Planners urged to offer charitable advice

Ignore the wave of increasing community involvement at your own peril. These words of warning for financial planners came from Coca-Cola Amatil’s chair David Gonski, speaking at the Financial Planning Association (FPA) annual conference.

According to Gonski, consumers are increasingly looking for ways to make a financial contribution to society.

As a result, financial advisers need to understand the various processes by which their clients can make charitable donations, and in doing so strengthen the client-planner relationship.

Gonski said advisers should recommend to their clients arrangements such as workplace giving, private philanthropic trusts and estate plan bequests.

However, he added that planning practices could also benefit from an increased involvement in charitable activities

For instance, Gonski suggested that planning practices consider a partnership arrangement with a not-for-profit organisation, whereby financial planners lend their expertise or financial support.

Potential benefits, he said, could include an extended network of clients, an improved corporate image, and an opportunity for financial planners to make their own personal contribution to society.

In the last year, around $11 billion was donated to not-for-profit institutions by Australians, according to Gonski. This was comprised of 37 per cent of the population making an average donation of $100.

Gonski said: “Your role as client advisers means you can use your position to influence. Many people who have benefited from good fortune want to be able to do something.”