We have advisors for many aspects of our lives – health, financial, legal, and home and car maintenance, to name a few. Those advisors help us meet a variety of goals by lending their expertise and skills to those we have ourselves.
A philanthropic advisor is no different. You may already have one or more professionals who help you manage your financial investments to meet the objectives you wish to achieve for yourself and your family. Why wouldn’t you do the same for your investments in causes that matter to you?
As a member of your advisory team, a philanthropic advisor can help you define your desired societal impact, set charitable goals, consider the interplay among these goals and other personal objectives, then lay out a customized plan tailored to achieving them
How Can a Philanthropic Advisor Help Me?
Philanthropic advisors act as guides to help you do the following.
- Understand your core values. The first step in developing a strategic philanthropic plan is identifying the core values that provide the foundation for your life decisions, and narrowing those down to the top three to five. These may be based upon your upbringing, cultural or faith traditions, and life experiences, among other influences.
- Identify key issue areas you want to impact. To start, these are broadly defined, such as education, health, animal welfare, fine arts, or environment, for example. Your advisor will then help you narrow those further to define possible specialties within those areas (such as cancer research or education in humanities), populations (women or elementary school students), and/or geography (local, regional, or global).
- Establish a giving strategy and plan. Once you have identified where you most want to have impact, a philanthropic advisor can help you define measures of success in the short- and long-term and develop a plan with milestones to help you achieve that success. This plan will take into consideration your wishes for your family’s involvement and the rest of your financial and estate plans.
- Identify charitable opportunities. If desired, a philanthropic advisor can assist in identifying impactful opportunities within your areas of interest and/or vetting charitable projects that you are considering.
- Negotiate gifts with charitable organizations. An experienced philanthropic advisor can facilitate productive conversations with charities’ executives and staff to help ensure that your philanthropic investments will accomplish your charitable goals.
- Structure gifts to meet multiple objectives. A philanthropic advisor will work with your financial, tax, and legal advisors, as well as benefitting organizations as appropriate, to structure your charitable gifts in ways that will achieve your philanthropic goals together with other personal objectives
How to Choose a Philanthropic Advisor
An effective philanthropic advisor brings a unique blend of skills, experience, and knowledge to their relationships with clients. These include familiarity with the philanthropic landscape, including trends and resources affecting various aspects of the nonprofit sector. They should also have financial acumen, including a solid understanding of the best assets for charitable gifts and how tax considerations factor into giving decisions.
And of course, you will want to consider a prospective advisor’s communication skills, cultural competence, and professional experience in relation to your interpersonal style and preferences. We recommend reviewing the advisor’s bio and LinkedIn page, and ask for references to ascertain their strengths and work styles. You and your philanthropic advisor will need the highest level of mutual trust and respect – and you should enjoy working together. After all, philanthropy should be among the most joyful of all your endeavors!
Our team of philanthropic advisors and consultants have specialized knowledge and decades of experience in the nonprofit space. This positions us well to help you have the impact you want in the areas that mean the most to you.