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Max Britos, an RBC Wealth Management Investment Advisor & Financial Planner, produces a weekly video blog with trusted colleagues. Max invited me to share my experience on how client conversations which include values, can play an important part in the client relationship process.  

Values matter… 

What follows in this short video is a touching story about the impact and legacy that access to education can provide and how it changes many lives. The narrative begins abroad in a poor island nation where a Canadian manufacturing entity operated. As part of their corporate culture and social values, the company had partnered with a Canadian University to make available a fully funded bursary for a qualified international student. The recipient is the first in his family to have access to post-secondary education and he courageously journeys to Canada. A successful degree in engineering brings him out west to Calgary, where he advances his career and raises a family. His family values of sharing with those less fortunate includes charitable support locally, however, his ultimate wish was to fund a similar scholarship for someone in his country of birth. 

Strategic philanthropy takes shape… 

During my tenure at the Calgary Foundation, a financial planner referred Simon to meet with me to discuss his wishes to establish a perpetual scholarship by gifting $1million to seed an endowment. Thinking purposefully about how to maximize the annual distribution from the endowment, I suggested that we connect the donor directly with the university to create this fund, thereby eliminating the CF’s cost recovery of 1 %. In addition, I introduced the notion of gifting publicly listed securities and employee-optioned stock to reduce/eliminate some capital gains. This thoughtful guidance was most warmly received by the donor and advisor, as well as the university. 

Hallmark of a donor-centred relationship… 

A few years later, when updating his Will, the donor advised that 25% his estate was bequeathed to Calgary Foundation to seed a field-of-interest endowment in education, with a preference for bursaries and awards for students of low-income, marginalized families. 

As a trusted advisor, I provide independent, customized philanthropic counsel to individual families, private and public family foundations, and the advisors that serve them. Many factors will shape the philanthropic services you may require, including your objectives, time horizon, and resources. Clients can accept the services they need, in any combination, and use them continuously or ad-hoc at any point on the giving/granting continuum.

For more information on how I collaborate with clients, please visit the consulting-advising page on my website.

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