Foundation for Financial Planning

The Foundation for Financial Planning is the nation’s leading 501(c)(3) charity solely devoted to expanding access to pro bono financial planning for people in crisis or need. Since 1995, FFP has powered pro bono planning by supporting efforts that link volunteer financial planners to underserved populations, providing them with free, quality advice to improve their finances and their lives. A Long History of Giving Back FFP was founded in 1995 by leading financial planners who wanted to give back to their communities and advance their profession. They formed a nonprofit and raised money to create an endowment fund that powers grantmaking to worthy pro bono financial planning programs nationwide. Many financial planners stepped up to support the cause, as did leading corporations that provide services to the financial planning profession. A movement was born. The Foundation attracted enough resources for its new endowment fund that in 1998 it began making grants to a range of nonprofit programs serving vulnerable people with free financial advice. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, FFP and our partners accelerated the evolution of pro bono planning as we spearheaded an initiative to provide free financial planning to victims’ families and first responders. We also worked with partner organizations to help fund and implement Financial Planning Days, a program with events across the country that invited the public to meet one-on-one with financial planners for advice at no cost. We Go Beyond Financial Literacy We believe that everyone can benefit from a financial plan and quality financial advice. That’s why the pro bono work we make possible goes beyond financial literacy to provide one-on-one, free, quality guidance on people’s most challenging money issues. Our grants fund opportunities for personal interactions between volunteer financial planners and vulnerable people. This means: - the volunteer financial planner can tailor his or her advice to the person’s specific financial and life circumstances - the person seeking help can freely discuss challenges in a confidential, supportive setting - the volunteer financial planner can spot issues and offer solutions that a person taking a literacy class often cannot come to on their own - people needing help often receive a “roadmap” for moving forward, with concrete action steps to improve their financial lives.