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daphnaraskas

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Join date: Oct 22, 2025

About

Daphna is the founder of Treasured Letters. She has over 25 years of experience leading and advising nonprofits. She holds a Ph.D. in Management from Columbia Business School and a Certificate in Family Business Consulting from the Family Firm Institute. Creating and refining mission and values statements in organizations and strategic planning sparked Daphna’s interest in legacy letters and how they can convey and strengthen purpose and identity in families. She set aside time to write a legacy letter for her children and future grandchildren, a process which she found very meaningful and rewarding. Daphna began writing about legacy letters and giving legacy letter workshops in person and online in 2023. Daphna’s legacy letter is stored in a sealed envelope in her nightstand in Silver Spring, Maryland where she resides with her husband.

Posts (7)

May 26, 2026 ∙ 3 min

Eighteen Cents and a Blue-and-White Box: Why Philanthropy Needs Language

Every Friday afternoon, just before lighting the Shabbat candles, my mother dropped eighteen cents into a blue-and-white JNF box. She did the same thing in her classroom each Friday, where she taught first grade. It was never the amount that stayed with me. It was what she said. We give to remember that we are responsible for others. And what we have is meant, in part, to be shared. I have thought about that sentence often in the decades since. I have thought about it especially often in the...

May 12, 2026 ∙ 2 min

Two Questions Before You Begin: A Practical Place to Start

Most people who want to write a legacy letter wait far longer than they mean to. The intention is there. The desire is real. But something keeps getting in the way. Sometimes it is not knowing where to start. Sometimes it is not being sure what to say — or worrying it will not come out right. Before you write a single word, there are two questions worth considering. They won't write the letter for you. But they will make beginning possible. 1. Who are you writing to? This is the most...

Apr 28, 2026 ∙ 2 min

What We Leave Within

In My Friends, Fredrik Backman writes, "Art is what we leave of ourselves in other people." When I first read that line, it felt familiar. Jewish tradition has long asked a related question: what are we passing on, from generation to generation, through the words we choose to say — or choose not to say? Words are not fleeting. They shape memory, form identity, and linger long after the moment in which they are spoken. Gratitude voiced, love articulated, pride shared, forgiveness granted —...