Deadline Nears for CFP Board Program

The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards announced details of its 2007 Financial Planning Grants program, which provides funding for "innovative and sustainable projects that reach people and encourage them to benefit from financial planning." Applications must be received by the CFP Board by March 1, 2007.

Although the Board stress that it will not be involved in the operation of any grant-funded project, it will receive reports that help it evaluate each project's effectiveness. Eligible projects may include proposals to develop new programs or proposals to enhance existing ones. In any case, the requested grant money must fund projects that clearly further the Board's mission, part of which is to help people in the United States understand how they can benefit from financial planning.

In 2006, the Board introduced a Financial Planning Grants program that provided more than $875,500 in grant funding to 20 projects. The recipients of the first set of grants included nonprofit organizations, educators, and CFP professionals involved in everything from developing new uses of technology that provide access to financial planning to creating partnerships that provide financial planning information and assistance through libraries, high schools, colleges and community-based organizations.