David Starnes, Nancy Parkans Ehrenkranz, Years ago, when Nancy Parkans Ehrenkranz was a college student and just starting out on her own, she was guided by her uncle, an investment broker, about the importance of saving money and watching earnings grow at an early age. She took his advice to heart, and opened an investment account that she contributed to as soon as she graduated and began working. “I didn’t have a lot to put aside, but I always paid my savings account first,” she remembers.
Now an independent writer/editor and marketing consultant, as well as a seasoned community volunteer, Nancy has combined her uncle’s wisdom with her belief in karma and “doing right by others.” Partnering with Roberta Herman, executive director of the Houston Jewish Community Foundation, she established a permanent endowment in memory of her mother, Morissa Parkans, that will benefit in perpetuity both the HJCF and the Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders Center at Baylor College of Medicine.
“This was a win-win to me. Establishing an endowment fund through my will and the HJCF, which benefits Baylor, was simple and easy to create,” she explains. “I wanted to do something meaningful in my mother’s name, and working with Roberta and Baylor’s planned giving team, it was a seamless, uncomplicated process.”
“Because she so strongly believes in giving back and passing along her passion for philanthropy, Nancy also established a legacy fund at HJCF that will allow her step-children, Jenny and Scott, the opportunity to contribute funds to organizations that matter to them in the years to come.
“It’s so easy to make a difference and pass this philosophy on to future generations if we plan ahead,” she explains. “If my small gift to Baylor supports research that eradicates Alzheimer’s Disease, while also serving as an example to those I love, I will indeed know I’ve done something significant that will last beyond my lifetime.”