Philanthropic advisers: Making a difference in the lives of others
Charitable efforts range from hunger prevention to medical research
Financial advisers have once again received well-deserved accolades for their outstanding and inspirational volunteer work.
Fifteen advisers and six companies were recognized as finalists for this year’s Invest in Others Awards, and the winners were announced at the 11th annual gala at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York last Thursday. About 550 people from the advice industry and associated professions attended.
In addition to public recognition, the winners and finalists of the awards, presented by The Invest in Others Charitable Foundation, receive monetary gifts for their charities.
$80M raised
The work of this year’s finalists encompasses efforts in the areas of hunger prevention, youth development, financial literacy, and medical research and support, among others. The finalists spent an average of 37 hours per month volunteering and collectively have raised $80 million over the past three years for their favorite charities, which serve more than 1 million people in need each year.
“The recent catastrophic events in Houston, Florida, Mexico and the Caribbean have brought droves of people together to help those in need. But the financial advice industry is no stranger to this kind of community service,” said Megan McAuley, executive director and president of Invest in Others. “This year’s finalists and winners demonstrate what it’s like to use their skills and talents to serve those in need and address challenges in their communities. While they each help in their own ways, they are all united in their selfless desire to make a difference in the lives of others.”
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The arrival of any new baby is a life-changing event. But when president of Anselmo Investment Management in Temecula, Calif., Mark Anselmo and his wife learned their son Nicholas was diagnosed with autism, it added a tremendous new dimension.
“The initial diagnosis was a shock,” he said. “But it was the biggest blessing, because it caused me to ‘press pause’ and look at what the most important things in life are.”
When Nicholas began therapy and then school, Mr. Anselmo saw a serious need for resources, and founded the Our Nicholas Foundation in 2005 to provide substantial support. Over the past 12 years, the nonprofit has provided public-school autism programs with thousands of classroom supplies, such as iPads and weighted vests.
As the foundation has evolved, it has added programs supporting several major areas:
• Schools: fulfilling school supply “wish lists” and establishing “peer buddy” programs between autistic students and other kids.
• Families: hosting parent support groups and family nights in public places.
• Recreation: establishing a special needs soccer league (including 200 peer buddies), special needs swim classes and a special needs park, developed in partnership with the City of Temecula.
• Personal fundraising: creating an annual fundraising event which enables families to raise money for the foundation and their own needs.
• Community center: leasing a facility for workshops, respite care and a teen club.
Award winnings will most likely be applied to the development of a technology center within the community center, Mr. Anselmo said.
“The most important thing to us is building a community where people feel they belong,” he said.
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“It wasn’t OK to just watch these other kids not participating,” said William Sparks, international financial adviser with Merrill Lynch in Encinitas, Calif., speaking of his son’s low-income classmates who couldn’t afford to participate in after-school activities.
After unsuccessfully lobbying the local schools for years to subsidize the programs, he and his wife decided to found Los Angelitos de Encinitas in 2008. Eighty percent of the participating kids are citizens, he noted, born in the same hospital as his own children.
The first program Mr. Sparks launched was an after-school soccer team of 15 children. Now there are more than 300 youngsters participating in citywide leagues.
Other subsidized activities include 500 kids in YMCA programs (such as swimming, dance and soccer) and 75 kids in academic assistance programs.
In 2010, Los Angelitos was an Invest in Others winner, which helped provide the funding and national recognition necessary to enable the launch of an academic after-school program. This year’s award will go toward sustaining and expanding existing programs, Mr. Sparks said.
improved performance
After nine years, and now serving 750 kids a year, the nonprofit has had a palpable impact on Encinitas:
• The YMCA now has bilingual staff and greater low-income membership.
• The early participants are now going to college and volunteering in the community.
• Schools are seeing improved academic performance by students.
Early on, it was pretty lonely going, Mr. Sparks said. But as he spread the word, people came out of the woodwork.
“Fortunately, there are plenty of people out there who are dying to help others,” he said.
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• Collected and delivered over 2,000 pounds of food in one month for a local food pantry — 16 pounds per employee.
• Hosts a lunch series in which nonprofits participate to encourage employees to get involved.
• Offers up to 20 service projects per year.
• Almost 70% of employees participate in volunteer activities.
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• Donated $20,000 to support kitchen renovations at a local women’s shelter.
• Employees founded Chemo Caps for Kids to knit hats for pediatric cancer patients — 4,212 hats have been donated to 16 hospitals nationwide since 2009.
• Two hundred employees throw birthday parties each year for underprivileged children through Birthday Wishes.
• Employees completed a total of 4,000 volunteer hours in 2016.
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What has kept Thomas E. Reilly Jr. on the board of Crossroads for Kids Inc. for 26 years?
“It’s the kids — you meet them and you love them,” said Mr. Reilly, a founding principal of Birch Hill Investment Advisors in Boston.
Crossroads serves 1,000 “under-resourced” kids per year from eastern Massachusetts, providing summer and school-year programs to third graders through high schoolers. Programming includes residential summer camps and youth retreats; extracurricular programs such as educational support, leadership and personal development; and community service.
Some 95% of Crossroads graduates are accepted to college.
Since 1993, Mr. Reilly has served as development chairman, vice chairman, treasurer, investment chairman and a member of the capital campaign cabinet. He has also been a major donor.
The children build a strong support system, he said. The core camping experience tightens the bonds between them, and having another set of friends outside of their at-risk neighborhoods can be very helpful.
“I wish we could somehow ‘can’ what we see — the camaraderie and communication between the kids,” Mr. Reilly said. “I find so endearing how they watch out for the shy, timid ones.”
A possible use for the award funds would be more support for graduating seniors, to help them with the often overwhelming college application process and with the challenges of being in college.
Mr. Reilly strongly believes in paying it forward.
“There were random people in my life who came along and helped me out,” he said. “There’s a certain amount of luck in life, but it makes you think, why can’t I help someone I don’t know?”
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Michael Thaler, co-founder of Equity Concepts in Henrico, Va., is a man taking on an entire country.
After participating in a mission trip to Niger in 2001, he was very moved by both the spirit and poverty of the West African country. Two years later he started his own nongovernmental organization, Effective Ministries Inc., which focuses exclusively on the impoverished desert nation.
Niger is in a desperate situation. With widespread hunger, a 60% child mortality rate and the lowest national literacy rate in the world, it is also surrounded by hostile activities in neighboring countries.
In 14 years, EMI has raised nearly $12 million and carried out about 100 specialized missions with more than 1,000 volunteers. The main focus areas are health, water, orphans, education, microbusiness and spiritual sustenance. Every year, thousands of people are fed at dozens of sites.
Mr. Thaler pays all the charity’s operating costs, donating more than $1 million over the past three years.
The group has developed a highly effective service delivery model through its partnership with 40 other nonprofits working in Niger. EMI itself has 17 employees on the ground there, overseeing the accountability, progress, funding and ongoing maintenance of all the partners’ projects. Sustaining EMI financially is its base of 1,800 members, who pledge a constant stream of funding every year.
The Invest in Others award winnings will go toward a backlog of projects, including vaccines, food, wells and health care for children.
The needs of the country run very deep, but Mr. Thaler remains hopeful.
“The impossible is possible, even in Niger,” he said.
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When two of her daughter’s young adult friends died of drug overdoses in 2013, Jody C. D’Agostini, senior partner at The Falcon Financial Group in Morristown, N.J., was shocked. Surveying the surprisingly extensive opiate problem in her well-to-do community, she had a realization: She was the right person to tackle the problem.
As chairwoman of the board of the local YMCA and a former physician’s assistant, Ms. D’Agostini applied her expertise and experience to found Community in Crisis.
“It’s been a leap of faith,” she said. “I felt like I was being pushed. I knew all the players — it was the perfect storm.”
The nonprofit serves as a community coalition and a central hub to fight the heroin/opioid crisis in a region of 46,000. Its main areas of focus are:
1. Education and outreach — through events (town-wide summits, presentations to community groups, etc.) and informational material (videos, brochures, a community toolkit).
2. Programming/training — for those in recovery, their families and law enforcement.
Community in Crisis has recently opened a wellness center. Its Invest in Others award funds are slated to go toward ramping up current programming and hiring professional staff, such as addiction counselors.
Challenging Perceptions
The nonprofit’s broader approach to the crisis has been to convene community working groups, including mental health professionals, medical professionals, police, parents and clergy.
Changing community perceptions of the problem has been challenging, Ms. D’Agostini said.
“There were a lot of people who didn’t want to talk about it in the beginning,” she said. “But more local kids were dying and it was beyond denying. We’re trying to take the stigma out of addiction. It’s a disease, not a choice.”
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