$10 million gift from Susan and Richard Friedman is poised to reshape response to rising hatred and hostility toward Jews while expanding the breadth and vibrancy of community life

A $10 million multi-year commitment from Palm Beach residents Susan and Richard Friedman is poised to reshape the federation’s response to rising hatred and hostility toward Jews while expanding the breadth and vibrancy of Jewish life across the region.

Announced before more than 550 community members and leaders at the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County’s “Celebrating Philanthropy” event at the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, the gift is framed as both a statement of urgency and a declaration of confidence in one of North America’s most dynamic Jewish communities.

Structured as a multi-year leadership commitment, it will support both immediate program needs and long-range priorities through endowment, reflecting the Friedmans’ intent to protect and strengthen the community well into the future.

A substantial portion of the commitment will underwrite and permanently reinforce the Palm Beach Center to Combat Antisemitism & Hatred, which Rich Friedman co-founded in 2023 with fellow philanthropist Steven Tananbaum in response to escalating incidents and concerns in the county.

Since its creation, the center has emerged as a widely noted local model for coordinating security measures, educational initiatives, and civic partnerships to counter anti-Jewish bigotry and related forms of hate, while deliberately keeping its mission focused on Palm Beach County rather than building a national advocacy footprint.

Federation leaders describe the Friedmans’ contribution as one of the largest gifts ever directed to strengthening Jewish life in the area, fueling both defensive strategies and aspirational efforts that define the federation’s evolving agenda.

On the defensive side, the Palm Beach Center to Combat Antisemitism & Hatred convenes a countywide strategy that brings together school systems, law enforcement, nonprofit organizations, and civic and interfaith partners to address threats and incidents in a coordinated way.

The center’s resources support security upgrades, training, and broad-based educational programming focused on tolerance, inclusion, and civic responsibility, reinforcing the sense that safety is a shared community obligation rather than a narrow institutional concern. On the aspirational side, the Friedmans’ gift will bolster the federation’s annual campaign and its Palm Beach Movement to Activate Jewish Life, an initiative designed to infuse local Jewish life with more joy, connection, and engagement through expanded programs, gatherings, and services.

Federation president and CEO Michael Hoffman hails the commitment as a leadership gift that exemplifies the Friedmans’ combination of major philanthropy and hands-on involvement in shaping community institutions.

He credits Rich Friedman in particular with helping articulate a vision for how Palm Beach can set a standard for confronting hatred and hostility toward Jews while insisting that the community remain rooted in pride, learning, and shared responsibility rather than fear.

Hoffman emphasizes that the center’s efforts are built around the specific needs and capacities of Palm Beach County, with the goal of ensuring that the local community is safer, better educated, and more cohesive in the face of external threats, not of transforming the federation into a national advocacy organization.

In his remarks at “Celebrating Philanthropy,” Friedman framed the gift as deeply personal, grounded in concern for the next generation and affection for the community that he and Susan have embraced as home.

He described looking at his grandchildren and asking whether they would feel proud, safe, and joyful living openly as Jews in Palm Beach, and concluded that answering that question affirmatively would require both fortifying local institutions against immediate risks and addressing the more subtle erosion that can arise from fear and disengagement. T

he couple also spoke about being struck, when they first became part of Palm Beach’s Jewish community, by the level of generosity directed not only to local needs but also to Israel and Jewish communities worldwide, and they have characterized their latest gift as a way of “doing what is necessary” for a place they love.

The “Celebrating Philanthropy” evening doubled as both announcement platform and recognition moment for the Friedmans’ broader communal leadership. In acknowledgment of their sustained impact, the federation presented Rich Friedman with the Jeanne Levy Community Leadership Award, its highest honor for local leadership and philanthropy, established by Mark and Lynn Peseckis in memory of their mother, a pillar of the Palm Beach Jewish community.

The program, chaired by Josephine and Jason Kal with Tananbaum as honorary chair, drew local civic figures and media personalities, underscoring the extent to which Jewish communal philanthropy has become a visible force in Palm Beach County’s wider cultural life.

The Friedmans are seasoned leaders in Jewish philanthropy, known for linking local engagement with national and international concerns. In recent years they have hosted major federation events beyond Florida, including an “Evening in the Hamptons” benefit in Sag Harbor at the Bridge Golf Club, reinforcing their reputation as bridge-builders among Jewish communities that cluster in seasonal hubs such as Palm Beach and the Hamptons.

Their philanthropic portfolio spans support for Israel, Jewish education, and communal security, placing them among a cadre of donors whose giving increasingly seeks to combat hatred and hostility toward Jews while simultaneously enriching Jewish identity and communal life.

For the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County, the new commitment arrives as the organization continues to position the Palm Beaches as a national center of Jewish philanthropy, with recent campaigns across annual, capital, and emergency needs totaling tens of millions of dollars.

Earlier federation reports have highlighted the community’s ability to mobilize thousands of donors and meet ambitious goals, reflecting both demographic growth and a broader shift of philanthropic influence toward South Florida.

Against this backdrop, a $10 million leadership gift from a local couple signals to peers and emerging donors that investments in security, identity, and community-building—anchored by endowment components—are not only urgent responses to current conditions but also foundational commitments intended to endure beyond today’s headlines.

The grantmaking framework around the Friedmans’ commitment mirrors wider trends in Jewish and communal philanthropy, where donors increasingly seek to pair program support with investments in infrastructure and capacity-building.

By routing funds to the Palm Beach Center to Combat Antisemitism & Hatred, the federation’s overall campaign, and the Palm Beach Movement to Activate Jewish Life, the gift aligns with a strategic approach that mixes targeted interventions—such as school-based education efforts and law-enforcement partnerships—with investments that make Jewish life more compelling and resilient on a daily basis.

In practice, that means the same philanthropic dollars are expected to support everything from synagogue and community-center programming to cross-sector coalitions that meet regularly to monitor threats and coordinate responses.

Community reaction has focused on the dual symbolism of the announcement: a clear-eyed acknowledgment of the challenges facing Jews in Palm Beach County and across the country, and a strong vote of confidence in the region’s ability to respond creatively rather than retreat.

For families, professionals, and retirees who have gravitated to Palm Beach as a center of Jewish life and philanthropy, the Friedmans’ decision establishes a benchmark for large-scale, locally anchored giving that aims to protect and enrich the community.

As the federation begins to deploy the funds over the coming years, the Friedmans’ names are likely to become closely associated both with the infrastructural backbone of Palm Beach’s fight against hatred and hostility toward Jews and with the flourishing of Jewish life that, in their view, must remain the community’s defining feature.