Advisors using Foundation Source's DAF platform will have more freedom to make their mark with philanthropic clients, thanks to a new update.
The fintech firm announced an expansion of its donor-advised fund platform, aiming to offer wealth managers greater flexibility and control over the philanthropic solutions they provide to clients.
The update unveiled Tuesday adds multi-custodial capabilities on top of its white-labelled infrastructure, allowing advisors to integrate branded DAF experiences within their existing technology stacks and custodial relationships.
The new features are enabled through a partnership with BridgeFT, whose wealth tech API allows Foundation Source to support multiple custodians.
This integration is intended to help advisors maintain their preferred custodial relationships, including the three largest national custodians – presumably Fidelity, Schwab, and Pershing – while managing DAFs under their own brand and investment strategy.
Ashby Foltz, senior vice president of product at Foundation Source, said the platform’s ability to support an advisor’s preferred custodian “allows for the best of both worlds: investment asset custody with a familiar partner, combined with a modern, user-friendly experience for donors.”
Supporting simple contributions as well as complex assets such as private equity, business interests, and real estate, the platform offered in partnership with Charityvest, is designed to be embedded within an advisor’s practice and delivers a tax-advantaged giving solution. With the latest enhancement, advisors can access custodial data via BridgeFT’s API, manage DAFs with firm-level branding, and retain control over investment strategy and service delivery.
Stephen Kump, president of DAFs at Foundation Source, said the expansion is about “unlocking greater freedom for advisors to serve their clients without constraints" as it “[eliminates] custodial and branding limitations.”
The announcement follows Foundation Source’s integration partnership with Envestnet announced this month, which will see its technology – supporting private foundations, DAFs, and planned giving – added to the Envestnet platform. .
Envestnet is one of the top TAMPs with built-in impact investing platforms for US advisors and RIAs. Learn more in this guide.
Earliert his summer, Foundation Source also expanded its reach with the acquisition of Pacific Foundation Services, a San Francisco-based foundation management firm.
The company now supports more than 2,300 private foundations, 18,000 DAF accounts, and 1,800 nonprofits, administering $40 billion in charitable assets and facilitating over 180,000 grants and planned gifts annually.
According to the latest data on the DAF space from National Philanthropic Trust, donor-advised funds across the US held $251.52 billion in assets in 2023, with more than $54.77 billion granted to charities and a payout rate of nearly 24%. The number of DAF accounts rose slightly to almost 1.8 million, and the average account size increased to $141,120.
Mercer, Focus Partners Wealth, Mariner, Creative Planning and Captrust top the leaderboard tracking AI search results for RIA firms.
"We believe this model will help younger investors – and any investors who value a hybrid advice experience,” said Ryan Robson, principal at Edward Jones.
Conte Wealth Advisors reportedly has $1.4 billion in client assets and 20 advisors.
The Cleveland-based RIA's latest tie-up extends the firm's national footprint into the Golden State, where opinions continue to be split over a contentious billionaire wealth tax proposal.
Meanwhile, Cetera has welcomed a family-run practice from Commonwealth, and a Merrill advisor joins an existing UBS team in Connecticut.
Northern Trust’s Ken Lassner shows advisors how to convert volatility into after-tax portfolio gains
Dan Biagini of American Equity says the steady decline of pensions, longer lifespans and a reset in interest rates are rewriting how advisors build retirement income
