CAP : the Charitable Advisor Platform

    		  



    Donor advised funds are the fastest growing segment of philanthropy, because philanthropists want freedom to give. The Charitable Advisor Platform (CAP) gives donors the freedom and convenience they require, and simultaneously will relieve the NPO’s and FSP’s serving them of the complex administrative consequences. The CAP architecture, along with the ChesterCAP business process, standardizes and centralizes critical components.

    • Financial product administration via a primary custodial agent. Decoupling the investment product from the related administration and providing a universal infrastructure standard for NPOs, will reduce operational complexities for all participants, and will drive up DAF revenue.
    • Accounting, cashiering, notifications, and statements via a networked system of web portals linked to back office services. Outsourced administration will virtually eliminate the need for NPO’s and FSP’s to maintain in-house DAF administration, lower scale barriers for mid- and small-sized NPO’s, and drive down expenses.

    What is it?

    • CAP (Charitable Advisor Platform) is an outsourced solution for donor-directed philanthropy which combines:
      • A dedicated service bureau to perform back-office tasks.
      • A choice of investment solutions.
      • A web-based front office for all participants.
    • CAP is designed for community, religious, and educational foundations that want a quick-to-market and easy-to-maintain outsourced program for donor-directed philanthropy, whether based on donor-advised funds or direct contributions to component funds or programs.

    The ChesterCAP Service Bureau (CSB)

    • Participating NPOs outsource all program administration to the ChesterCAP Service Bureau except grant approval, which is easily given online.
    • The service bureau performs all essential back-office tasks:
      • Record keeping for gifts, security sales, grants, payments, investments, and fees.
      • Participant notifications and reporting.
      • Gift acknowledgement and annual donor IRS summary.
      • Grant processing and payments.
      • Fund statements and portal maintenance.
    • NPO staff is freed to concentrate on core competencies: donor relations and program expertise.

    The CAP Financial Infrastructure

    • CAP Primary Custodian
      • Cost effective.
      • Insures seamless, accurate, and timely investment reporting without expensive data aggregation or unitization.
      • Individual “trust-form” accounts yield fairness and transparency for the donor (Customized commingled endowment model available).
    • Independent Investment Management
      • Best of breed investments rather than any proprietary products.
      • Can begin with index funds for efficiency and simplicity.

    The Charitable Advisor Web Portal

    • The CAP-hosted, NPO-branded web portal is a philanthropic front-office for all program participants. Form-based work flow management makes transaction processing easy.
    • Advancement staff uses the portal to set up new donor advised funds.
    • Donors…
      • Make earmarked gifts via the portal.
      • Donor-advisors view their fund balance.
      • Suggest grant disbursements.
      • Recommend investment changes.
      • Discover funding opportunities in the Charitable Catalog, a searchable, illustrated database of vetted funding opportunities.
    • Charitable Catalog items are maintained by the fund seekers themselves, insuring accuracy and freshness, with the NPO staff serving as the gatekeeper and optionally spotlighting preferred funding needs.
    • Donor relations staff automates charitable guidance by selecting preferred funding needs that are spotlighted for donors based on philanthropic interests and giving history.
    • Fund Seekers (internal programs or external organizations)…
      • Promote their work in the Charitable Catalog to attract donors and donor-advisors.
      • Submit online applications for discretionary grants.
      • Submit progress reports describing program accomplishments.
    • Students submit online applications to scholarship programs.
    • Distribution Committees perform grant or scholarship application reviews online, and submit form-based evaluations.
    • Staff administrators respond to automatic notifications to approve grant recommendations and investment changes.

      If you would like to learn more, click to email  Eric Swerdlin at ChesterCAP.