Washington, D.C., Jan. 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Foundation for Financial Planning (FFP) has announced that it will reward grants to 17 nonprofit organizations, each working to deliver pro bono financial planning to populations who could not otherwise afford or access such services. Benefiting clients include military veterans, active service members and their spouses, lower income seniors and family caregivers, domestic violence survivors, families affected by cancer, and more.
In 2019, grant funds from the Foundation for Financial Planning will support the following organizations:
- Atrium Health’s Levine Cancer Institute in Charlotte, NC
- Austin Habitat for Humanity in Austin, TX
- Britepaths (formerly Our Daily Bread, Inc.) in Fairfax, VA
- CASH Campaign of Maryland in Baltimore, MD
- Compass Working Capital in Boston, MA
- Consumer Education and Training Services (CENTS) in Seattle, WA
- EnAct, Inc. in Charleston, WV
- Family Reach in Boston, MA
- Financial Independence Training, Inc. (FIT) in La Mesa, CA
- Financial Planning Association® (FPA®) in Denver, CO and selected FPA® Chapters
- GreenPath Financial Wellness in Farmington Hills, MI
- Kentucky Coalition Against Domestic Violence in Frankfort, KY
- NCEF-NAPFA Consumer Education Foundation in Chicago, IL
- San Diego Financial Literacy Center in San Diego, CA
- United Policyholders in San Francisco, CA
- VeteransPlus in Clearwater, FL
- Women’s Educational Center, Inc in Cambridge, MA
FFP will support seven first-time grantees in 2019, including United Policyholders (UP), which was founded in 1991 after an urban area wildfire destroyed 3,000 homes in Northern California. As residents found themselves struggling with serious and unexpected gaps in their insurance coverage and an often-adversarial claims process, UP was formed to help level the playing field between insurers and policyholders. Now, through support from the Foundation, UP is expanding on this mission, teaming up with FPA® to develop tools and resources to bring one-on-one financial planning assistance to individuals impacted by natural disasters.
“Twenty-six years serving disaster survivors has shown us how much they need expert financial guidance specific to their individual situation just as much as they need the insurance claim guidance and emotional support UP has been providing,” said Amy Bach, UP’s Executive Director. “We’re excited that this partnership will help deliver one-on-one financial planning to individuals and families in desperate need of services."
“Many of our clients are lower-income so never thought financial planning services were for them,” said Robin McKinney, Co-Founder & CEO of the CASH Campaign of Maryland, which promotes economic advancement for low-to-moderate income individuals and families in Baltimore and across Maryland. “Through our financial coaching program, they are being connected to valuable, high-quality financial planning that helps them get to the next level of their financial future.” The Financial Coaching Expansion Project, supported by FFP, will add another layer to this program by recruiting CFP® professionals to volunteer their services to clients facing more complex financial challenges.
Andrea Miller, Program Director at the Kentucky Coalition Against Domestic Violence (KCADV), echoes the value of pro bono financial planning as a way for her clients, domestic violence survivors, to meet with “trusted, financial experts who answer their individual needs.” She said, “This financial planning program provides hope to participants and helps them figure out a path to a stable, financial future.”
Funding for these organizations is part of more than $500,000 in grants that FFP will issue in 2019, an important step in the Foundation’s efforts to dramatically expand access to and impact of pro bono financial planning programs for at-risk individuals and family. “We are searching for innovative, scalable programs that can help FFP carry out our vision of a future in which all individuals and families can access quality financial advice,” noted Jon Dauphiné, Chief Executive Officer of FFP. “We seek to expand a tradition of pro bono service across the financial planning profession, and our grantmaking is one step towards this goal.”
Dauphiné added that three of the 2019 grant recipients are part of FFP’s Pro Bono for Cancer effort, which connects cancer patients and their families to volunteer financial planners. “In partnership with multi-year grantees Family Reach and CENTS, we are engaging 20 hospitals nationwide,” he said, “and in 2019, we plan to increase the number of referring hospitals to over 30. By the end of the year, we expect to serve over 500 families across the United States, ensuring that more people are empowered, educated, and better equipped to manage the complex and often overwhelming financial challenges that come with a serious cancer diagnosis.”
In addition to Family Reach and CENTS, a new grantee – Atrium Health’s Levine Cancer Institute – will contribute to these efforts. “We expect that by decreasing the financial stress and difficulties these greatly at-risk patients are experiencing, we will see not only an improvement in their quality of life but also an increase in their survival,” said Dr. Greg Knight, oncologist at Levine Cancer Institute and Director of the Financial Toxicity in Hematologic Malignancies program.
Today the Foundation has also opened applications for 2020 grants, which will support worthy programs delivering pro bono financial planning to populations who could not otherwise afford or access financial planning services. Eligible 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations are invited to apply by visiting foundationforfinancialplanning.org/our-work/grants.
The application process will close April 30, 2019.
About the Foundation for Financial Planning
The Foundation for Financial Planning, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, is the nation’s only nonprofit solely devoted to supporting the delivery of pro bono financial planning to vulnerable people, including wounded veterans, domestic violence survivors, people with serious medical diagnoses, and many others. Dedicated to Powering Pro Bono Financial Planning, the Foundation has provided more than $7 million in grants to community-based nonprofits to support local programs; worked with partners to activate more than 18,500 volunteer financial planners to serve their communities; and acted as a leader and catalyst to embed a rich tradition of and commitment to pro bono across the financial planning profession. Visit FoundationForFinancialPlanning.org to learn more.