New collaboration models for cultivating professional advisor relationships as presented by the Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta to the Advancement Network.

1. Cultivating Professional Advisors:
A New Model for Collaboration

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ORGANIZATION HISTORY
• Founded in 1951 as The Metropolitan Foundation of Atlanta
• Atlanta’s then four largest banks—Citizens and Southern, First
National Bank of Atlanta, Fulton National Bank and Trust
Company of Georgia
• Purpose – serve a permanent charitable resource to benefit
and improve quality of life in the metropolitan Atlanta region.
• 1977- Metropolitan Atlanta Community Foundation created,
$7 million in Assets

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ORGANIZATION HISTORY
• 1997 Foundation Renamed The Community Foundation for
Greater Atlanta
• Regional Foundation
23 Counties surrounding metropolitan Atlanta serving
nearly 6 million residents
• Three local funds
Clayton, Morgan and Newton Counties
• 2014 Assets $920 million
• 2014 Grantmaking $107 million

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HISTORY OF THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION’S
PROFESSIONAL ADVISOR ENGAGEMENT
Engaged the Boston Consulting Group in 1999 for
comprehensive organizational assessment, and one result of the
study pointed to professional advisors as major potential
pipeline for new donors

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HISTORY OF THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION’S
PROFESSIONAL ADVISOR ENGAGEMENT
Reorganized development and donor relations into
Philanthropic Services Department, including gift planning and
donor relationship management, each headed up by a director-
level staff member reporting to VP-PS

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HISTORY OF THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION’S
PROFESSIONAL ADVISOR ENGAGEMENT
Began 15 year process of identifying key professional advisors
(financial advisors, T&E attorneys, CPAs and other financial
professionals) and cultivating relationships through gift planning
that could lead to client referrals as prospective donors to The
Community Foundation

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HISTORY OF THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION’S
PROFESSIONAL ADVISOR ENGAGEMENT
How we engage:
• One-on-one meetings with advisors in community
• Firm Presentations
• Speaking Engagements to broad variety of groups
• Reference Source for professional advisors for their clients
• Planned Giving Design Center – licensee for GA

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HISTORY OF THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION’S
PROFESSIONAL ADVISOR ENGAGEMENT
How we engage:
• Membership, Visibility & Leadership with trade organizations:
• Georgia Planned Giving Council
• Atlanta Estate Planning Council
• Georgia Society of CPAs
• Georgia Financial Planning Association
• Financial Services Professionals
• Atlanta and Georgia Bars
• Association of Fundraising Professionals

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HISTORY OF THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION’S
PROFESSIONAL ADVISOR ENGAGEMENT
Special Programs:
• Leverage other Foundation and community events (e.g.
piggyback extra professional advisor event when speakers
are brought in for donor events, or for other organizations)
• PALI (Professional Advisor Leadership Institute)
• Volunteer opportunities (e.g. the Foundation’s Planned
Giving Advisory Board or Philanthropic Services
Committee)
• CAP Study Group

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COLLABORATIVE HISTORY
The Balser Symposium
• Fund set up in 2006 by retired professional advisor to
promote planned giving through collaboration between The
Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, the Jewish
Federation of Greater Atlanta and United Way of Greater
Atlanta
• Annual Balser Symposium created, an all-morning event with
two speakers on charitable planning, held in 1st Quarter
(approximately 400 attendees annually) – 9 held to date
• Steering Committee of professional advisors and the three
organizations solicit sponsorship dollars and charge a
registration fee for the event (always generates surplus)

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COLLABORATIVE HISTORY
PALI (Professional Advisor Leadership Institute)
• Additional collaboration spearheaded by The Community
Foundation with Jewish Federation begun in 2007
• Year long program (five sessions) about philanthropy – not
technical aspects
• 20-25 participants per class – evenly divided amongst FAs,
CPAs, T&E attorneys & insurance professionals

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COLLABORATIVE HISTORY
PALI (Professional Advisor Leadership Institute)
• Application process is competitive
• Initially held every other year, but popularity caused PALI to
move to annual basis
• Recently completed 5th class (over 100 participants to date)
• Began PALI alumni programming in 2014 with 5 events per
year, leveraging speakers and other events, at request of alums

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THE BALSER PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS COUNCIL
BPAC Origin (launched in January 2015)
• Building on existing collaborative experience
• Believing that rising tide lifts all ships
• Understanding that partnering both shares the
load and creates deeper relationships between
organizations and with professional advisors

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THE BALSER PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS COUNCIL
BPAC Purpose
Create formal structure to teach professional advisors
about philanthropy through partnership with The
Community Foundation, Federation and United Way,
while growing philanthropic $s at and through each

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THE BALSER PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS COUNCIL
BPAC General Structure
• BPAC is staffed by one representative from each
of the three participating organizations (these
are the only nonprofit members)
• BPAC participants form an exclusive group of
professional advisors with demonstrated interest
in philanthropy and willingness to partner with
Federation, The Community Foundation and
United Way
• A BPAC Advisory Committee is created with the
following responsibilities:

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THE BALSER PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS COUNCIL
BPAC Advisory Committee Responsibilities
 Provides counsel on BPAC events
 Reviews and helps select PALI participants from
applicant pool annually
 Recommends BPAC members for consideration
by Federation, The Community Foundation and
United Way
 Recommends speakers for Balser Symposium
and assists in Balser Symposium sponsorship
efforts

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THE BALSER PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS COUNCIL
BPAC Advisory Committee Structure
• Three Co Chairs, with one selected by each of the
three organizations
• Three staff member representatives
• Nine At-Large members, with three each selected
by each of the three organizations
• Balser Symposium Co-Chairs shall serve as
representatives on the BPAC Advisory Committee

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THE BALSER PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS COUNCIL
BPAC Advisory Committee Terms
• Each Co-Chair shall be selected for one non-
renewable two-year term
• At-Large members will be selected for rolling two-
year terms, renewable for an additional term
• At-Large members may not serve more than two
consecutive terms
• For the first year of operation, half of the
Committee will have one year renewable terms,
and half will have two year renewable terms

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THE BALSER PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS COUNCIL
BPAC Participant Selection
Participants are selected in one of three ways:
• Graduates of PALI are automatically included
• Staff representatives may invite professional
advisors to join BPAC, with unanimous agreement
from all three staff reps
• BPAC Advisory Committee can nominate
professional advisors to participate, and there
must be unanimous approval by the three
participating organization reps

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THE BALSER PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS COUNCIL
BPAC Funding
• Federation will house BPAC Fund assets
• $150 annual dues or $70 for Balser Symposium &
preceding dinner and $35 per event for other
events
• PALI program fee is $750 to be paid by each
individual PALI participant or their employer
• Net proceeds from Balser Symposium
sponsorships & registrations and PALI registration
fees will be placed in the BPAC Fund at Federation
• Staff reps’ time provided pro bono

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THE BALSER PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS COUNCIL
BPAC Programs
• Balser Symposium (Federation staff leads)
• Community Bus Tour (Community Foundation staff
leads)
• Social/Networking event (United Way staff leads)
• Community Service event (United Way staff leads)
• PALI (Community Foundation staff leads)
• Other events opportunistically

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THE BALSER PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS COUNCIL
BPAC Communications
• Community Foundation manages
• Predominantly electronic (email)
• Includes announcements, invitations, reminders
and RSVPs
• BPAC list not shared outside of the three
organizations
• Highlight BPAC members on all three
organizations’ websites
• All three organizations’ logos on all
communications

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THE BALSER PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS COUNCIL
BPAC Outcomes for Advisors
 Expanding cohort of philanthropically knowledgeable
professional advisors able to tap into the expertise of
the three preeminent charitable organizations in the
Greater Atlanta region
 Network of advisors dedicated to philanthropy in
their own lives and in lives of their clients
 Multi-disciplinary network of advisors from legal,
accounting, financial services, insurance and
valuation fields with whom knowledge in their
respective areas of expertise can be shared

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THE BALSER PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS COUNCIL
BPAC Outcomes for Advisors (cont.)
 Start an ongoing learning journey with clients around
philanthropy
 Differentiate themselves from other advisors who do
not talk about philanthropy to their clients, creating
added value for their respective practices

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THE BALSER PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS COUNCIL
BPAC Outcomes for Three Participating Organizations
 Growth in successful referrals of clients by
philanthropically knowledgeable professional
advisors to all three organizations
 Growing cohort of professional advisors perceiving
the three organizations as the experts in charitable
planning
 Growing cohort of professional advisors wanting to
associate with the three organizations, both through
BPAC and direct relationships with each

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Questions
Questions?