Fidelity Charitable announces charitable planning practice management program for advisors

BOSTON, July 26, 2016 – Fidelity Charitable, an independent public charity, today announced the launch of its Charitable Planning Practice Management program. Building on years of experience counseling advisors on how to add charitable planning services to a holistic wealth offering, the program will help advisors more closely align with their clients’ giving goals.

The program will educate and counsel advisors on how to implement what they have learned to maximize the knowledge gained. Fidelity Charitable is an independent public charity with more than 132,000 donors, one of the nation's largest donor-advised fund programs, and the nation’s second-largest grantmaker, with cumulative grants of more than $22 billion since its inception 25 years ago.

“With up to 27% of the $30 trillion expected to transfer from the Boomer generation to their heirs by 2026, charitable planning, as part of holistic wealth management, is a significant client need. Advisors who incorporate this into their client conversations will differentiate themselves and earn the trust of the next generation,”¹ said Krystal Kiley, VP of relationship and practice management at Fidelity Charitable.

“Our mission is to make charitable giving more accessible, and our Charitable Planning Practice Management program is an integral part of that effort by providing education and consulting to help advisors and firms successfully incorporate charitable planning and sophisticated philanthropic strategies,” Kiley continued.

A recent study of high-net-worth adults found that giving back to society through philanthropy ranked as their third most important use of wealth, just after financial security for their family and achieving financial independence.² Fidelity Charitable’s vehicle agnostic program gives advisors access to exclusive research, planning tools, in-person workshops, virtual webinars, actionable guides and materials that can be used with clients to help them meet this important goal.

“As financial advisors, we should be focused on how to give our clients holistic advice that covers all their financial objectives, including philanthropy. I’ve found that some of the most important conversations I have with clients are about how they can provide support for the causes they care most about,” said Jon Jones, the CEO of Brighton Jones, a wealth management firm based in Seattle.

“The Fidelity Charitable Practice Management program has given me and the advisors in my firm a stronger foundation to continue these holistic conversations by providing education, tools and consulting on philanthropic topics,” Jones continued. “As a result, we’re better able to help our clients meet their giving goals in a smart and responsible way.”

The Charitable Planning Practice Management program can be tailored to meet the specific needs of firms, their advisors and the clients they serve. This is accomplished through a four-part strategic approach:

1. Evaluate skills and assess needs. Experts provide consulting to identify specific areas of opportunity for education and how to integrate that knowledge practically.
2. Learn. Advisors can improve their skills and potentially earn Continuing Education credit through workshops and webinars from “Fidelity Charitable University”.³
3. Apply. Fidelity Charitable has created a library of materials allowing advisors to take advantage of client guides, advisor guides, case studies and calculators to deploy knowledge they have gained.
4. Master. Fidelity Charitable will facilitate engagement with study groups and an advisor council that will include financial advisors, CPAs and attorneys.

Each advisor who signs up for the new program can learn about key topics, including essentials in charitable planning, funding philanthropy through non-publicly traded assets and how to engage clients’ families and the next generation with charitable planning.

“Advisors are constantly seeking ways to add value for their clients. Philanthropic planning can provide that opportunity by helping connect an advisor with his or her clients’ entire family, including their heirs, and create a philanthropic legacy that spans generations. We are providing this valuable complimentary program to advisors to ensure that clients and their family’s charitable priorities are supported and that nonprofits themselves continue to get the contributions they need to continue their missions,” concluded Kiley.

Learn more about Fidelity Charitable’s Charitable Planning Practice Management program.

¹Accenture Wealth and Asset Management Services Point of View: The “Greater” Wealth Transfer—Capitalizing on the Intergenerational Shift in Wealth, 2012.
²2014 U.S. Trust Insights on Wealth and Worth Survey, U.S. Trust Bank of America Private Wealth Management.
³Fidelity Charitable is the brand name for Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, an independent public charity with a donor-advised fund program. Various Fidelity companies provide services to Fidelity Charitable. The Fidelity Charitable name and logo and Fidelity are registered service marks of FMR LLC, used by Fidelity Charitable under license. Fidelity Charitable University is a curriculum of continuing education credit-approved courses targeted to financial advisors and is not affiliated with an accredited educational institution.