CFP Board, Foundation for Financial Planning Create New Pro Bono Award

Honor will be given to an academic institution that demonstrates community involvement

Financial planners are well-known for giving back to their communities. Now those educational institutions that teach them will be recognized for their pro bono efforts as part of a new award supported by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards and the Foundation for Financial Planning.

The CFP Board and Foundation for Financial Planning Excellence in Pro Bono Award will be given to an academic institution registered with CFP Board to provide the coursework requirement for CFP® certification.

The CFP Board Registered Program must demonstrate exemplary pro bono work that benefits both their students and their community. A call for nominations and eligibility criteria will be announced in July 2018. The award will be given at the CFP Board Registered Program Conference in February 2019 and will receive a $5,000 grant sponsored by Dalton Education.

“The spirit of pro bono work often begins with the education a student receives,” said Mary Kay Svedberg, Ph.D., CFP Board’s Director of Education. “We want to recognize the institution that best represents what it means to give back to the community and its students. Hopefully, they will serve as an example for other schools to follow.”

The Foundation for Financial Planning supports a variety of programs that match volunteer CFP® professionals to at-risk people who otherwise couldn’t access sound financial advice. CFP® professionals and other financial planners work with these vulnerable individuals and families to help them with their finances and create a plan of action that will lead to better financial outcomes.

“CFP® professional volunteers are the lifeblood of pro bono financial planning,” said Jon Dauphiné, Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation for Financial Planning, “and many find that their passion for helping others who are less fortunate begins while they are young. In recognizing the work of higher education, we want to accelerate the trend of younger planners volunteering to give back by showcasing the institutions that best help them to do it.” 

 ABOUT the FOUNDATION FOR FINANCIAL PLANNING

The Foundation for Financial Planning, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, is the nation’s only nonprofit solely devoted to supporting the delivery of pro bono financial planning to vulnerable people, including wounded veterans, domestic violence survivors, people with serious medical diagnoses, and many others. Dedicated to Powering Pro Bono Financial Planning, the Foundation has provided more than $6.6 million in grants to community-based nonprofits to support local programs; worked with partners to activate more than 15,000 volunteer financial planners to serve their communities; and acted as a leader and catalyst to embed a rich tradition of and commitment to pro bono across the financial planning profession. Visit FoundationForFinancialPlanning.org to learn more.