Live in: Encino

Occupation: Richard is a retired surgeon; Barbara is a retired schoolteacher and travel agent.

Community involvement: Richard has been an active volunteer in the Los Angeles Jewish community for nearly 50 years. Current leadership roles include: Chairman of the Jewish Music Commission of Los Angeles; Board member and lay cantor at Valley Beth Shalom (VBS); Board member of the Los Angeles Jewish Federation; and co-chairman of the Culture Committee of the Jewish Federation's Tel Aviv Los Angeles Partnership.

Barbara has been a very committed volunteer for the counseling center at VBS for more than 20 years, serving as a paraprofessional psychological counselor. She has also been a member of the VBS choir, and served as a docent at the Skirball Cultural Center.

Family details: The Brauns have four children and are the proud grandparents of nine grandchildren.

Focus of our philanthropy: "Together with our family, we are devoted to Jewish causes in Los Angeles, Israel and throughout the world."

When we joined The Foundation family: In 2007, when it came time to sell some appreciated stocks, the Brauns decided to establish their own fund at The Foundation, citing confidence in its quality and performance. They opened the Richard and Barbara Braun Fund, a Donor Advised Fund, in June 2007.

Why we joined The Foundation: "We've known about The Foundation for a long time. The endowment fund at our synagogue, VBS, is managed through The Foundation and the VBS Endowment Committee has been very pleased with its working relationship with The Foundation. On a personal level, one of the stocks in our portfolio had appreciated greatly. Our investment advisor and accountant suggested that The Foundation would be a very good place to put this appreciated asset and we were very pleased about that idea."

Our hopes for our Foundation fund: "We've never had a budget in the 56 years we've been married, and if we had a budget it lasted about two weeks! We've never spent beyond our means and we've always given a very large portion of our income to tzedakah. One of the benefits that we see with our fund is that it will help us direct our charitable giving more closely because we have a plan and will think about our charitable giving in advance, rather than on the spot. We have great confidence in the staff of The Foundation and their quality and performance."

The Development Perspective

The Brauns are truly pillars of our community and are an example of the wonderful people you meet when you work in the Jewish community. They viewed The Foundation as an ideal partner for their philanthropy. By using appreciated stock to establish their Donor Advised Fund, they were able to take full advantage of an appreciated asset while generating a significant tax deduction. Now, with their Donor Advised Fund, the Brauns still determine the organizations they want to support and make all the decisions, but we handle the rest for them. This confidence enables them to focus their time on the many hands-on community activities they're involved in, knowing their philanthropic advisors are just a phone call away.

-Dan Rothblatt, Senior Vice President, Philanthropic Services

The Brauns are truly pillars of our community and are an example of the wonderful people you meet when you work in the Jewish community. They viewed The Foundation as an ideal partner for their philanthropy. By using appreciated stock to establish their Donor Advised Fund, they were able to take full advantage of an appreciated asset while generating a significant tax deduction. Now, with their Donor Advised Fund, the Brauns still determine the organizations they want to support and make all the decisions, but we handle the rest for them. This confidence enables them to focus their time on the many hands-on community activities they’re involved in, knowing their philanthropic advisors are just a phone call away.

Dan Rothblatt, Senior Vice President, Philanthropic Services