Who Makes Money from Your Money? Advancing Impact through Advisor Search

This session will explore advisor search as a critical impact lever for foundations and impact investors. Nancy Reid and Taj James will discuss the search process for a financial advisor with their client Rhea Yaw Ching, CEO of Mission Telecom, a charitable foundation based in Colorado with a dual focus on grant-making and venture philanthropy. Rhea will describe Mission Telecom’s goals for their new advisory relationship and for a portfolio that amplifies and accelerates the organization’s work. Nancy and Taj will offer insight into key considerations for beginning and executing a search process, including why “who makes money from your money” is as necessary a consideration as asset management strategies. They will also address how foundations navigate the balance between fiduciary duty and an emerging conception of what it means to invest for impact. The panel will offer specific insights about the critical decision points in one innovative foundation’s advisor search process, along with general observations about the tradeoffs and challenges investors face as they seek to align their advisory firms, managers, and underlying assets toward transformative social change.