At a gala in Boston on Wednesday, the Invest in Others Charitable Foundation observed its 17th year of honoring financial advisors who give back to their communities.
It was the foundation’s most competitive year ever for submissions, R. Barkley Payne, the executive director and president of Invest in Others, said in an interview. Six hundred and fifty nominations were submitted this year on behalf of advisors from around the country, up from 600 last year, and $740,000 in total grant funds were awarded to charities on behalf of 90 advisors, whose submissions were chosen after a two-month review by judges.
Read more: 5 advisors win ‘Invest in Others’ awards for contributions to charitable groups
“Seventeen years ago, for our first gala, we received 175 nominations, and we awarded $65,000 total,” Payne said, adding that the group has also increased its number of sponsors. “This significant growth over time … just demonstrates the role that financial advisors play in their communities, in their own backyards.”
Financial advisors have increasingly shown interest in having a career that goes beyond simply helping the rich get richer, and recent research has found that advisors, especially younger ones, are more likely to prefer working at a firm that encourages pro bono planning.
Read more: In the scramble for talent, pro bono work could give firms an edge
On Wednesday, one Lifetime Achievement Award winner received a $100,000 grant to their preferred charity, while winners of the four other award categories each received a $60,000 grant for their charities. Ten additional finalists each received donations of $25,000 to their charities, and 75 honorable mention winners got donations of $2,000 each.
Invest in Others, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, was founded by independent broker-dealer giant LPL Financial in 2006 to encourage advisors to volunteer more in their communities. The board of directors, which reads like a who’s who of industry names, includes executives from firms such as Raymond James, Ameriprise and Blackrock. The top gala sponsors this year are also represented on that board: Apollo, Cetera Financial Group, Commonwealth Financial Network, Fidelity Investments, LPL Financial, Merrill Wealth Management, MFS, Morgan Stanley, Natixis Investment Managers, Osaic and Private Advisor Group.
To be eligible for an award, a financial advisor must meet industry licensing requirements and have been on the job at least three years. They must also have volunteered continuously with one nonprofit for at least three years, among other conditions.
*Disclosure: Financial Planning and its parent company, Arizent, donated between $25,000 and $35,000 to this year’s award program. An executive at Arizent participated in judging the winners.
The top five winners this year are: