Fidelity Charitable, an independent public charity and donor-advised fund giant, introduced its Charitable Planning Practice Management program on Tuesday to help financial advisors more closely align with their clients' giving goals.
The program provides education and counseling to help firms and advisors incorporate philanthropic planning and sophisticated giving strategies into their service offerings.
"Our mission is to make charitable giving more accessible," Krystal Kiley, vice president of relationship and practice management at Fidelity Charitable, said in a statement.
This is important because, as Kiley noted, citing an Accenture study, with a quarter of the $30 trillion expected to transfer from baby boomers 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," she said.
In its statement, Fidelity pointed to a 2014 study of high-net-worth adults that found giving back to society through philanthropy ranked as their third most important use of wealth, just behind their family's financial security and achieving financial independence.
Jon Jones, CEO of the Seattle wealth management firm Brighton Jones, said in an interview that virtually all of his firm's 1,200 high-net-worth clients want advice around charitable giving.
"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," Jones said.
