How a Donor Advised Fund Works | 2 minute video

Client Insights on Donor Advised Funds

Taking Their Own Advice: Sue & Paul Hoffman
"We both grew up with an understanding that giving tzedakah is an essential part of being a Jew and of strengthening the fabric of our broader society," Sue says. "It was only natural that we would prioritize it as part of our relationship."
When they met as undergraduates at UC Berkeley Hillel nearly 50 years ago, Sue and Paul Hoffman discovered a shared passion for giving back to their community. Five decades later, their personal and philanthropic partnership is still thriving.
"We both grew up with an understanding that giving tzedakah is an essential part of being a Jew and of strengthening the fabric of our broader society," Sue says. "It was only natural that we would prioritize it as part of our relationship."
For Paul, who serves on The Foundation's Professional Advisor Speaker Series' planning committee, his commitment to philanthropy is professional as well as personal. As a partner at a leading trusts, estates, and tax law firm, he advises high-net-worth individuals and families on ways to distribute their charitable assets. He takes pleasure in helping others do good and is consistent in his recommendation for how to do it.
"When I have clients looking to establish a private foundation or Donor Advised Fund (DAF), I often refer them to The Foundation, for multiple reasons," he says. "First it's incredibly easy to set up and doesn't come with all the expenses of establishing your own foundation. Second, if you've had a good year financially, a DAF allows you to take an income tax deduction that year at the highest tax bracket and accelerate the deduction, and the income it earns is tax-free."
Paul takes his own advice in his private life: He and Sue have their own DAF through The Foundation. "We support around 30 organizations, and The Foundation does the heavy lifting for us, making it as seamless as possible," Sue says. "They're responsive and able to provide expert guidance, which means we can rest easy knowing that, as we work toward improving outcomes in our community, we're maximizing every dollar we spend."

Dorit & Harry Nelson: Sparking Joy through Tzedakah
Our hearts are pulled in so many directions because there are so many needs. We do our best to meet as many as possible.
It’s not every philanthropist who can speak fluently about the link between davening (praying) and donating, but for Dorit and Harry Nelson, the language comes with ease. “During the Ma’ariv (evening) prayer service, we chant, ‘Ki hem chayenu, v’orech yamenu: These are the lives and length of our days,’” Harry says. “Participating in Jewish life is how we spend our time, and that includes giving back to, and strengthening, community.”
The Nelsons take that responsibility seriously, partnering with the Jewish Community Foundation to put their charitable dollars to work. During a recent interview, the couple held forth on why teaming up with The Foundation makes sense — and how tzedakah can help spark meaning and joy.
Hearts Together, Miles Apart
Though they grew up in different parts of the country, Dorit and Harry were raised with similar values: a focus on Jewish continuity and an emphasis on social justice. “It was just part of the thread of who we were,” recalls Dorit, who spent her formative years attending Jewish day school in the San Fernando Valley. Harry, the son and grandson of rabbis with roots in suburban Detroit, agrees. “In our house, my mom and dad were passionate about our responsibility to the Jewish community and our obligation to help take care of people across our city and beyond,” he says. Their shared background sparked an immediate connection. Introduced by Harry’s sister, who was Dorit’s roommate while she was completing a master’s degree in public health at the University of Michigan, the pair eventually married and relocated to Los Angeles to raise their four children, currently ages 14–20. Their oldest child, Ami, is serving as a lone soldier in the Israel Defense Forces.
An Ally For Good
Today, Harry, a thriving health-care lawyer, and Dorit, a successful health-care consultant, continue the tradition of giving that was modeled for them by their families. “Our hearts are pulled in so many directions because there are so many needs,” Dorit says. “We do our best to meet as many as possible.”
Doing that can be a heavy lift, but their Donor Advised Fund at The Foundation dramatically lightens the load. The Nelsons set up their fund in 2010 and were immediately offered an abundance of critical resources.
“The Foundation is great, not only because it puts worthy organizations on our radar but also because it helps us to think strategically about our giving,” Harry says. “There’s tremendous depth to the structure it provides, enabling us to look at things in a broader context and to envision the kind of long-term impact we can have.”
Pitching a Big Tent
Harry and Dorit are active members of B’nai David-Judea Congregation and identify as Modern Orthodox, but their philanthropic endeavors extend well beyond the Orthodox and religious Zionist communities. “Some of our giving aligns with our immediate community, but we are also moved to support a broader set of passions,” Dorit says.
Harry frames it another way, with a chuckle. “We can sometimes relate to the German religious philosopher and Israel Prize winner Akiba Ernst Simon, who said that the people he davens with, he can’t talk to, and the people he talks to, he can’t daven with. For us, it translates to taking more of a big tent approach.”
This tendency toward inclusion is evident in the type of nonprofits the Nelsons support. Through their Donor Advised Fund, they assist organizations ranging from Kahal Chasidim, a Hasidic learning center, to Eshel, a group working to create a place in the Orthodox community for Orthodox lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals. Among their other interests are working to expand access to addiction and mental health treatment and to advance interfaith dialogue between Muslims and Jews.
Some of our giving aligns with our immediate community, but we are also moved to support a broader set of passions.
As a leader on LA’s health-care law landscape, Harry sees parallels between his professional and philanthropic pursuits. “In my legal practice, I work extensively around health-care innovation — bringing technologies and therapies to market that haven’t been available before,” he says. “Similarly, Dorit and I believe in contributing to organizations that are willing to explore issues in a different way, shedding new light on potential solutions to deeply entrenched challenges.”
Dorit notes that The Foundation is a core collaborator when it comes to effecting sustainable change. “It listens to our goals, shows us a number of paths for getting there, and then empowers us to make it happen,” she says. “The Foundation gives us important tools for building a better world.”
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This article was featured in The Foundation's Fall 2021 Legacy Magazine.

Marcia and Dick Volpert: For The Common Good
When it comes to giving back, few Angelenos are as involved or invested as Marcia and Richard (Dick) Volpert. For over 60 years, these New York transplants have worked to advance the common good across Los Angeles, donating both time and resources in pursuit of a more cohesive and compassionate community.
Marcia and Dick are Jewish Community Foundation veterans. Through their charitable and volunteer endeavors, they pursue a vision of a society that uplifts all its members, and we proudly partner with them to help make that vision a reality. We reached out to the couple to discuss their far-reaching philanthropy.
Local Impact. Global Reach.
From the moment they arrived in Los Angeles in 1959, Dick and Marcia threw themselves into community work. “We’ve always strongly believed in the importance of building bridges between the Jewish and secular communities, so that’s where we focused a lot of our energy,” recalls Dick, whose position as an attorney (and later a partner) at prestigious law firm O’Melveny & Myers gave him access to some of the most influential civic leaders of the day. He partnered with mayors and other city officials on a variety of civil rights issues. For her part, Marcia became active in the League of Women Voters and Jewish Family Service. The pair were also vocal advocates for Soviet refuseniks, assisting Russian Jews in the face of government oppression.
From Generation to Generation
As they raised their four children — Barry, Sandy, Linda, and Nancy — Dick and Marcia modeled the values of tikkun olam. Dick balanced a high-powered career in real estate law (moving from O’Melveny to prestigious firms Skadden, Arps; Munger, Tolles & Olson; and, today, Glaser, Weil) with volunteer service spanning diverse areas of interest. His resume includes stints on the boards of The Foundation, the L.A. County Natural History Museum, the American Jewish Committee, the L.A. Chamber Orchestra, the L.A. County Bar Association, the Western Center on Law and Poverty, and countless others. He was also the founding publisher of the Jewish Journal. Marcia was appointed to the L.A. Civil Service Commission, the Department of Water and Power Board, and the L.A. County Board of Education. Dick and Marcia each chaired the Community Relations Committee of the Jewish Federation Council. “We strove to inculcate in our children an understanding that, as human beings in the world, it’s our duty to strive for justice,” Marcia says.
Safe. Experienced. Reliable.
Marcia and Dick have relied on The Foundation to help administer their charitable donations. “It’s a safe, reliable way to explore your giving options — plus, they train you by sharing their own expertise,” Marcia says. “We’ve learned from their success and benefitted from their experience.” There is, Dick notes, another upside: being exposed to a broad range of dynamic nonprofit groups that might otherwise be difficult to find. “The Foundation is able to broker introductions to organizations that are doing incredible work but are flying under the radar,” he says. As Marcia sees it, the more The Foundation can support them, the more enduring their charitable legacy will be. “L.A. has been good to us,” she says. “The Foundation facilitates our being good in return.”
"We’ve always strongly believed in the importance of building bridges between the Jewish and secular communities.”
-Dick Volpert
This article was featured in The Foundation's August 2020 Legacy magazine.
These donor insights were featured in The Foundation's Fall 2021 Legacy Magazine.