Focus on Advisors: The Critical Importance of Your Role
Today’s social impact culture mindset has infiltrated every business, nonprofit, and financial institution in America. The boundaries of our personal and professional lives are blurred across a wide range of social impact behaviors.
What does this mean for your work with your clients? It means your clients are walking into your office with "doing good" on their minds. You can build an immediate connection with your clients when you start a conversation about the ways they--and you--are getting involved in the community. Here are three tips for starting that conversation.
1. Demonstrate that you are in touch with the wide range of "doing good" activities.
With the rapid rise of social consciousness, philanthropy is expanding to cover far more territory than just one or two ways to do good. Consider the full footprint of social impact lifestyle factors that make up the contemporary marketplace mindset: Giving to charities, volunteering in the community, serving on boards, donating necessities to people in need, recycling, purchasing products that support a cause, marketing a favorite organization, celebrating at fundraising events, sharing with friends and family, and caring about your own well-being. Ask your clients about a few of these social impact behaviors. This lets them know that you care about them as human beings.
2. Be aware of the regulatory environment.
Many of your clients who run or own businesses are paying attention to social responsibility in the corporate sector. For example, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is an international standards organization that helps businesses, governments, and other groups understand and communicate the impact of business on critical sustainability issues such as climate change, human rights, corruption, and many others. GRI represents the commitment of hundreds of companies to strive toward a common set of benchmarks to protect the earth and humanity. More than 90 percent of the world’s largest 250 companies are among the thousands of “GRI reporters,” meaning they subscribe to the organization’s standards for sustainability performance. Ask your clients about their corporate commitment to civic engagement.
3. Show your clients that you are doing something, too.
Your clients want to know that you share their commitment to community. Give them peace of mind by talking about your own volunteering efforts, the boards you serve on, or the charities you support. Best of all, let your clients know that you are connected to the Community Foundation, an organization committed to helping people fulfill community dreams through the power of philanthropy.
Worth a Reminder: Donor-Advised Fund Basics
Donor-advised funds are popular because they allow an individual or family to make a tax-deductible transfer that qualifies as a charitable contribution, and then later recommend gifts to favorite charities from the fund when the time is right. A donor-advised fund operates a lot like a checking or savings account just for charity, and it’s established according to the IRS guidelines that create the tax advantages.
How can you connect this trend to your work with your clients? Here are three pointers.
1. Talk the talk.
Your clients are hearing about donor-advised funds. Make sure they are hearing about them from you! Whether your clients support a few charities or many charities each year, a donor-advised fund is a useful tool. Furthermore, the tax advantages set the donor-advised fund apart from other vehicles. Your clients will expect you to be knowledgeable.
2. Know the options.
Donor-advised funds are available through a variety of providers. Community foundations are uniquely positioned to offer donor-advised funds with the inherent tax and transactional benefits you and your clients expect, plus the added advantage of deep community knowledge and a well-connected team of experts to enrich your clients' experience with philanthropy. Only a community foundation has the in-depth knowledge of what it really takes to make a difference in the community. With a wide range of relationships at their fingertips, community foundations are in touch with the techniques and tools to help your clients’ favorite nonprofits make the difference they want to see in the causes they care about. In addition, a donor-advised fund at a community foundation gives you a wide range of options for successor advisors and for the charities you want to support.
3. Walk the walk.
Consider establishing your own donor-advised fund with the community foundation. In today's social impact culture, clients want to work with well-rounded professionals who are connected to well-respected community institutions. The team at the community foundation would be honored to work with you and your family to meet your own charitable giving objectives. We're always looking for donor stories to share with others, too, so keep that in mind as an option to celebrate our work together.