Jewish Community Foundation promotes Elana Wien to Director, Center for Designed Philanthropy

LOS ANGELES (Feb. 18, 2015)—The Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles (The Foundation) announced today that it has promoted Elana Wien to director of its Center for Designed Philanthropy.

Wien, who joined in 2012, advances from senior program officer at The Foundation, the largest manager of charitable assets and planned-giving solutions for Los Angeles Jewish philanthropists. In her new position, she will oversee The Foundation’s institutional grant programs and will lead all program initiatives of the Center, which was created by The Foundation as a resource for donors seeking to shape meaningful, personalized philanthropic strategies and to develop creative solutions to magnify the impact of their giving.

Marvin I. Schotland, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated: “Since coming to The Foundation, Elana Wien has distinguished herself through the caliber of her thinking, passion for our mission, and commitment to assisting donors in designing and fulfilling their charitable ambitions. We look forward to the energy and leadership she will contribute to this pivotal role with our donor community.”

Wien joined the Center from Washington, D.C., where she served as a public affairs consultant for a major telecommunications initiative and, prior to that, served as assistant regional director for the Los Angeles office of a Jewish international nonprofit agency. In her work as a senior program officer at The Foundation, she provided customized philanthropic services for Center clients, such as equipping donors with funding opportunities in specific areas of interest, managing their grantmaking process and, reciprocally, working with grant recipients.

Wien earned her master’s degree from the Universidad de las Americas as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar to Mexico and graduated magna cum laude from the University of California, Berkeley.

“The Center is a unique and invaluable resource to Los Angeles philanthropists,” said Wien, “and I am excited and honored to serve as its director. My work overseeing how our community dollars are invested and assisting our committed donors to identify the causes and giving strategies that bring meaning to their philanthropy is both enormously gratifying and inspiring.”

About The Foundation
Established in 1954, the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles is the largest manager of charitable assets and the leader in planned giving solutions for Greater Los Angeles Jewish philanthropists. The Foundation currently manages assets of nearly $1 billion (as of Dec. 31, 2014, unaudited) and ranks among the 11 largest Los Angeles foundations. In 2014, The Foundation and its donors distributed nearly $70 million in grants to more than a thousand nonprofit organizations with programs that span the range of philanthropic giving. For more information, please visit www.jewishfoundationla.org.