Last night, I attended the sixth annual Invest in Others Charitable Foundation Community Leadership Awards at the Cipriani here in New York. It was a night of food, drinks, schmoozing, and of course, entertainment. But the main point of the night was to honor advisors and their teams for their outstanding achievements in philanthropy.
Advisors received awards in five different categories: Community Service; Global Community Impact; Mentoring Excellence; Volunteer Team; and Volunteer of the Year. Finalists in each category receive a $5,000 donation to their charity, while winners score a $20,000 to their charity.
Invest in Others also announced last night that it would be launching a grant program, allowing advisors to submit grant requests of up to $5,000 on behalf of a charity they support. To be selected to receive a grant, advisors must demonstrate that they have “entrepreneurial vision” and leadership in creating positive change in their local community. They must also show that they’re active in advancing the mission and goals of the charity. The foundation will accept grant submissions from Sept. 1 through Feb. 1, with recipients announced in May.
Bill Dwyer, president of national sales at LPL Financial, presented the last award of the night, which went to William Hull of The Capital Group, for his work with Heartstrings Community Foundation. By the end of his speech, Hull was nearly in tears.
Invest in Others was a concept originally created by LPL. The firm used “Invest in Others” as the theme for one of its annual conferences, sending a reporter to drive across country and interview LPL advisors who had done great things in their local communities. CEO Mark Casady then suggested they open the awards up to the broader industry and do an annual dinner to benefit the charities.
REP. magazine and WealthManagement.com has its own awards dedicated to honoring advisors whose commitment to charitable causes goes beyond simply writing a check to a worthy organization—The Advisors with Heart Awards. Every year, our editors receive hundreds of nominations, and we whittle it down to 10 winners who are featured in the May issue.
These are people who roll up their sleeves and spend many hours in projects that benefit the world around them. Do you have an interesting story to tell?
