Financial Planning for All: Expanding Access, Impact Through Pro Bono Service

Everyone can benefit from financial planning. Whether an individual needs help addressing a specific issue or wants to get all of their ducks in a row with a comprehensive financial plan, financial planning helps to secure their future.

Unfortunately, not everyone can access financial planning services, for a variety of reasons. Expanding access to competent and ethical financial planners is a top strategic priority for CFP Board . Although much of our work in this area focuses on growing the number and diversity of CFP? professionals, particularly through our Center for Financial Planning, we also firmly believe in the importance of CFP? professionals offering pro bono services as a way to expand access.

Providing pro bono services to those in need is a hallmark of established professions. It is also a proven method for making a positive — perhaps transformative — impact on someone’s life.

CFP Board recognizes ethical and competent pro bono financial planning as a compelling and important tool in uplifting the most financially vulnerable Americans. That is why we partner with the?Foundation for Financial Planning ?(FFP) to help make pro bono?opportunities, training and resources available to all CFP? professionals. FFP is the nation’s leading 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity solely dedicated to the delivery of pro bono financial planning. For more than 25 years, FFP has supported the delivery of free financial guidance to over 590,000 people in crisis or in need.

Our good friend and FFP CEO Jon Dauphiné has described CFP? professional volunteers as “the lifeblood of pro bono financial planning.” He needs more CFP? professionals to match with worthy programs, individuals and families, and we are happy to supply them. Through our partnership with FFP, CFP Board has committed to raising awareness of pro bono opportunities among CFP? professionals, encouraging them to volunteer and coordinating closely with FFP to connect them with pro bono engagements.

We have also set a goal of increasing by 10% in 2022 the number of CFP? professionals providing pro bono financial planning. We are well on our way to achieving that goal.

In fact, our belief in the value and importance of pro bono financial planning is so strong, we recently hired a full-time pro bono manager, Moley Evans , to help engage CFP? professionals in pro bono work. She is our in-house expert on pro bono trainings and webinars, reporting pro bono hours and finding pro bono opportunities. She is also a resource for firms seeking to encourage more of their CFP? professionals to get involved in pro bono work.

CFP? professionals who have volunteered their time to advise the underserved have found it to be an enriching experience that helps them feel rewarded, connected and engaged. And their pro bono service has taken many different forms. Alli Masoero, CFP? volunteers her time to educate teenagers about money matters. Her work has included teaching campers at Philadelphia Youth Basketball how to save money, how to set financial goals and how to prepare for the future with a curriculum she created. Susan Williams, CFP? helped the family of a military veteran badly wounded in Iraq establish a budget that stabilized their finances and enabled them to qualify for housing assistance. Yusuf Abugideiri, CFP? helped a family identify strategies to improve their cash flow so they could afford the father’s treatments for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. These are just a few examples of how CFP? professionals have used their knowledge and experience to make a difference.

Pro bono financial planning helps people take control of their financial lives and has a positive impact on individuals, families and communities — and it elevates and enriches the financial planning profession. I encourage you to consider giving some of your time to this worthy endeavor. Reach out to Moley ([email protected] or 202-379-2302) with any questions and for help getting started.