- Donor Stories
- Meet Our Leaders
Alex Ingersoll and Martin Tannenbaum are wonderful friends of JFCS who exemplify what it means to be dedicated supporters. Among their caring decisions was their choice to invest in future generations by making a generous three-year financial commitment to JFCS’ Center for Children and Youth in 2020.
Martin Tannenbaum and Alex Ingersoll have a long history of leadership with JFCS.
Alex and Martin were each inspired to become involved with JFCS because of the agency’s breadth of programming and effective and creative responses to community needs. JFCS also provides Alex, a convert to Judaism, and Martin, a Jew from Utah, with the opportunity to live their Jewish values of tzedakah and chesed, which also inform their philanthropic giving. The couple also supports LGBTQ organizations, Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, and the Salt Lake City JCC (in Martin’s hometown), among other community causes. At JFCS, Alex and Martin are major donors, and they have established two Named Endowment Funds, with a planned bequest to establish a third, to support JFCS’ work in perpetuity.
Their involvement goes far beyond financial contributions. Martin, an incredible asset due to his business acumen and innovative vision, provides strategic planning and education to JFCS’ Board of Directors and senior staff. Empathetic and warm, Alex is a natural and motivational leader who was elected to the Board of Directors in 2014 and led the Loans and Grants Committee for many years. Together, the couple’s positive energy, sense of humor, and passion inspire others to get involved. JFCS is fortunate to have such true ambassadors.
When Alex and Martin learned about JFCS’ vision for the Center for Children and Youth, the couple was immediately inspired by the way JFCS was thinking big and creatively about how to address the social, emotional, and learning challenges that children (and their parents) face. Both considered this major initiative as a logical progression for the agency.
“With the breadth and depth of existing services, it was natural for JFCS to push further and develop a comprehensive initiative,” said Alex of the initiative in 2020. Martin added, “Who else other than JFCS can put together children’s services, parental coaching, research, and public policy advocacy?”
At the time, the Center for Children and Youth was actively engaged in supporting parents and families as they coped with the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Alex observed, “This is an extremely challenging time to be a child, or a parent, but JFCS is there to provide support and help to those who are struggling.”
The couple’s decision to make a significant financial commitment to the Center for Children and Youth ties into their fundamental desire to care for the community—particularly as gay men without children of their own. They view each child as a child of our community and feel it is a shared responsibility to see that all children are nurtured and able to reach their full potential.
Martin said, “We all need to invest in the future, and JFCS is the place to do it.”