The Maurice and Vivienne Wohl Society

$18 million+ in cumulative giving since 2015

Named for renowned British philanthropists Maurice and Vivienne Wohl, JDC’s premier recognition society recognizes individuals, families, foundations, and Jewish Federations in North America who have placed their faith in the JDC’s stewardship of their philanthropy and its capacity to effect enduring change.

Maurice and Vivienne Wohl were devoted to the welfare of humanity and the wellbeing of the Jewish people. In the words of those who knew them best, they were “visionaries with a deep-rooted concern for the future of the Jewish people.” The Wohls recognized their own aspirations in JDC’s ceaseless and strategic efforts around the globe, taking a keen interest in initiatives that strengthened the State of Israel and supported Jews and Jewish communities after the fall of the Soviet Union. Maurice and Vivienne’s confidence in JDC led them to make the largest gift in the organization’s history.

JDC honors members of The Maurice and Vivienne Wohl Society in The Wohl Society Garden and Wall at JDC’s Jerusalem campus and presents them with JDC’s Global Jewish Leader Tzedakah Box, representing the transformative power of tzedakah (charity), and the timeless value of arevut Jewish mutual responsibility.

"I DID NOT HAVE TO ASK FOR THEIR HELP. THEY SAW HOW PERFECTLY THE JOINT’S MISSION COINCIDED WITH THEIR OWN INTERESTS, AND THEY GENEROUSLY OFFERED THEIR SUPPORT… THEY FELT THAT WHAT JDC WAS DOING WAS IMPORTANT FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE EVERYWHERE."

– Ralph Goldman, z”l

The Laura Margolis Society

$10 million+ in cumulative lifetime giving

JDC’s Margolis Society is named for Laura Margolis, JDC’s first female Country Director and fearless guardian of the Jewish people, whose illustrious career spanned three continents and four decades, touching tens of thousands of lives. The Laura Margolis Society recognizes individuals, families, and foundations who demonstrate the same tenacity and generosity of spirit that characterized this remarkable woman.

Joining JDC’s World War II relief efforts in 1939, Laura Margolis traveled the world, caring for the most vulnerable at a time of extraordinary danger to the Jewish people. Margolis negotiated with authoritarian regimes, worked at times from hospital beds, crossed military lines, and smuggled life-saving supplies into concentration camps. She created critical support systems in Havana, Lisbon, Barcelona, Brussels, Stockholm, and Paris, where she was ultimately appointed JDC’s France Country Director in 1946. Laura Margolis’s courage left an indelible mark on the Jewish world – especially as the guardian angel of European Jews who found refuge in Shanghai during the Holocaust – and her selfless service reverberates to this day.

JDC honors members of The Laura Margolis Society with an inscription on JDC’s Recognition Societies Wall in Jerusalem, and presents them with JDC’s Rescue and Relief Setting award, a commemorative replica of the serving bowl and tray with which Margolis helped sustain the more than 20,000 Jewish refugees in Shanghai in 1942.

"I WAS ALWAYS REACTING TO CHALLENGES TO DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT, SOMETHING NEW."

– Laura Margolis

The Jacob H. Schiff Society

$1 million+ in cumulative lifetime giving, with special distinction at $3 million+ in cumulative lifetime giving

The Jacob H. Schiff Society is named for JDC’s founding benefactor, whose philanthropy and commitment to the welfare of the Jewish people paved the way for the formation of JDC. The Jacob H. Schiff Society honors the exemplary generosity of individuals, families, and foundations.

In August 1914, when Schiff received Ambassador Henry Morgenthau’s storied cablegram requesting support for starving Jews in Ottoman Palestine at the outset of World War I, he did not hesitate. He responded the very same day, “I shall do it personally.” The funds Morgenthau requested—$50,000, the equivalent of $1 million in today’s currency— were quickly raised. With characteristic vision and determination, Schiff united diverse parts of the American Jewish community to continue to fund this relief effort, and the Joint Distribution Committee was born. The sense of shared Jewish responsibility that Schiff’s actions embodied continues to define JDC today.

JDC honors members of The Jacob H. Schiff Society with an inscription on JDC’s Recognition Societies Wall in Jerusalem and awards them the Schiff’s Promise Chanukiah, a menorah bearing Schiff’s historic message of communal responsibility.

"HAVE CALLED A PROMPT MEETING… COMMITTEE WILL NO DOUBT UNDERTAKE THIS SHOULD THIS NOT BE POSSIBLE, I SHALL DO IT PERSONALLY"

– Jacob H. Schiff

The Felix M. Warburg Society

$250,000+ in 5 years or fewer

The Felix M. Warburg Society was established in the tradition of JDC’s first president, Felix M. Warburg, a great humanitarian and legendary philanthropist with a passionate concern for helping those in need. The Felix M. Warburg Society recognizes the commitment of individuals, families, and foundations.

As JDC’s first president, from 1914-1932, Felix Warburg successfully gathered leading figures from all walks of American Jewish life under the JDC umbrella. Under his leadership, JDC dispensed more than $100 million for programs to aid vulnerable and impoverished Jews in 46 locations around the world. “It was one of the world’s outstanding pieces of human engineering,” President Hebert Hoover once said. Warburg epitomized the dedication and commitment that characterize the members of his namesake society today. JDC and Felix Warburg have always demonstrated the values of arevut and tzedakah: taking responsibility for aiding the world’s most vulnerable Jews, in crisis and in calm.

JDC honors members of The Felix M. Warburg Society with a limited-edition replica of the JDC Seder plate, a symbol of the eternal strength of the Jewish people and our commitment to one another.

"I consider myself a servant of the Jewish people and my duty is to help carry out those measures which are wanted by them."

– Felix M. Warburg

For more information about JDC Recognition Societies, please contact: Ruth Penan or call (646) 871-3255