Individual & Family Giving » Philanthropic Advising Services

Philanthropic Advising Services

Create your charitable legacy.

Just as you have financial, legal and tax advisors, you can also use the services of a philanthropic advisor for your charitable pursuits. As a benefit of having a charitable fund at the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, you have access to our team of philanthropic advisors’ knowledge and expertise.

Advising Services

What to expect when working with our philanthropic advisors

Our team starts each conversation by asking, “What’s important to you?” to listen and understand your areas of interest. From there, we can:

Help you identify, research and connect with nonprofit organizations.
Provide you with guidance on grantmaking best practices.
Facilitate discussions to think through your values, priorities and goals.
Offer custom charitable legacy plans.

With several decades of combined experience, our team of philanthropic advisors can complement your existing advisory team by helping you explore, consider and document your charitable goals and priorities. We specialize in facilitating family meetings to establish charitable giving roadmaps as well as private, customized educational programming.

Document your philanthropic plans for now and beyond your lifetime

Articulating your charitable goals and priorities during your lifetime will ensure your philanthropic legacy follows your intentions after you’re gone. We can help you document future plans for your giving, which can complement your existing estate plan. This may include the following:

A timeline for your giving, which may be indefinitely or for a set number of years
Specific organizations you want to support
Interest areas that you care about, like education, health care or the environment
Geographic areas where you’d like your giving concentrated
Absolutes or more stringent guidelines for your giving

Jacqueline

No living family members
Specific organizations and charitable projects in her community
Defined timeline after death

Jacqueline created her philanthropic legacy plans more than 35 years ago, naming two close friends who would oversee her philanthropy after her lifetime. These individuals, known as “successor advisors,” for Jacqueline’s donor-advised fund, passed away recently. Jacqueline does not have any living family members, so she has entrusted the Community Foundation with carrying out her plans. Jacqueline worked with our advisors to document her intentions for five years following her death, naming the nonprofit organizations, the projects and the community that she wants to support. When the time comes, the Community Foundation will ensure that the organizations receiving Jacqueline’s final grants understand her desire for profound community improvements for people living with physical disabilities.

Steven and Joan

Unique geographic interests
Children named as successor advisors
Distributions to charity at death

Steven and Joan live in Overland Park, Kan., but their passions span the globe. Amy and Beth, their two adult children, live in Santa Barbara and New York and are named as successor advisors on their parents’ donor-advised fund. Steven and Joan documented their plan to distribute a percentage of their fund’s assets to organizations in their respective hometowns, Topeka, Kansas and Springfield, Missouri, at their deaths, and they’ve arranged for an annual donation for 10 years to support a UNESCO World Heritage site in India. They also documented their mission and values, which they regularly discuss with Amy and Beth, so their daughters can carry their philanthropic legacy forward.

George

Established a scholarship fund to support students during and after his death
Set up a trust to make distributions to the Community Foundation for scholarships and grants to charities

George worked with the Community Foundation in the late 1990s to establish a scholarship fund that awarded college scholarships to students in his community. The awards were renewable, so students could count on receiving tuition assistance throughout their undergraduate years, as long as they maintained a certain GPA. When George passed away 10 years later, his trust provided assets for the scholarship fund so that the scholarships could continue. Additionally, George designated five nonprofit organizations that would receive annual grants after his death via a second charitable fund he established with the Community Foundation, and he left directions for an additional annual grant that the Community Foundation would oversee to respond to pressing needs in the community.

Jacqueline

No living family members
Specific organizations and charitable projects in her community
Defined timeline after death

Steven and Joan

Unique geographic interests
Children named as successor advisors
Distributions to charity at death

George

Established a scholarship fund to support students during and after his death
Set up a trust to make distributions to the Community Foundation for scholarships and grants to charities

Meet Our Team of Philanthropic Advisors

Whitney Hosty, CAP®

Vice President, Philanthropic Services

Jenny Erdman

Senior Philanthropic Advisor

Sarah Forgey

Senior Philanthropic Advisor

Nicole Stuke

Senior Philanthropic Advisor

Terrell Brown

Philanthropic Advisor

Mariah Roady

Philanthropic Advisor

Contact Our Philanthropic Advisors

We’re happy to help. Complete this form and let us know how we can assist you.

"*" indicates required fields