Ronald S. Lauder Foundation Nears Completion of Forty-Year Mission to Restore Jewish Life in Historic Communities of Europe
Will Provide Major Investment in Next Two Years to Successfully Transfer Responsibility for Operations of Flagship Schools to Local Communities
Reflects Long-Held Principle that Philanthropy Should Inspire an Assumption of Responsibility for the Future of Jewish Life
Berlin, August 19, 2026 – The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation (“the Foundation”), founded in 1987 to rebuild Jewish life in Eastern and Central Europe, today announced the commencement of a transition in its relationship with the seven flagship school systems it supports and champions in Athens, Berlin, Budapest, Prague, Rome, Sofia, and Vienna. Chairman and President Ronald S. Lauder – supported by the Foundation’s Board of Directors and Executive Leadership – has made the strategic decision to transfer full responsibility for the schools’ operations to their respective communities at the end of 2027. The transition aims to enable the schools to become fully equipped to sustain themselves for generations to come and reflects Mr. Lauder’s long-held view that philanthropy should empower and strengthen those it supports, rather than creating permanent dependency.
The transition – planned over the past several years – will result in a significant change in how the Foundation operates. During the transition period, the Foundation will invest a final $75 million in support of the flagship schools and other programs in its portfolio, ensuring that the schools are best positioned to continue their impact long into the future. This investment provides ongoing support for operations through 2028, a $40 million set of capital investments in new school facilities, and additional resources designed to develop further the capacity of local communities to successfully operate their schools independently. Other programs supported by the Foundation will receive operational support through 2027, and access to additional resources to build capacity. At the conclusion of this transition period, the Foundation will remain active, including completing capital investments in school facilities, while stepping back from ongoing operational funding.
Ronald S. Lauder, Founder, Chairman and President of the Foundation, said, “Nearly forty years ago, while I was serving as the United States Ambassador to Austria, I walked into a small Jewish kindergarten in Vienna. I still remember that visit vividly. There was something about seeing those children learning Hebrew and Jewish songs and discovering traditions that had almost disappeared from so many families in Europe. Something was lit inside me that day – a flame for Judaism, for our history and, above all, for our future. I walked out knowing that I wanted to do whatever I could to help Jewish life flourish again. That moment has stayed with me throughout my life. Over the years, I have watched small classrooms become schools, schools become communities, and children become the parents and leaders of a new Jewish generation. I have met alumni who first discovered their Jewish identity in our classrooms and who today are raising Jewish families of their own. I have been inspired by extraordinary teachers and educators who devoted their lives to giving young people not only an education, but a sense of belonging, confidence and pride in who they are.
“Some of the memories I treasure most are the quiet ones. A daughter returning home and teaching her parents how to light Shabbat candles. A son explaining a Jewish holiday that had not been celebrated in his family for generations. Parents walking into a synagogue because their child had come home from school asking questions they themselves never had the opportunity to ask. Again and again, I witnessed something remarkable: we thought we were educating children, but very often those children were bringing Judaism home to their parents. That is how Jewish life returned – not simply as a memory of what had been lost, but as something living.
“I have always believed that tradition survives only when it is lived, taught and handed over from one generation to the next. We were never trying simply to preserve a Jewish past. We wanted children to inherit it, make it their own, and build a Jewish future from it. That has been the philosophy behind this work from the beginning. When I return to these communities today, I see the results everywhere – schools filled with children, young families celebrating Shabbat, alumni leading Jewish organizations, and communities with the confidence and leadership to determine their own futures. Places where Jewish life once seemed terribly fragile are now growing, creating and building for the next generation.
“Seeing that transformation with my own eyes has been one of the greatest privileges of my life, and, therefore, this moment is deeply emotional for me. I think back to that kindergarten in Vienna and to all the children, parents, teachers and community leaders I have been privileged to meet since that day. I think about the courage it took for families to reclaim traditions that history had tried so violently to extinguish, and about the determination of communities that chose not merely to survive, but to build again.
“No one should mistake the success of these communities for the end of the need for Jewish philanthropy. Quite the opposite. What these forty years have shown is what philanthropy can make possible. Jewish education can change the course of a child’s life, restore something to a family that may have been missing for generations, and ultimately transform an entire community. There are still schools to strengthen, teachers to support, children to reach and communities throughout the Jewish world whose extraordinary potential is waiting to be realized. I hope a new generation of philanthropists will look at what happened here and see not a mission that has ended, but proof of what is possible when we invest seriously and patiently in Jewish education. Supporting Jewish education is not simply about sustaining institutions. It is about giving a young person the knowledge and confidence to understand who they are. It is about giving parents the opportunity to rediscover something alongside their children. And it is about ensuring that Jewish communities have the people, leadership and conviction to shape their own futures. I urge anyone who cares about the future of the Jewish people to believe in our schools, invest in our educators and give young Jews every possible opportunity to discover the richness of their inheritance.
“Forty years after beginning this sacred work, I feel an emotion that is difficult to put into words. I am enormously proud that what we began in Vienna helped change the course of Jewish life across Europe. I am proud of the schools we built, the educators we supported, the communities we stood beside and, above all, the tens of thousands of young Jewish lives we had the privilege to touch. But the greatest satisfaction is knowing that this story no longer belongs to me or to my Foundation. It belongs to the children who grew up in those schools, to the families they have created, and to the communities they are now leading. My hope is that others will see what has been accomplished and decide that they, too, want to build something that will outlive them. There may be no greater gift we can give the Jewish people than to give a child the knowledge, confidence and pride to know who they are – and then watch that child carry Judaism forward to another generation. If the work we began forty years ago inspires others to make that same commitment, then the Foundation’s impact will continue far beyond anything I could ever have imagined. I could ask for no greater legacy for myself, and I can imagine no greater hope for the future of the Jewish people,” Mr. Lauder concluded.
Alvertos Taraboulous, President of the Jewish Community of Athens, said, “Miracles happen when generosity, vision, and commitment come together, and Ambassador Ronald Lauder has been the driving force behind such a miracle for our community. Thanks to his unwavering support, our small, family-oriented school has evolved into a flourishing Jewish educational organization, serving twice as many students and offering a wide range of educational opportunities and programs, including the Pierce Project hybrid model of ongoing Jewish education within the best private Gymnasium and Lyceum in Greece. From early childhood education and Hebrew e-learning to JAcademy, Lauder Business School, and Educating for Impact initiatives, Mr. Lauder’s contribution has left an enduring legacy. Our gratitude and appreciation can hardly be expressed in words, as the impact of the Ambassador to our success reaches far beyond education itself.”
Pavel Lyubarsky, Chairman of the Board, Kahal Adass Jisroel in Berlin, said, “There are people who build houses, people who build businesses, and people who build companies. Then there are those who build people by creating institutions that endure for generations. That is what Ronald S. Lauder and The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation has built in Berlin: a Jewish school and a thriving traditional Jewish community where, just thirty years ago, there was nothing of the kind. His vision of a Jewish future has become our present – a Jewish home for hundreds of children, families, and community members.”
Dr. András Kovács, Professor Emeritus at Central European University and Chair of the Board, Lauder Javne Jewish Community School in Budapest, said, “Following the fall of the communist regime in Hungary, the most profound transformation in the Jewish community took place in Jewish civic life. Numerous civil society organizations were established to create meaningful opportunities for living Jewish life beyond the framework of the earlier existing institutions. Among these initiatives, none has had a more lasting impact than the Lauder Javne Jewish Community School, founded more than thirty years ago by The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation together with a group of dedicated Jewish educators. What began as a small school has grown into an institution serving nearly one thousand students, with more than 2,000 graduates over the past three decades. Today, there is hardly a Jewish institution in Hungary whose leadership does not include alumni of the Lauder school. Having served on the school’s Board for the past thirty years, I can say with confidence that this transformative change in Hungarian Jewish life would not have been possible without the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation’s enduring commitment to advancing Jewish education, together with the invaluable knowledge, experience, and best practices it shared from its work with Jewish schools across the globe.”
Pavel Král, Chairman of the Jewish Community of Prague, said, “The Foundation has made a profound contribution to the Jewish Community of Prague by bringing exceptional international expertise in community leadership, management and coaching. It helped us define more clearly what our community needs, set concrete goals and identify more effective ways of achieving them. One visible result has been a significant increase in the number of events open to the entire community, rather than aimed primarily at particular groups within it. Its ability to understand our internal challenges with both empathy and independence, while always speaking openly and directly, has helped us become a stronger and more thoughtful organization.”
Victor Fadlun, President of the Jewish Community in Rome, said, “The first time I went to meet Mr. Ronald Lauder in his office in Manhattan, about two years ago, it was at his invitation. He wanted to hear about our project to expand the Jewish schools in Rome. It was a €25 million project – an ambitious undertaking that we believed could profoundly strengthen the future of our ancient community. Our meeting lasted two hours, during which Mr. Lauder listened carefully and asked me question after question. He wanted to understand every aspect of the project. And then, at the end of our conversation, in his characteristically elegant yet decisive manner, he delivered his verdict. He told me that the project had no chance of succeeding without serious external support and that as a newly elected President of the Community, I could not – and, in his view, should not – attempt to undertake something of such magnitude alone. Otherwise, he said, who knows what the community might expect from me in the future? And with that, he very graciously walked me to the door. I left his office somewhat stunned – confused, uncertain, and full of doubts.
Then, a few days later, something happened that I will never forget. To my enormous surprise, I was informed that Mr. Lauder and the board of his Foundation had just approved an €8 million investment in the Rome project, lifting the financial likelihood of success from improbable to possible. I could hardly believe it. For us European Jews – and for all the European Jewish communities that have benefited from his extraordinary generosity – Mr. Ronald Lauder has represented something far greater than being a great philanthropist. We live with challenges of enormous magnitude, often confronting them with resources that are simply not sufficient. And for many years, knowing that one of the greatest philanthropists in the Jewish world believed in us, believed in our communities, and was willing to invest alongside us, gave us something that money alone can never provide: optimism, courage, and most importantly, confidence in our future. This, perhaps, is Mr. Lauder’s greatest legacy.”
Dr. Alina Levi, Chair of the Organization of the Jews in Bulgaria “Shalom”, said, “In a small Jewish community like ours, every investment has the power to shape the future. The Foundation’s longstanding commitment to Jewish life in Bulgaria – and more recently to the development of our school – has given children and families the confidence to build, not just preserve, Jewish life. Mr. Lauder’s vision has helped transform hope into something tangible for our community.”
Rabbi Jacob Biderman, Chair of the Lauder Chabad Campus and Vice President of the Lauder Business School in Vienna, said, “When people speak about foundations, they usually mean financial support. That is not the case with the Lauder Foundation. Its Founder and President, Ronald Lauder, has given the very concept of a foundation a new meaning: inspiration, vision, and heartfelt commitment. The Lauder–Chabad Schools and Lauder University in Vienna have quite literally transformed the face of the Jewish community. They have given it a fresh beginning, renewed momentum, and a vibrant future. Their graduates and achievements are the very backbone of the community today and the driving force behind its remarkable flourishing!”
About the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation
The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation was established in 1987 to support Jewish education in central and eastern Europe. Starting with a kindergarten in Vienna, the Foundation grew quickly as communism collapsed and freedom spread across the continent. Working closely with revived Jewish communities in cities including Bucharest, Budapest, Prague, Moscow and Warsaw, the Foundation catalyzed and underwrote the establishment of Jewish schools, kindergartens, youth centers, summer camps including the largest Jewish summer camp in Europe- the JDC-Lauder International Youth Camp in Szarvas, higher education programs, and pioneering e-learning programs. Over its close to 40 years of activity, the Foundation has supported projects in seventeen European countries: Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine.
In 2017, together with five international philanthropic partners, the Foundation established and led Educating for Impact, a not-for-profit strategic consultancy supporting Jewish Communities in Europe through increasing the impact of their Jewish schools. Over the past ten years, Educating for Impact has successfully completed projects in 18 cities in 16 countries, including many communities directly receiving support from the Foundation, as well as communities in Denmark, Finland, Spain and Sweden. The Foundation also co-founded the Pillar Foundation, a collaborative philanthropic effort to support security solutions for Jewish communities in Europe, which has worked in over 100 Jewish communal institutions in 32 cities across 18 countries. Through its direct operational funding, capital investments, cross-partner initiatives, and other forms of support, the Foundation has impacted the lives of more than 40,000
Jewish children and helped shape the future of Jewish life across Europe.