John Goldman was a sixth generation San Franciscan whose family had been in San Francisco since the Gold Rush. Goldman’s ancestors and family, along with others who had traveled to San Francisco, had wanted to bring certain welfare and benevolent traditions to their new home. Goldman and his wife Marcia, however, also wanted to help other young people develop philanthropic values. Thus in 2003, they established the South Peninsula Jewish Community Teen Foundation as part of the Jewish Community Federation’s Imprint Endowment Fund.

The program allowed Bay Area Jewish teens to learn how to run their own charitable foundation from developing mission statements, to raising money, to distributing funds. By 2009, the program had gone from one chapter in the South Peninsula to a total of four chapters with 23 teens participating in each one. Over its initial five years, the South Peninsula Jewish Community Teen Foundation program had raised and distributed over $178,328.