In this episode of our Shares podcast, host Joellen Meckley, JD, MHS, ChSNC® joins Andrew Tudor, CFP®, RICP®, CAP® for a conversation on the options that exist today for powering philanthropic planning including donor-advised funds (DAFs), and the importance of adding charitable giving to your client conversations.

Andrew Tudor, CFP®, RICP®, CAP® is a financial services professional, a popular speaker, and an investment advisor with Zenith Wealth Partners, as well as an ambassador for The College’s FinServe Network. He is passionate about empowering women and black families to transform their relationship with money. After beginning his career in banking, Tudor made the transition to financial planning where he has helped many clients achieve financial freedom through a combination of strategic planning and empathetic coaching. He has spoken at numerous conferences, panels, and keynotes across the U.S. He is known for his unique speaking style of storytelling and humor, and provides audiences with one-of-a-kind perspectives on money stories, the racial and gender wealth gap, and practical tools for building wealth.

Any views or opinions expressed in this podcast are the hosts’ and guests' own and do not necessarily represent those of The American College of Financial Services.

More From The College:

• Learn More About the American College Center for Philanthropy and Social Impact
• Get Started with Our Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy® (CAP®) Program

Steven L. Meyer, PhD, author of Personalized Philanthropy: Crash the Fundraising Matrix, recently sat down with Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy® (CAP®) Program Director and Assistant Professor of Philanthropy Jennifer Lehman PhD, JD, CFP®, CAP® to discuss his thoughts on charitable giving and how advisors can deviate from standard ways of thinking to achieve better outcomes.

Escaping the Matrix

Lehman begins her conversation with Meyers by asking him about his inspiration for writing Personalized Philanthropy: Crash the Fundraising Matrix. Meyers responds by saying, “I wanted to share these incredible stories that I had picked up…and the experiences, and along the way I felt that I had kind of redefined the way that I was thinking about philanthropy and fundraising.”

Meyers then goes on to explain his process for writing the book, stating that one of his first challenges was what he would name it. Meyers cites inspiration from the movie The Matrix, stating, “The book and the movie are both about this process…of waking up and…gaining your superpowers as you find your voice, and you find these strategies that will work for you and allow you to thrive in an environment where a lot of people have very difficult times.”

Killer Apps

As their conversation continues, Lehman asks Meyers about his “killer apps.” These personalized plans, according to Meyers, empower all donors to qualify as “major donors,” with far greater impact than they may initially envision.

In reference to the “killer apps,” Meyers states, “Instead of…viewing donors as having just a transactional capacity, you think about them in terms of their total lifetime value.”

Meyers offers his idea of the “philanthropic mortgage” as the best means of visualizing this concept. As he explains, “When you buy a house, you don't have to wait till it's completely fully paid for. You start living there and enjoying the benefit of your house right away. So why can't we think about a gift in that same way, or an endowment in particular?”

When discussing step-up gifts, another of Meyers’ “killer apps,” Lehman points out this option may be favorable to younger donors, stating, “That could work really well for a young professional: somebody early in their career, and it gets that philanthropic mindset going where they are giving a little each year – and then, whether it's every year or every few years, they step it up a little bit.”

Meyers supports this point, sharing a personal anecdote of a young donor being able to see the fruits of his gift realized by giving through a step-up gift plan. Meyers touts this as one of the top benefits of step-up gifts.

Thinking Creatively

After discussing several of these unconventional ideas with Meyers, Lehman points out the importance of thinking creatively in philanthropic giving. She asserts that by approaching donors and expecting them to have cash assets at the point in time the gift is planned, many potential donors can be eliminated from the pool as compared to the amount of donors that may be able to provide gifts through alternative methods, such as virtual endowments and non-cash assets.

Lehman goes on to discuss more creative methods of planning charitable gifts and the concepts behind them. To learn more about these methods of planned giving, the full discussion can be viewed in Knowledge Hub.

More From The College

• Gain philanthropic and legacy planning knowledge with our CAP® Program
• Learn about the American College Center for Philanthropy and Social Impact
   

Managing director of the American College Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics in Financial Services, Azish Filabi, JD, MA sits down with The College’s Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy® (CAP®) Program director and assistant professor of philanthropy Jennifer Lehman PhD, JD, CFP®, CAP® to discuss the ethical considerations advisors and other financial professionals must make when offering philanthropic planning services in a new continuing education (CE) opportunity available on Knowledge Hub+.

Filabi kicks off the discussion by reflecting on her history as a professional, stating that she has always worked to ensure organizations have the right governance structures in place and the right tools in place so they can consider ethics in their own personal decision-making as well as the impact they’re having on society.

She goes on to discuss the work performed at the Center for Ethics in Financial Services, stating the importance of the group’s research mission and outreach. In reference to this research, Filabi explains the purpose as “learning about the challenges that leaders and individuals are facing with respect to ethics so that can reflect back on the work that we do.” By completing this research, Filabi believes that the Center for Ethics will be able to provide the industry with valuable lessons relating to ethical concerns in the field.

Trust in Financial Services

One of these key lessons focuses on the topic of trust in financial services. Filabi shares that “Everyone I talk to highlighted trust as being a key factor in effective work that we do because it's essentially the glue that brings it all together. Some people went as far as to say that they're not in the business of selling financial products. They're selling trust because people have to trust us as professionals to be able to have their money in our good hands. Because trust is so important to financial services, the Center offers a certificate program on Advanced Strategies for Building Trust to help leaders access tools and frameworks to address this challenge.”

Lehman ties this back to the mission of The American College of Financial Services as a whole, stating a goal of providing applied financial knowledge and education, promoting lifelong learning, and advocating for ethical standards to benefit society. As Lehman points out, philanthropy is a key part of the profession tied to social impact.

Filabi weighs in on this, providing a description of ethics in the industry. She emphasizes the importance of doing no harm and acting in accordance with legal requirements while navigating opportunities. However, she points out that this is a more simplistic view on ethics. When providing her perspective, she states, “We at the center like to think about ethics, not only about the compliance and legal challenges that people face in their day to day, but about the gap between these minimum standards that are expected of us and the day to day challenges that people face in their work…what is the standard that clients expect from you so that they can trust you that might not already be codified in the law?”

How Do We View Ethics in the Context of Philanthropy?

Filabi continues by tying this to the field of philanthropy, discussing concepts such as conflicts of interest, duty of care, and loyalty. She admits this to be a challenging balancing act that also requires financial professionals to consider social impact as part of the equation.

Filabi contends that the importance of social impact is especially critical for the philanthropic sector in recent years. She supports this assertion by stating, “Government budgets are really crunched, and so that means that the philanthropic sector is playing a huge role in addressing some of the business and (societal) challenges that we face in the economy, and I think that should be part of an understanding of ethical duties and obligations as we think about social impact.”

“Government budgets are really crunched, and so that means that the philanthropic sector is playing a huge role in addressing some of the business and (societal) challenges that we face in the economy, and I think that should be part of an understanding of ethical duties and obligations as we think about social impact.”

Lehman and Filabi go on to discuss several additional topics relating to ethics in the philanthropic sector including the Donor Bill of Rights, what an organization should do if a donor’s values don’t align with the organization’s values, key items to consider when weighing the ethical implications of our choices, and more in this discussion, available exclusively on Knowledge Hub+!

To access this learning opportunity and other valuable CE, visit Knowledge Hub+.

More From The College:

• Gain philanthropic and legacy planning knowledge with our CAP® Program.
• Learn about the American College Center for Philanthropy and Social Impact.
• Join the waitlist to be notified when enrollment opens for the TPCP™ Program.
• Learn about the American College Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics in Financial Services.

Join The College’s Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy® (CAP®) Program Director and Assistant Professor of Philanthropy Jennifer Lehman PhD, JD, CFP®, CAP®, as she discusses how to account for tax consequences when assisting clients in making charitable contributions and other forms of planned giving in this new continuing education (CE) opportunity available on Knowledge Hub+!

Whether you’re a financial advisor or a professional representing any other area of the philanthropic advising ecosystem, you should be familiar with tax regulations in order to assist clients as they devise their strategies for planned giving. The College and charitable giving expert, Jennifer Lehman provide key details in Planned Giving: Fun with Taxes and Probate.

What is Probate?

Lehman begins this discussion by explaining the concept of probate to listeners. “Probate is a legal process … that transfers property after somebody’s passing.” Probate is meant to re-title assets that are not already re-titled through some other method (such as a valid beneficiary or automatic survivorship).

However, not all cases in which the transfer of property occurs involve the process of probate. Some smaller families without significant assets may simply agree on how to divide an individual member’s wealth after their passing.
Probate can also differ on a case-by-case basis. Lehman goes on to discuss how probate looks when an individual dies with a will in place and compares the differences in the process when an individual dies without one. She also describes what parts make up this process and what participants can expect.

Lehman goes on to share her major takeaway that provides a high-level understanding of people’s relationship with probate. According to Lehman, probate is an expensive and onerous process. “It is a process that people like to avoid. So, the way to avoid probate is to plan during life for what will happen to your things when you pass.”

Giving During Life vs. After Death

Lehman discusses several methods of planned giving that clients may want to consider, starting with giving to individuals, such as a family member, and the differences between giving during life and giving after death. She emphasizes several important factors to consider, including step-s up in basis, long-term holdings, and annual gift tax exclusions, among others.

However, one key factor cannot be optimized for the best tax situation. Lehman reminds  advisors, “The downside in waiting until death is you don’t get to see the benefit to the individuals or the charity as far as how they use the money and what they do with it.” This can be a major deciding factor for some clients, as they may like to see the benefits of their giving before passing away.

Gifts Your Clients May Want to Consider

Lehman highlights several forms a client’s gift may take, including gifts that can take effect during life such as cash, donor advised funds (DAFs), stocks and bonds, real estate, and qualified charitable distributions (QCDs). She continues by comparing these types of gifts to  gifts that can be planned in life, but do not take effect until death, such as retirement assets, life insurance, life estate, DAFs, and individual retirement accounts (IRAs).

For continued giving, clients may also want to consider gifts that generate income such as annuities, remainder trusts, and lead trusts. These allow clients to impact their recipient of choice for years to come rather than as a single transaction.

All of these gifts have various factors to consider, and the best choice may not be the same from one client to another. By mastering the principles Lehman shares in this discussion and following her guidance when offering clients recommendations, advisors can help their clients achieve all of their gift-giving goals and more. She elaborates on these in greater detail in Planned Giving: Fun with Taxes and Probate on Knowledge Hub+.

To access this learning opportunity and other valuable CE, visit Knowledge Hub+.

More From The College

Gain philanthropic and legacy planning knowledge with our CAP® Program.
Learn about the American College Center for Philanthropy and Social Impact.
Join the waitlist to be notified when enrollment opens for the TPCP™ Program.
 

Tudor says he entered the financial services profession via banking in 2008 during a volatile and chaotic time for the industry. Despite this, he says he found great satisfaction in his work in leadership roles – running several bank branches around Cincinnati, Ohio – and especially in areas involving lending. That was where he first started to sense the industry might have blind spots and think about how he wanted to address them.

“I really enjoyed helping people buy houses and start small businesses, but I saw gaps in knowledge and access, especially when it came to investment management,” he said. “The bank often had a minimum level of assets they would service, and I often saw more resources being afforded to affluent communities. I knew I wanted to focus on those who had been historically excluded.”

Tudor eventually transitioned into a role with Northwestern Mutual and spent several years at the company becoming a licensed advisor and directly working with clients. From those interactions, he continued to refine his sense of who he was as a professional and who he wanted to serve.

“Most people, especially those from historically excluded communities, need more education in and access to financial services and are looking for deeper advice than just receiving products,” he said. “I’ve always felt we should be building in systems to protect and educate these groups.”

In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Tudor finally decided he wanted to start his own firm and launched Alchemist Wealth – with a focus on fee-only planning and serving women and other historically excluded communities – with his brother. Four years later, he merged the successful practice into Zenith Wealth Partners, where he continues to work as an advisor in a variety of planning fields, from investment portfolios to retirement and philanthropic planning. It’s all in service, he says, of his mission to help his clients align their money with their values.

The Role of Retirement Planning

While at Northwestern, Tudor availed himself of the company’s connection to The College to earn multiple designations and certifications: first through the CFP® Certification Education Program to get a strong financial planning foundation, and later through the Retirement Income Certified Professional® (RICP®) Program for the specialization he was seeking in retirement preparation and planning.

“The first time a client came to me and asked me questions about retirement I couldn’t answer, I knew I had to get more knowledge,” he said. “The RICP® is powerful because it impresses upon you that accumulation planning and retirement income planning are two very different things. When I was at Northwestern, we would answer questions about retirement planning with material from College thought leaders like Michael Finke, PhD, CFP® and Wade Pfau, PhD, CFA, RICP®. Their advice on using tools like annuities, home equity, and other income streams to stabilize retirement income may not be popular in some circles, but they’re mathematically proven to be better solutions.”

“[The RICP® Program]’s advice on using tools like annuities, home equity, and other income streams to stabilize retirement income may not be popular in some circles, but they’re mathematically proven to be better solutions.”

Tudor says thanks to the RICP®, he is now well-versed in retirement planning concepts and can simplify them enough for his clients to understand. He also says he sees a growing need for this specialized knowledge as America continues to age.

“The industry to me is still five to 10 years behind what’s necessary in retirement income planning, and it’s exciting to see The College continue to be out in front of the latest ideas and blaze the trail for doing things the right way,” he said.

Investing for Impact

In addition to his focus on retirement planning, Tudor says he’s always been interested in the technical side of planning and the potential of money in general to benefit society. Because of this, he enrolled in the Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy® (CAP®) Program at The College to gain more specific knowledge about how to use investment strategies to help his clients live their values.

“We often ask clients about their goals for impact: whether they’re broad or specific, for family, community, globally, or causes they support,” he said. “Clients constantly bring these subjects up, and I don’t know how I would be an advisor without being able to have those conversations. I believe eventually those kinds of conversations will be table stakes for the industry, and everyone will need to know how to talk about charitable giving with clients and organizations.”

While he loves working directly with clients, Tudor says it’s the institutional side of giving that he’s fallen in love with thanks to the CAP® Program.

“It’s about how you use money and make it work for what you believe in the real world, not just on your spreadsheet,” he said. “That kind of mission-aligned investing, where organizations use their capital to benefit society, is exactly where I want to be. The CAP® Program’s donor strategies were helpful, but its full course dedicated to working with nonprofits has allowed me to sit on board committees and lead conversations about aligning investment portfolios with an organization’s mission. I think that’s a serious gap in the market to be addressed.”

“[The CAP® Program] has allowed me to sit on board committees and lead conversations about aligning investment portfolios with an organization’s mission. I think that’s a serious gap in the market to be addressed.”

Finding Community and Purpose

After being inaugurated into The College community as a recipient of the NextGen Financial Services Professional Award, Tudor says he has been consistently impressed by what The College is able to do for financial professionals – especially in its events like the annual Conference of African American Financial Professionals (CAAFP).

“CAAFP feels like a homecoming every year for me,” he said. “It’s my one opportunity to see and reconnect with a lot of people I know from the industry, and the workshop and keynote sessions are consistently incredible. It’s a safe bet for me to invite a new advisor to CAAFP. There aren’t many places Black professionals in financial services can go and see mostly people who look like them, and the level of excellence in the execution of the event is always impressive.”

“It’s a safe bet for me to invite a new advisor to CAAFP. There aren’t many places Black professionals in financial services can go and see mostly people who look like them.”

Tudor says he’ll be present at this year’s CAAFP, to be held August 12-14 in Atlanta, Georgia. In the meantime, he advises young professionals in the field to be open to challenging themselves and thinking intentionally about their career path.

“Go to places that stretch you and be mindful of how you feel when you’re doing things,” he said. “This field affords you 40 years to build a career and have an impact, so thinking long-term is key. I love working with personal clients and enjoy financial planning in general, but I really live for doing organizational and institutional planning. Fill your day with things you enjoy doing, and success will come.”

Dien Yuen, former executive director of the American College Center for Philanthropy and Social Impact, was recently a guest on the Be Giving podcast hosted by Elizabeth Wong.

In this episode, Yuen joins Wong to share her expertise in the field, discussing topics such as the importance of philanthropy in wealth management, the value placed on philanthropy by The College and the Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy® (CAP®) Program, and the unique experiences faced by advisors of color.

Hear about these topics and more in this informative and thought-provoking discussion as Yuen shares her experiences with The College.

Listen

The College’s President and CEO George Nichols III, a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy® (CAP®), hosted a panel discussion that focused on prominent trends in philanthropy, ranging from the growing role of women in charitable giving to the importance of building a more collaborative philanthropic ecosystem.
 

A $30 Trillion Wealth Transfer

The first topic the panelists tackled was the role of women in philanthropy. Observing that an estimated $30 trillion will transfer to women over the next 10 years, President Nichols asked his guests what advisors can do to better serve the charitable giving needs of these future decision-makers. 

“In my experience with women, they are very philanthropic. They are very attuned to their communities and helping other people, but they're also concerned about saving enough for retirement and so on,” said Rick Peck, CFP®, CHFC®, CAP®, a special advisor to the philanthropy services team at the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. “So, they do want to make a difference and they are looking for their advisors to help open the door for that discussion.” 

Unfortunately, however, advisors do not always meet their needs. As President Nichols pointed out, 80% of women who inherit money change their advisors within the first year. This is understandable, according to Mary Fischer-Nassib, CAP®, co-founder and director of Sow Good Now, given that advisors have not planned on how best to serve these clients. 

“How are we going to be able to serve those women? They're already proven leaders, they've already proven that they want to impact society, they're proven that they have causes that are important to them, and where do we belong? What seat are we taking at the table? How often and who are we bringing in that's needed? I think those are questions we have to start thinking about to serve them better,” she said. 

According to the panelists, to connect with their female clients advisors need to engage in meaningful conversations and ask open-ended questions. By understanding their values, interests, and aspirations, advisors can help women align their philanthropic goals with their personal and financial objectives. Providing education and resources early on can also help empower women to become lifelong philanthropists. 

Building a Better Ecosystem

Switching gears to the broader business of philanthropic advising, President Nichols asked the panelists how the philanthropy ecosystem could improve and expand the impact of giving across communities. 

In response, Fischer-Nassib highlighted the importance of improving collaboration and innovation. 

“In the non-profit space, they talk about collaboration and innovation, but the funders don't know what that looks like. And if you've ever tried to get your family to go out to pick a restaurant, it's really hard. So you're asking these nonprofits to work together and keep their mission aligned, and I say, well, you get your family that restaurant first, and then we'll start seeing how we can, as nonprofits, can collaborate,” she said. 

Fischer-Nassib added, “The innovative piece is also very important. You need the full team to come together in order to innovate. You need to have the wealth managers, the estate planners, the attorneys, the CPAs, and the philanthropic advisors to start having conversations.” 

Peck agreed. “Corporations are part of the ecosystem along with foundations, family foundations, and nonprofits,” he said. “And when you think of an ecosystem, it means that everything is positively coexisting and feeding off each other and thriving. And I think that, by bringing these different parts to the table for conversation and understanding what each party's looking for, that's going to be helpful in the grand conversation, and I don't know that we do that as well as we could.”

Bringing Diversity into Giving

The panelists moved on to a discussion on how philanthropy can become more diverse and work successfully with the clients of the future. In practice, this means not only recruiting more diverse philanthropic advisors, but also looking at new and emerging causes and expanding the definitions of where to give and how to partner with communities. 

On the topic of America’s racial tensions, for example, Peck said, “George Floyd being killed, it sparked an absolute fervor. But the reality is, it just magnified something that's been there for a long, long time. I think there's a reactionary way that people respond to something like that, and people pop up with all the best intentions, and try to create things that can be helpful. But does it last? Is it part of an ecosystem of change?” 

He continued, “I have not seen anything that feels as cohesive as it should be three years later. Now, there are community foundations in my world that were doing good stuff long before George Floyd was killed. And it's a marathon, and not a sprint. There's a lot of cultural work that needs to be done in communities, and we need to be sitting down and having conversations with individuals, not in a reactionary way, but more collaboratively. If we're sensitive to the differences that we have and how positive that can be in our society, we will all be better for that.”

A Brighter Way Forward

President Nichols wrapped up the session by asking the panelists about the one thing they would do to improve the philanthropic space if they had a magic wand to make any change they wanted. 

Peck focused on the importance of communication. “I'd wave it to bring people together to have an open discussion, a substantive discussion, leaving time to hear different points of view that lead, slowly but surely, to positive change,” he said. 

For Fischer-Nassib, engaging young people was most important. “If you really want to leave a legacy, pour some of what you have to give into these willing and able young people, give them power and a structure around those funds, and let them learn and practice and grow so that 10 years from now, we have risen up and have a good handle on what's needed, as well as teams of people who are set to do really good work.”

The CAP® program was created to foster greater philanthropic impact throughout our communities by bringing nonprofit gift planners and financial, tax, and legal advisors together in a common, cross-disciplinary curriculum to help better serve clients and donors. Today, over 2,500 CAP® designees are doing just that. 

Our research found that CAP® designees work in various disciplines and represent an expanding number of nonprofit, for-profit, and hybrid organizations. They’re facilitating complex philanthropic gifts through vehicles that didn’t exist when the CAP® program began. They’re also navigating numerous cultural issues and societal needs, in addition to the effects of the global pandemic. 

Through the participation of 486 CAP® designees and students, we now have a greater understanding of the ever-increasing diversity and interests of the CAP® community. For example, respondents credit CAP® with helping them gain credibility, confidence, recognition, and greater knowledge of donor motivations and charitable tools. We also received many responses to our open-ended questions that mentioned the need to update the curriculum with diversity in voices, perspectives, and current practices. Many expressed a desire to continue learning beyond the CAP® program through mentoring and networking programs.

Read the report here.