How is Tactical Philanthropy Advisors different from other philanthropy advisors or consultants?

Many philanthropy advisors and consultants work on a project, hourly or staff time basis. At Tactical Philanthropy Advisors, our services are delivered by an experienced advisor who is focused on building a relationship with each client. Our fees are based on a percentage of philanthropic assets under advisement, which means that rather than simply delivering discreet answers to your questions, we are incentivized to deliver a complete, personalized, high-touch advisory experience. Our minimum account size of $1 million means that we work exclusively with high net worth clients. We provide a level of service unmatched by organizations with much lower minimums.

Our working arrangements with national, institutional quality private foundation and donor advised fund administrators such as the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund®, Schwab Charitable, Calvert Giving Fund and Foundation Source mean that instead of focusing on the paperwork and bureaucracy of philanthropy, we spend 100% of our time dedicated to providing expert advisory services.

If I set up an account with Tactical Philanthropy Advisors, can I continue working with my current wealth manager?

Yes. Tactical Philanthropy Advisors does not provide investment advice. Our private foundation clients can use any wealth manager. Donor advised fund clients can also use any wealth manager, providing he or she meets the requirements of the sponsoring entity we work with. In many cases, this means your wealth manager will be eligible to manage the account.

Why is Tactical Philanthropy Advisors a for-profit instead of a nonprofit?

We chose a for-profit legal structure because we believe doing so gives us a competitive advantage in hiring the very best client advisors. In addition, a significant element of value to our clients is our ability to leverage our deep philanthropic networks to source the knowledge our clients need. We feel that we are better able to navigate networks of large foundations because we are operating as their peers rather than as potential grantees.

Tactical Philanthropy Advisors is committed to advancing the field of philanthropy. We believe our service benefits the public because we help our clients maximize the effectiveness of their giving. Even though we have not requested tax-exempt status, our fees are in line with leading nonprofit community foundations that offer similar services. We are a “double bottom line” company that tracks financial and social impact performance and strives to maximize both. We are committed to the idea of knowledge sharing in the philanthropic sector and seek to aggressively share any reports, information or practices we create with the public.

Does Tactical Philanthropy Advisors serve clients nationally?

Yes. Currently our offices are in Burlingame, CA midway between San Francisco and Silicon Valley. However, we intend to grow geographically over time and are available to travel as needed to serve clients across the country.

What is Tactical Philanthropy Advisors’ relationship with Philanthropic Ventures Foundation?

Philanthropy Ventures Foundation is a public charity founded by maverick grantmaker Bill Somerville. PVF operates a “demonstration foundation” to highlight creative philanthropic practices and has a mission to advance the field of philanthropy. Tactical Philanthropy Advisors has made a commitment to assist Philanthropic Ventures Foundation in bringing its brand of creative grantmaking to the national stage and to work collaboratively to advance the field of philanthropy. Separately, we have engaged the services of Bill Somerville and PVF to provide grassroots philanthropy solutions to our clients.

How does Tactical Philanthropy Advisors charge for services?

We charge a percentage of assets under advisement. Click here for our full fee schedule.

How can Tactical Philanthropy Advisors provide donor advised fund services if it is not a public charity?

We have working arrangements with leading public charities such as the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund®, Schwab Charitable and Calvert Giving Fund. When you open a donor advised fund through Tactical Philanthropy Advisors, the assets are placed with one of these organizations.

Are Tactical Philanthropy Advisors fees paid by my private foundation or donor advised fund or must I pay for them out of my own pocket?

Our private foundation clients pay our fees directly from their foundation. For legal reasons, our donor advised fund clients pay the sponsoring public charity (such as Schwab Charitable or Calvert Giving Fund) our fee out of their donor advised fund. We have a separate contract in place with the sponsoring public charity under which we get paid for our services. In cases where we do not have such an arrangement in place, our client may need to pay us a portion of the fee out of their own pocket. When this is the case, a client is always notified ahead of time.

How does Tactical Philanthropy Advisors work with other professional advisors?

We collaborate closely with other professional advisors to high net worth clients such as wealth managers, CPAs, lawyers and family offices. Referrals from these professional advisors are one of our top sources of new clients. If you are a professional advisor interested in working with us, please visit the section of our website dedicated to you.

Is Sean Stannard-Stockton or other members of the Tactical Philanthropy Advisors team available for public speaking engagements?

Yes. You can find recent and upcoming speaking engagements as well as information on booking a member of our team here.

Is Tactical Philanthropy Advisors able to provide advisory services to foundations or donor advised funds that are administered elsewhere?

Yes. We make zero profit on the administrative services we provide our clients. While using one of our administrative partners streamlines our reporting and advisory services, we do not require that you use these services. Our fee schedule offers lower rates for clients who wish to provide for administration elsewhere.

Does Tactical Philanthropy Advisors provide advice on program related investments, mission related investing or other approaches to using a charitable endowment’s financial assets to make “social investments?”

Yes. While we do not provide investment advice, we do advise our clients on the social impact of their financial investments and work with their investment advisors to align their financial portfolios with their philanthropic goals. We view grants as only one tool in the philanthropic tool kit and proactively assist clients in evaluating other sorts of financial transactions in pursuit of social impact.

Does Tactical Philanthropy Advisors provide consulting services for large, fully staffed foundations?

From time to time, large, staffed foundations may seek advice from Tactical Philanthropy Advisors. Depending on the engagement, we are open to accepting short-term projects. However, we focus on serving high net worth individuals and families and do not seek out contracts with fully staffed foundations. While most of our foundation clients have no program staff, some of our clients employ a small number of program staff with whom we collaborate closely.

Does Tactical Philanthropy Advisors provide consulting services for nonprofits?

No. We believe that serving both donors and nonprofits results in a conflict of interest for the advisor. We are dedicated to serving the needs of high net worth donors. However, we are committed to supporting the social sector and informally helping nonprofits pro bono when we can.

Does Tactical Philanthropy Advisors offer research reports on nonprofits or issue areas?

While we produce many informational media products, we are not a research organization. We work closely with research organizations, but our services are focused on providing relationship-based, advisory services.

Is Tactical Philanthropy Advisors available to conduct family retreats or short-term philanthropic planning?

Our services are available exclusively as part of a full-service, ongoing client relationship. Within the context of that relationship, we provide customized services to meet your needs.

Does Tactical Philanthropy Advisors offer tax, legal or investment advice?

No. We provide philanthropy advisory services only. We collaborate closely with our clients’ wealth managers, lawyers and CPAs to ensure our philanthropic plans integrate with existing investment, tax and legal planning.