95.2% recognize how art builds empathy
  • 92.4% more open to different opinions
  • 86.2% learned more here than anywhere before
  • 78.6% feel more confident as upstanders
Scalable Model
  • Two permanent centers — NJ and FL
  • Portable LEDI: deployable in 6 weeks
  • 5,000+ students via traveling exhibit
  • 1,200 students in NYC
  • 1,400 students in New England
  • Designed for national and international expansion
Student Voices
What they say after they leave
"I knew about the Holocaust before. But I didn't know about Dvora. Somehow that changed everything."
— 10th grade student · Duval County, FL
"I kept thinking about the girl who wanted to be a doctor. She was the same age as my sister. I don't think I'll ever forget that."
— 8th grade student · Jersey City, NJ
"When Lusia spoke, the room went completely quiet. I've never seen 200 teenagers be that still. Nobody wanted the moment to end."
— Teacher · New England visit
"I thought I was going on a field trip. I came back different. I don't know how to explain it better than that."
— 9th grade student · Jacksonville, FL
"My students talked about this visit for weeks afterward. One of them started an anti-bullying club. Another wrote about it in her college essay."
— Teacher · NYC school visit
"The art made it real in a way a textbook never could. I understood the Holocaust before. At LEDI, I felt it."
— 11th grade student · Duval County, FL
LEDI in Action · See It to Believe It

Watch LEDI
change a room.

No fundraising deck captures what happens when a student stands in front of a portrait and meets Dvora for the first time. These videos do. Share them. Show them at meetings. Let Lusia speak for herself.
Start Here — The Origin Story
Why David built LEDI. In his own words.
LEDI Origin Story — Why This Exists
Show this first. Before any ask. Before any data. A son, his mother, and the reason LEDI was built. This is the emotional foundation every donor needs before they hear a number.
LEDI Center Introduction
The complete platform overview.
LEDI Center Introduction
What LEDI is, why it works, and what 29,600+ students have experienced. Send this as your follow-up after the Origin Story.
The Full Library — 5 More Films
For every audience, a different film.
Different donors need different entry points. A foundation program officer needs the classroom reel. An Evangelical donor needs to see Lusia. A corporate giving officer needs the Governor's endorsement. Use the right film for the right room.
LEDI Classroom Reel
Send to foundation program officers and corporate giving departments. Shows the 96.6% in action.
Teacher Testimonials
The professionals who bring students to LEDI. Use with school district funders, NEH, and state grants.
Governor Phil Murphy at LEDI Opening
"All 9 million New Jersey residents need to see LEDI." — Governor Murphy. Use with civic, government, and institutional funders.
LEDI — The Experience
Inside the galleries. The portraits. The music. The moment a student meets Dvora for the first time.
LEDI — Latest
The most recent film. Use as a follow-up send after an initial donor meeting.
Which video for which donor: Jewish Legacy donors → Governor Murphy clip first, then Introduction. Foundation program officers → Classroom Reel, then Teacher Testimonials. Evangelical donors → Introduction (Lusia's testimony sections). Corporate → Governor Murphy + Classroom Reel back to back. International → Introduction only — it travels best across cultural contexts.
14 Named Benefactor Targets · Global · Data-Grounded

Who to call — and
exactly what to say

Each target modeled for gift probability, ask range, approach strategy, and first-contact language — all grounded in LEDI's verified 29,600+ student impact data.
Tier 1 — Highest Probability · Apply / Approach Now
Grant Program90% probability
Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany
New York + International · $177M Holocaust education budget through 2028 · Innovative media, museum programs, educator training
$150K–$400K
estimated grant · annual renewable
Why LEDI wins here

Claims Conference explicitly prioritizes "innovative technology-driven projects" and "museum programs for low-income students." The Duval County official curriculum status is a decisive differentiator. The 96.6% student outcome data satisfies their requirement for measurable outcomes.

Grant narrative data

• 29,600+ total students · 20 schools · 7 grade levels
• 96.6% improved prejudice understanding
• 92.4% more open to different opinions
• 78.6% more confident as upstanders
• Official Holocaust curriculum — Duval County (#20 US district)

Application strategy

Apply fall cycle. Open with Lusia Milch's story and age. Lead body with five survey outcomes verbatim. Close with scale plan: 25,000+ students annually by 2028. Include video of Lusia giving testimony.

Friction signals

No Israel-conflict framing. Frame purely as Holocaust education, memory, and youth outcomes. Claims Conference has strict values alignment requirements.

Grant opener: "With 70% of Holocaust survivors projected to be gone within a decade, LEDI has built the most documented immersive Holocaust education experience in America — reaching 29,600+ students, achieving 96.6% measurable improvement in prejudice understanding, and earning official curriculum status in the 20th largest school district in the United States."
Email NYAllocAdmin@claimscon.org NOW · Apply: Fall 2026
Foundation85% probability
Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation
Baltimore, MD · Largest private Jewish foundation in US · $2.5B assets · Holocaust survivors + Jewish community
$250K–$750K
multi-year grant · relationship-driven
Why LEDI wins here

Weinberg funds USHMM, USC Shoah Foundation, and Jewish community vitality broadly. LEDI's combination of Holocaust memory + official school curriculum + proven student outcomes is a category-best investment. The 21,000+ Florida students and Duval County adoption are especially relevant — Weinberg funds heavily in the South.

Key data to emphasize

• 21,000+ FL students — Weinberg's South focus
• Official Duval County curriculum — institutional validation
• 86.2% learned more about Holocaust at LEDI than anywhere
• Lusia Milch, 95 — living survivor, irreplaceable testimony

Ask strategy

Request 3-year operating grant ($250K/yr). Lead with school district adoption story. Request a board visit to Jersey City location before the formal ask — this single step dramatically increases likelihood.

Path to contact

weinbergfoundation.org — LOI process. Warm introduction through Jewish Federation of Greater Baltimore or Museum of Jewish Heritage. Do NOT cold-apply — Weinberg is relationship-driven.

Relationship opener: "The 20th largest school district in the US has made LEDI its official Holocaust curriculum. Over 29,600 students have already been changed by it. We'd love for your board to spend an afternoon with us — and see what 96.6% looks like standing in front of a portrait of Dvora."
Approach: Q4 2026 via warm intro · Do not cold-apply
Individual80% probability
Daniel Lubetzky (KIND Snacks / Bridge USA)
New York · Son of Holocaust survivor · Built KIND on empathy thesis · Net worth $2B+
$100K–$500K
personal gift · survivor-to-survivor
Why LEDI wins here

Lubetzky built a $5B business on the thesis that human connection reduces hatred. His father survived the Holocaust because a German soldier showed kindness. LEDI's mission — "leave judging less, hating less" — is his life story. The 92.4% of students who feel more open to others after visiting LEDI is the KIND thesis, measured and validated.

Ask strategy

Personal letter from Dr. Milch to Lubetzky. Propose "The Daniel Lubetzky Kindness Fund at LEDI" — sponsoring free admission for 5,000 students annually. The brand alignment with KIND is mutually valuable.

Key data

• 92.4% more open to different opinions — the KIND thesis, validated
• 96.6% understand prejudice better — empathy at scale
• 29,600+ students — reach his marketing team will notice

Path to contact

Personal letter from Dr. Milch. YPO/EO networks for warm intro. One call — survivor's son to survivor's son — will close this gift.

Letter opening: "My mother survived the Holocaust. Your father survived because of one small act of kindness. I built LEDI so that story never stops mattering — and 92.4% of the 29,600+ students who've visited leave more open to others than when they arrived. That's your thesis, measured. Your name belongs on the fund that takes it to every child in America."
Approach: Personal letter from Dr. Milch · Q3 2026
Tier 2 — High Value · 60–82% Probability
OrganizationTypeEst. GiftProb.Key HookFirst Move
Tikvah Fund — Jewish Civilization Project
$10.4M NEH grant · Seeking K-12 field trip partners NOW		Partnership$100K–$300K82%86.2% + 29,600+ + official curriculum = perfect Tikvah proof pointEmail now: "29,600 students. 96.6% outcomes. LEDI is your field-trip partner."
Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation
Atlanta · Arts + youth + Jewish · $1.5M USHMM donor		Foundation$150K–$500K75%96.6% + arts-for-change + Title I school access + Atlanta expansionIntro via Atlanta Jewish Federation; pitch Portable LEDI Atlanta
Charles & Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies
Tulsa · Jewish identity + youth + innovation		Foundation$250K–$1M70%29,600+ · 92.4% more open to others · emotional Jewish identity connectionWarm intro via Birthright or Hillel; position as values-based Jewish identity investment with documented outcomes
Azrieli Foundation (Canada)
Funded Toronto Holocaust Museum immersive experience		Intl Foundation$150K–$500K68%Portable LEDI Canada 6-city tour · immersive format alignmentVia Toronto Holocaust Museum; propose Canada tour with Azrieli as anchor funder
Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund
New York · Arts for social change · NJ/NY geography		Foundation$50K–$250K69%95.2% recognize art builds empathy — the exact Tisch thesis at scaleVia Museum of Jewish Heritage board; 95.2% is the perfect Tisch data point
Marcus Foundation (Bernie Marcus)
Atlanta · Jewish + education + arts · Home Depot co-founder		Foundation$100K–$400K65%29,600+ + official school district curriculum + Atlanta expansionAtlanta Jewish community intro; offer board visit at Jacksonville LEDI
Pears Foundation (UK)
London · Funded USC Dimensions in Testimony		Intl Foundation$75K–$300K62%Portable LEDI Europe tour complements Dimensions in TestimonyVia Holocaust Educational Trust UK; pitch as US counterpart for EU touring
Open Society Foundations
Pledged $30M to fight antisemitism · May 2026		Foundation$100K–$400K44%92.4% more open to others — cross-community tolerance at proven scaleApply with universal tolerance frame ONLY — no Israel framing; position as hate prevention
Walmart Foundation
$1M+ to USHMM · Jacksonville presence		Corporate$50K–$200K46%21,000+ FL students + underserved school access + Duval CountySubmit via walmart.org community grants; leverage Jacksonville store relationships
Genesis Philanthropy Group
International (Russian Jewish diaspora) · Funded Dimensions in Testimony		Intl Foundation$100K–$350K58%Individual story model mirrors their "restoring people" thesisWorld Jewish Congress introduction; pitch as complement to Dimensions in Testimony
Segment-Specific Messaging · Data-Grounded Playbook

What to say — and
never to say

LEDI has both emotional hooks and evidence hooks. The art opens hearts. The data closes gifts. The 23 women's portraits bridge both. Here is the precision playbook for each donor segment.
The Universal Opener — works across every segment: Start with one named woman. "Let me tell you about Anna Zakrzewska. She was 18 when she was killed in the Warsaw Uprising in 1944." Then add the number: "96.6% of the 29,600+ students who have sat with her portrait say they understand prejudice differently now." Story first. Data second. In that order, every time.
Jewish legacy donors
✓ Say this
  • "L'dor v'dor — from generation to generation"
  • "Your family's name alongside Edzia's portrait, forever"
  • "Lusia is 95. Her testimony will end. LEDI will not."
  • "29,600 students have already been changed by this"
  • "The 20th largest school district chose LEDI. Now we need you."
✗ Don't say this
  • Generic "never forget" without specificity
  • Statistics without individual women's stories
  • Mass solicitations without personal warmth
Civic foundations & corporates
✓ Say this
  • "96.6% of students report improved understanding of prejudice"
  • "Official Holocaust curriculum — 20th largest US school district"
  • "92.4% more open to listening to different opinions"
  • "This is character education, not history education"
✗ Don't say this
  • Any Israel-related framing (61% barrier)
  • Religious or theological language
  • "Holocaust education" without tolerance outcomes
Evangelical donors
✓ Say this
  • "These were daughters of Abraham"
  • "Lusia Milch is 95 — a living miracle and witness"
  • "86.2% learned more about the Holocaust at LEDI than anywhere before"
  • "Bring your youth group to Jacksonville"
✗ Don't say this
  • Progressive or DEI-first language
  • Academic or secular institutional framing
International foundations
✓ Say this
  • "LEDI was built to travel — 23 stories, anywhere in the world"
  • "29,600 students in the US. Your funding scales it globally."
  • "The Portable LEDI can be in Toronto, London, or Tel Aviv in 6 weeks"
✗ Don't say this
  • US-only impact framing
  • Assume geographic familiarity with NJ/FL
Grant Programs · 2026–2028 · Apply in This Order

The grant calendar —
sequenced by probability

Six programs. Total potential: $1.1M–$2.4M over 24 months. Every application leads with LEDI's three headline numbers: 29,600+, 96.6%, and official curriculum status in the 20th largest US school district.
ProgramFunderEst. AwardProb.WindowLead data pointPriority action
Holocaust Research Education & Documentation
Innovative media, museum programs, educator training, measurable outcomes		Claims Conference$150K–$400K90%Fall 202696.6% + 29,600+ + Duval County official curriculumEmail NYAllocAdmin@claimscon.org NOW
NJ State Council on the Arts — General OperatingNJ State$25K–$75K84%Jan 20271,000+ NJ students · 20 schools · 80+ teaching hoursApply via njarts.org; include NJ-specific student numbers
Florida Division of Cultural AffairsFL State$25K–$100K79%Spring 202721,000+ FL students · official Duval County curriculumApply via dos.fl.gov/cultural; Duval County letter of support essential
DHS Nonprofit Security Grant Program
$94M awarded to Jewish institutions in 2025		Dept. of Homeland Security$75K–$450K78%Spring 2027Jewish cultural institution with documented public programming at scaleApply through NJ OEM and FL DEM; deadlines typically March–April
NEH Humanities Projects in MuseumsNational Endowment for Humanities$100K–$350K55%202796.6% outcomes + Brandeis provenance + 29,600+ studentsPartner with Rutgers, Brandeis, or UNF as co-applicant
IHRA Professor Yehuda Bauer GrantInt'l Holocaust Remembrance Alliance€50K (~$55K)57%2027 cycle29,600+ · novel humanization-first pedagogy · documented outcomesWatch holocaustremembrance.com for 2027 call
Grant writing instruction: Every application opens with three numbers: 29,600+ students reached, 96.6% report improved understanding of prejudice, #20 largest US school district adopted LEDI as official Holocaust curriculum. These three facts establish credibility in the first paragraph and position every ask as scaling something proven.
5-Year Growth Architecture · Data-Anchored

From 29,600 students
to 80,000 — the plan

LEDI has already proven the model. The fundraising roadmap is about resourcing the scaling of something that demonstrably works.
Year 1: $1.2M through Year 5: $7.2M
ConservativeOptimistic
Year 1 · 2026–2027 · Target: $1.2M
Foundation: Proof-to-Capital Conversion
File Claims Conference application immediately ($300K target). Secure 3–4 Jewish family donors at $25K–$75K ($200K). Apply for NJ + FL state grants ($125K). Apply for DHS Security Grant ($150K). Register LEDI as recommended grantee at JCF and UJA-Federation. Commission third-party impact evaluation with Brandeis or Rutgers — upgrades every future application.
Year 2 · 2027–2028 · Target: $2.1M
Named Gifts + First Institutional Partnerships
Launch the "23 Portraits Campaign" — 23 naming sponsorships at $50K–$150K each, targeting 5 named gifts ($500K). Approach Weinberg Foundation ($300K). Close Tikvah curriculum partnership ($150K). Personal ask to Daniel Lubetzky ($250K). Launch Portable LEDI institutional tour — 3 cities ($100K). Corporate sponsorship conversations anchored by the 96.6% data.
Year 3 · 2028–2029 · Target: $3.8M
Scale: Third Location + International Debut
Open third LEDI location (Atlanta or Chicago). Approach Azrieli Foundation for Canada Portable LEDI tour ($300K). Launch annual gala as $500K+ event. File NEH Humanities Projects grant. Students reached: 40,000+ annually.
Year 4 · 2029–2030 · Target: $5.5M
National + First European Tour
Four permanent centers. Portable LEDI in 10 cities. First European tour with Pears Foundation. Corporate portfolio: $750K from 5 national partners. Endowment campaign launch: $5M target over 3 years. Students reached: 60,000+ annually.
Year 5 · 2030–2031 · Target: $7.2M
Enduring Institution: 80,000 Students · Global Reach
Five permanent centers. Portable LEDI in 20 cities. LEDI Online: 20,000 students internationally. Annual gala: $1M+. Endowment: $3M. Dr. David M. Milch Foundation's founding investment becomes leverage for a $50M capital campaign — LEDI National, a permanent institution anchored by the most documented immersive Holocaust education outcomes in the world.
Research That Would Make This Platform Bulletproof
What to commission or gather next

1. Third-party outcome evaluation (Brandeis or Rutgers)

Commission a formal peer-reviewed study of LEDI's student outcomes — ideally a pre/post survey with a control group. A published academic study transforms LEDI's 96.6% from self-reported to peer-validated. This is the single highest-leverage research investment LEDI can make. Cost: $15K–$40K. Value: unlocks NEH, university partnership grants, and every major foundation that requires "evidence-based" programming.

2. Teacher and administrator survey

Survey the 20+ schools that have brought students to LEDI. The California Collaborative model shows that teacher confidence data (89% more confident) is as compelling to grant officers as student data. Cost: minimal. Value: adds a professional adult data set alongside student surveys — essential for school district partnership funding.

3. Long-term 6-month follow-up study

Survey students 6–12 months after their LEDI visit. Do the attitude changes persist? Research on immersive learning suggests they do — but LEDI should prove it. A retention study showing the 96.6% figure holds over time is a data point no other Holocaust education organization can claim. Cost: $5K–$10K. Value: transforms every funder conversation from "interesting" to "essential."

4. Demographic breakdown of the 29,600

How many were Title I / low-income? What percentage were non-Jewish? What was the racial and ethnic breakdown? These numbers unlock equity-focused foundations, corporate DEI programs, and state grants that prioritize underserved communities. Cost: data analysis only. Value: potentially unlocks $500K+ in additional grant eligibility.

5. Comparative analysis vs. other Holocaust programs

How do LEDI's 96.6% outcomes compare to the California Collaborative (89% teacher confidence), Echoes & Reflections, and USHMM school programs? A head-to-head comparison positioning LEDI as the category leader is a powerful funder document. The data exists publicly — it just needs to be assembled. Cost: research time only.

The three numbers that close every conversation: 29,600+ students reached. 96.6% report improved understanding of prejudice. Official Holocaust curriculum of the 20th largest school district in the United States. Lead with a name. Close with those numbers. In that order, every time, with every funder.
LEDI Benefactor Intelligence Platform v2 · Built on LEDI's verified impact data · Dr. David M. Milch Foundation · June 2026
Giving Opportunities · Named Gifts · How to Give

Your gift. Their legacy.
Forever.

Every gift to LEDI is a vote for the proposition that one named face is more powerful than six million unnamed ones. Here are the giving levels, named opportunities, and mechanics that make contributing to LEDI straightforward, strategic, and permanent.
Portrait naming opportunities
23
Permanent · $50,000 each
Founding Circle spots
Limited
$100,000 · first 23 donors
Student sponsorships available
Open
$5K sponsors 50 students · named
Minimum DAF grant accepted
$1,000
All major DAF sponsors accepted
Named Giving Levels
What your gift does — and what it earns you, permanently
Portrait Sponsor
The highest individual honor LEDI offers
Your family's name is permanently inscribed alongside one of LEDI's 23 women — in the gallery, in perpetuity. Every student who stands before her portrait sees your name. Every visitor. Every year. For as long as LEDI exists. This is not a plaque on a wall. This is your name alongside Dvora's. Alongside Edzia's. Alongside Rachel's. Forever.
Permanent gallery namingInaugural donor recognitionAnnual impact reportPrivate Lusia meeting (while available)
$50,000
one-time · permanent
Circle of 23 — Founding Member
The founding generation · limited to 23 donors
The first 23 donors at this level become LEDI's founding patrons — recognized permanently at both Jersey City and Jacksonville locations, listed in all LEDI publications, and invited to the annual Founding Circle gathering. These are the people who built LEDI when it mattered most.
Dual-location permanent recognitionAnnual Founding Circle dinnerEarly access to new locations
$100,000
annual · 3-year pledge
Student Cohort Sponsor
Named · Annual · Scalable
Sponsor a named cohort of students — the "Smith Family Scholars" or the "[Company Name] Fellows" — for an annual visit to LEDI. 500 students per $5,000. Your family or company name appears in the cohort program, the student materials, and LEDI's annual impact report.
Named cohort recognitionAnnual impact reportCorporate ESG documentation
$5,000
sponsors 50 students · annual
Portable LEDI Tour Sponsor
Named · City-Wide · Highly visible
Fund a Portable LEDI city tour — bringing all 23 portraits to a school, museum, or community center in a new city. Your name appears on the tour itself: "The [Name] Portable LEDI Tour — [City], 2027." Typically reaches 3,000–8,000 students per city deployment.
Named touring exhibition3,000–8,000 students per cityPress & community recognition
$75,000
per city tour · named
How to Give
Every major giving vehicle accepted — DAFs, wire, check, stock, crypto
Donor-Advised Fund (DAF)
LEDI is a registered 501(c)(3) and is accepted by all major DAF sponsors — Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable, Vanguard Charitable, Jewish Federations, and community foundations. Minimum: $1,000. Search "LEDI Center" or use EIN on file. Contact us for instant verification.
Immediate tax deduction
Appreciated Stock
Donating appreciated stock to LEDI allows you to avoid capital gains tax while receiving a full fair-market-value deduction. For gifts over $25,000, this is frequently the most tax-efficient giving vehicle available. Contact our team for wire instructions.
Avoid capital gains
Cryptocurrency
LEDI accepts Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other major cryptocurrencies via The Giving Block. Crypto donations are fully tax-deductible at fair market value and typically the largest average gift size of any giving vehicle. No capital gains tax on donated crypto.
Largest avg gift size
Wire / Check
Traditional wire transfer and check gifts are accepted for all giving levels. Contact LEDI's development team for full banking details, EIN, and gift acceptance policies. Checks payable to: LEDI Center.
All levels accepted
Planned Giving / Bequest
Include LEDI in your estate plan and become a member of the Lusia Legacy Society — donors who have ensured that LEDI's mission will continue beyond their lifetimes, just as Lusia's testimony continues beyond hers. Naming recognition in all LEDI materials.
Lusia Legacy Society
Corporate Sponsorship
Corporate gifts include full ESG documentation, named student cohort recognition, logo placement in LEDI's annual report, and access to LEDI for corporate team visits and client entertainment. Minimum: $10,000. Custom packages available.
ESG documentation included
Impact Calculator
How many students does your gift reach?
Move the slider to see your gift's impact
$25,000
$1,000$500,000
625
Students Reached
603
Leave with Better Understanding of Prejudice (96.6%)
578
More Open to Different Opinions (92.4%)
491
Feel More Confident as Upstanders (78.6%)
Based on LEDI's verified cost of ~$40 per student and post-visit survey outcomes · LEDI Impact Report
To begin a gift conversation: Contact Michael Artsis on behalf of the LEDI development team. Every gift — at any level — starts with a conversation about what matters to you, what legacy you want to leave, and how LEDI can be the vehicle for both. The 23 portraits are waiting. The students are coming. The question is only whether your name will be part of it.
LEDI Center is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. All gifts are tax-deductible to the fullest extent permitted by law. Named gift opportunities are subject to availability and LEDI gift acceptance policies.