Foundation for Jewish Youth Gets Founder's $500 Million

The Jim Joseph Foundation is poised to become one of the biggest Jewish philanthropies in the country with the addition of more than $500 million in assets, all directed toward Jewish education and youth programs.

The money will significantly increase the foundation's expenditures, which have averaged about $550,000 a year over the last several years. The foundation will now direct about $25 million a year toward causes and programs for Jewish youths.

Mr. Joseph, a West Coast real estate investor and developer, "felt he wanted to try to touch every Jewish child in this country, and his thinking was that by developing programs for youth and children, it would in the future strengthen the Jewish community in the United States," said Alvin T. Levitt, a lawyer and longtime confidant of Mr. Joseph, who will become the president of the foundation's board.