Lives in: Los Angeles

Occupation: Patty is a writer and copywriter; author of published original light verse; pre-school teacher at Temple Emanuel; retired from owning a medical employment agency.

Joined The Foundation family in: Opened the Patricia K. Fox Charitable Fund in March 2008.

Family details: Married to Robert Fox. Two sons, Doug Levy, a landscape architect, and Daniel Levy, in the commercial real estate business; two stepchildren, Karen and Mark Fox; and the proud grandmother of two granddaughters, Maddie, 12, and Chelsea, 9. "My oldest granddaughter performs in professional theater and both perform in community theater," Patty shared.

Personal Interests: Book club; learning to play bridge; spending time with the family; kvelling over her granddaughters' performances.

Community involvement: In 1968, co-founded the Concern Foundation (Conquer Cancer Now); served as a facilitator for battered women at Jewish Family Service for ten years, and later at Sojourn; volunteered at the Skirball Cultural Center.

When did you first learn about philanthropy: "My grandfather, Benjamin Kane, came to this country from Russia with nothing and built up a very successful pharmacy business, along with my grandmother, who was the first female pharmacist in the U.S. He was tough, but also very humble, very kind and extremely philanthropic. He was very active in the community and believed strongly in giving back to people in need everywhere. We were always taught to be very grateful and to help others."

Why I joined The Foundation family: "I recently closed a private family foundation that had been started by my grandfather and eventually passed down to my brother and me. We decided to close the family foundation so that we could each give according to our wishes. I used my portion to open a Donor Advised Fund at The Foundation."

Focus of my philanthropy: "I care a great deal about cancer and AIDS. I will continue to support Beit T'Shuvah, and will decide on other organizations over time. What is most important to me is joining together with like-minded people so that we can have a greater impact and truly make a difference."

The most meaningful thing about having a fund at The Foundation: "I can make my own decisions about charitable giving. And I have the convenience and confidence of knowing that The Foundation will handle all the details."

Over the last five years, the nexus where expenses can begin to erode assets of a private family foundation has risen to approximately $5 million. Thus, we encourage people with private foundations valued at less than $5 million to consider closing the private foundation and opening a Donor Advised Fund or an Endowment Fund, among other solutions. In this case, Patricia and her brother were running a private foundation that had shrunk due to insurance and other operating expenses, creating an expense ratio that was not cost-effective. They also had divergent areas of charitable interests. They decided to close their private foundation and split the proceeds, and then Patricia transferred her share of the assets to a Donor Advised Fund which she opened with The Foundation. Patricia is now relieved of all of the responsibilities and much of the expenses involved in running a family foundation, and can focus her time and energy on supporting the charities she cares about.

Baruch Littman, Vice President, Development