Professional advisors are valuable partners in giving. Every year, we offer an opportunity to bring them together with foundation staff and experts to learn more about philanthropy and how we can work together to support their clients’ charitable giving.
This year’s event, cohosted by the Professional Advisors Council at The Denver Foundation, Colorado Gives Foundation, and sponsored by First Western Trust, was a great opportunity to learn, connect, and engage with other professionals passionate about making a difference.
We were pleased to be joined by Aquanetta Betts, J.D., CAP®, AEP®, CFRE, a recognized leader in estate planning and charitable gift consulting. She shared her expertise on the latest trends in planned giving and provided practical guidance to help professional advisors elevate their clients’ philanthropic impact.
Betts shared a case study that illustrated how one can approach wealth planning with cultural competency, and support families in achieving their charitable aspirations while honoring their unique histories and dreams.
The engaged audience asked questions to better understand how they could use the lessons from the case study to help their clients.
Here are a couple of the main takeaways from the event:
- Start by listening.
As advisors, it can be easy to start off a client engagement by crunching the numbers, putting them in a spreadsheet, and letting that be the focus of your first meeting. Betts’ advice was to “listen to their stories. When I go into a meeting with donors, I listen. I want to hear about them and build a relationship. Trust is huge. You have to build that trust.”Ben Perry, our senior director of philanthropic investments, added that a key part of listening is asking the right questions. First, questions that uncover your clients’ stories, then several conversations down the road, questions around legacy. For example, if they have a long history of engagement with a particular organization, ask them where they’d like to see that organization in 100 years. “That visioning exercise can be so powerful to uncover needs, uncover motivations, and then map to solutions,” says Perry.
- Lean on networks.
Often, advisors have clients asking for recommendations about organizations that support certain causes, communities, or cultures outside of an advisor’s background or area of expertise. Betts suggested looking for resources – books, podcasts, or webinars – from people with diverse backgrounds and experiences that aren’t on your go-to list. Perry gave a plug for community foundations.“Community foundations, being deeply embedded in the community, are a great way to bring advisors of different backgrounds together and matchmake an attorney who might be able to answer a question from a wealth advisor, for example.”- Ben Perry, senior director of philanthropic investments
He also added that community foundations have deep local knowledge they can share, and if clients have questions outside of a community foundation’s local area, then community foundations have access to a strong network of over 450 community foundations across the country that are able to connect you to the right resources.
“We often call our colleagues at Colorado Gives Foundation, or other community foundations outside the region, to find opportunities to support people’s giving and make suggestions about which organizations are having a big impact.”
- Consolidate giving with a donor-advised fund.
In the case study that Betts shared, giving was deeply ingrained and embedded in their beliefs and lives across multiple organizations, but they didn’t have a plan or strategy around that giving. The 10% of their income that they donated to their local church they didn’t even categorize as giving. “Donor-advised funds are an effective tool for giving during a client’s lifetime, and particularly consolidation when you have a client who wants to support multiple charities,” said Perry.
If you would like to learn more, you can see a video of Betts’ presentation here.
Photos of the event are available here. Use this pin (1297) if you wish to download the gallery.
If you have questions about how you can join the Professional Advisors Council or want to know how you can partner with The Denver Foundation, please contact Tanner Edwards, advisors relations officer, at tedwards@denverfoundation.org.
Photos courtesy: Amanda Tipton Photography