- by Dien S Yuen
I was chatting with a donor the other day and he asked me what philanthropic advisors do. As I started explaining to him about the different roles and positions, I realized that somewhere in our field - we have truly confused donors. Everything is labeled with "philanthropy" these days - from the for-profit to the non-profit world. There is the field of philanthropy itself that promotes the work of individuals and corporations to give and volunteer. Then there are those working in philanthropy, these are program officers, fundraisers, non-profit philanthropic advisors, etc. Then there are those working in the professional advisory sector that advise clients in philanthropy as an ancillary service - such as wealth advisors, CPAs, attorneys, and the for-profit philanthropic advisors.
I started my non-profit career at the American Cancer Society in Ohio as the "Director of Planned Giving". I helped our donors there support ACS with gifts that were provided from assets - and these were usually larger gifts and mostly from the donor's estate. I had a dollar goal and also a required number of folks I had to make contact with. I was a "convener, educator and a fixer" then. Charles W. Collier, Harvard's Senior Philanthropic Advisor, changed the planned giving or gift planning field and made us look at giving from a holistic point of view.
Now, my official title is "Director of Philanthropy" and my job description says I am: the chief advocate of Give2Asia's services among individuals and communities new to Give2Asia. I am primarily responsible for reaching out to individuals and families, and to corporations and foundations where advantageous, with an interest in utilizing Give2Asia's US-Asia philanthropic solutions. The metrics for success of my position are growth in Give2Asia's giving and an expansion of contacts and sales channels and partnerships. In other words, I promote our work and and support the work of new donors. Some may say I am in sales - which is not a bad thing if there are buyers. In reality, I feel as if my job is "convener, educator and fixer". I bring people together and I figure out how donors can support charitable causes they care about in the most efficient and cost-effective way while still meeting their needs and as part of their overall philanthropic plan. Give2Asia is a non-profit but we have fee for service model so I see myself in business development too.
In the community foundation world, there are "Philanthropic Advisors". These folks basically do the same thing I do but they probably don't like using the words "sales" or "sales channels" in any of their literature. In reality, everyone has a quantifiable goal and they also need to either bring in new clients or provide services that encourage their existing donors to increase their giving. Afterall, how can hey account for their "impact" to both the donors and the foundation, i.e., how do they justify their salary?
In the for-profit world, we have folks like Sean at Tactical Philanthropy Advisors that help donors look at their giving from a very high level to the tactics required for implementation. The philanthropic advising business is a "business". Like all businesses, Sean has to think about his sales channels, bottom lines, ROIs, etc. In essence, Sean's main job is also a "convener, education and fixer".
Naturally, the donor then asked - how does one become a professional in the field? I looked at him and wondered... where do I start? So I told him about Professor Phil Cubeta's movement and the CAP (Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy) program. If we attorneys get JD designations and accountants get CPA designations, then shouldn't philanthropic advisors get CAP designations?
Photo courtesy of James Jordan
