With the announcement of an executive director yesterday, the Jim Joseph Foundation, which has more than $500 million in assets, is preparing to become the largest Jewish philanthropy exclusively focused on Jewish education of youth and children.

“I consider this the premiere job in the community and I am absolutely humbled to get it,” the new head, Charles Edelsberg, formerly a top executive at the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland, said.

The foundation, founded in 1987, has historically given grants of in the neighborhood of half a million to a million. With the appointment of a professional executive director, and with the inherited wealth of its founder, Jim Joseph, who died in 2003, the foundation has new sights.

“It’s an entirely different story now. I hope we can make some large grants which will have really significant impact on the community,” the president of the foundation, Alvin Levitt, who worked for Joseph, said.

Mr. Edelsberg begins his job at the San Francisco-based foundation on March 15. While the board has already determined that grant proposals will be by invitation only, the exact nature of the grantmaking – at least $25 million a year – has not been determined, including the age of children its programs will target, the size of grants, the ratio of regional and national grants, and the kinds of programs.

“Jewish education is a very complex picture. There’s an abundance of activity in this country – in camps, day schools, private schools, formally and informally. We need to take a deep breath and look very carefully at what’s in place, what’s succeeding and why, where the opportunities are and why,” Mr. Edelsberg said.

“The question we need to feel comfortable we can answer is, does this program make a difference,” Mr. Edelsberg said, noting an obligation to Joseph’s legacy to grant the money wisely and not duplicate effort.

The number of foundations and nonprofits working in Jewish education has exploded in recent years. Mr. Edelsberg said he would consult “extensively and deeply” with leading organizations in the field including the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Foundation, Hillel, the Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation, the Jewish Education Service of North America, the Partnership for Jewish Education, and the national associations representing Jewish day schools.

Joseph, who died in 2003, made his fortune in real estate and established his foundation in 1987. His firm, Interland, was based in San Francisco and invested in properties in Northern California, Nevada, and Washington. He came to the country from Austria in the late 1930s and settled with his parents in Los Angeles. He attended Wharton. His brother in law and daughter sit on the board of the foundation. Mr. Levitt, a tax and real estate attorney, began his business and personal relationship with Joseph in the 1970s. He said he was inspired by Joseph’s concern for the future of the American Jewish community

“Two days before he died we had a foundation meeting. Jim talked at length about wanting to touch every Jewish child, wanting to make sure that we developed leadership in Jewish children – all in connection with creating a strong Jewish future,” Mr. Levitt said.

“This is exciting and in a way it’s sort of scary. This is a very large foundation. We all hope that we can carry out the concept,” Mr. Levitt said.

Joseph’s preference was that the foundation continue in perpetuity. By law, the foundation is required to spend 5% of his assets. “But more is certainly possible,” Mr. Levitt said.