By Samuel Asher
The Virginia Holocaust Museum is thrilled to announce the Carole and Marcus Weinstein Endowment Campaign, a $1 million matching challenge. Thanks to an extraordinary $1 million gift from Carole and Marcus Weinstein — and a generous $500,000 testamentary gift from Stuart Siegel — we’re already halfway to our goal.
Every donation will be matched dollar-for-dollar, up to $1 million, doubling your impact to preserve Holocaust history and honor its victims, survivors, and upstanders through exhibits, educational programs, and community outreach.
Don’t miss this chance to make a lasting difference.
Educating and Inspiring Future Generations
Endowments secure the Museum’s future by providing permanent, predictable support for its most important work:
- Educational Experience: Offering visitors a comprehensive understanding of the Holocaust’s historical context, key events, and profound human impact.
- Remembering the Victims & Survivors: Serving as a powerful memorial to the millions who suffered and perished.
- Promoting Tolerance and Understanding: Encouraging reflection on the devastating consequences of prejudice and discrimination.
- Preventing History from Repeating: Inspiring visitors to stand against bigotry and injustice.
- Documenting History: Preserving memories through artifacts and testimonies that deepen understanding of this dark chapter.
- Promoting Critical Thinking: Encouraging visitors to reflect on how such atrocities occurred — and how we can prevent them today.
The Power of Endowment: Create a Legacy That Lasts
An endowment gift to the Virginia Holocaust Museum is a lasting investment in education, remembrance, and the fight against hatred. Instead of being spent immediately, your gift is invested through Richmond Jewish Foundation, generating annual income to support the Museum’s mission — forever.
Each year, 4% to 6% of the fund’s average value is distributed to the Museum, providing reliable support even during economic downturns. Any unused earnings are reinvested, helping your fund grow over time.
You’ll work with the Museum to create legally binding guidelines that ensure your philanthropic goals are honored in perpetuity.
Your endowment gift becomes more than a donation — it becomes a legacy of learning, resilience, and hope for future generations.
Endowments: Securing Our Future
Endowments are essential to diversify the Museum’s revenue and reduce reliance on annual fundraising. Currently, nearly all operational costs are covered through yearly donations, with only about 5% coming from endowment income.
By growing our endowment, we can ensure long-term stability and continue to educate, remember, and inspire for decades to come.
Making Your Endowment Gift
You can contribute to any existing endowment funds supporting the Museum. While unrestricted gifts are the most urgently needed and provide the greatest flexibility, you may also direct your gift to a specific area that reflects your passions.
Create a Named Endowment
With a gift of $25,000 or more, you have the opportunity to create and name an endowment in honor of an individual, family, or organization — leaving a permanent legacy.
Endowments can be established through a one-time gift or a pledge fulfilled over up to five years and funded in various ways, including:
- Cash
- Appreciated stocks
- IRA charitable distributions
- Donor-advised funds
- Bequests through a will or trust
- Other estate and planned gifts
Together, we can ensure that the Virginia Holocaust Museum continues to educate, remember, and inspire — for generations to come.
For questions or more information, please reach out to me: sasher@vaholocaust.org
Richmond in August can be uncomfortably hot — the perfect time to step out of the heat and into the Virginia Holocaust Museum.
Butterfly Mural
If you haven’t yet taken a photo in front of our beautiful new Butterfly Mural in the lobby, please do! Share it on social media to help us honor the 1.5 million Jewish children murdered during the Holocaust. Use #thebutterflyprojectnow and tag @vaholocaust.
The Butterfly Project is a global initiative that uses art and education to combat hatred and bigotry. Participants paint ceramic butterflies while learning about a child who was murdered during the Holocaust. These butterflies are then glazed and permanently displayed as powerful symbols of courage, remembrance, and hope — inspired by the poem “The Butterfly,” written by a young prisoner at the Terezin concentration camp.
Since 2023, the Virginia Holocaust Museum has proudly joined more than 200 organizations worldwide in this moving project. Our butterflies are now featured in a mural at the museum’s entrance.