How to View Ethics Through the Lens of Philanthropic Planning

Managing director of the American College Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics in Financial Services, Azish Filabi, JD, MA sits down with The College’s Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy® (CAP®) Program director and assistant professor of philanthropy Jennifer Lehman PhD, JD, CFP®, CAP® to discuss the ethical considerations advisors and other financial professionals must make when offering philanthropic planning services in a new continuing education (CE) opportunity available on Knowledge Hub+.

Filabi kicks off the discussion by reflecting on her history as a professional, stating that she has always worked to ensure organizations have the right governance structures in place and the right tools in place so they can consider ethics in their own personal decision-making as well as the impact they’re having on society.

She goes on to discuss the work performed at the Center for Ethics in Financial Services, stating the importance of the group’s research mission and outreach. In reference to this research, Filabi explains the purpose as “learning about the challenges that leaders and individuals are facing with respect to ethics so that can reflect back on the work that we do.” By completing this research, Filabi believes that the Center for Ethics will be able to provide the industry with valuable lessons relating to ethical concerns in the field.

Trust in Financial Services

One of these key lessons focuses on the topic of trust in financial services. Filabi shares that “Everyone I talk to highlighted trust as being a key factor in effective work that we do because it's essentially the glue that brings it all together. Some people went as far as to say that they're not in the business of selling financial products. They're selling trust because people have to trust us as professionals to be able to have their money in our good hands. Because trust is so important to financial services, the Center offers a certificate program on Advanced Strategies for Building Trust to help leaders access tools and frameworks to address this challenge.”

Lehman ties this back to the mission of The American College of Financial Services as a whole, stating a goal of providing applied financial knowledge and education, promoting lifelong learning, and advocating for ethical standards to benefit society. As Lehman points out, philanthropy is a key part of the profession tied to social impact.

Filabi weighs in on this, providing a description of ethics in the industry. She emphasizes the importance of doing no harm and acting in accordance with legal requirements while navigating opportunities. However, she points out that this is a more simplistic view on ethics. When providing her perspective, she states, “We at the center like to think about ethics, not only about the compliance and legal challenges that people face in their day to day, but about the gap between these minimum standards that are expected of us and the day to day challenges that people face in their work…what is the standard that clients expect from you so that they can trust you that might not already be codified in the law?”

How Do We View Ethics in the Context of Philanthropy?

Filabi continues by tying this to the field of philanthropy, discussing concepts such as conflicts of interest, duty of care, and loyalty. She admits this to be a challenging balancing act that also requires financial professionals to consider social impact as part of the equation.

Filabi contends that the importance of social impact is especially critical for the philanthropic sector in recent years. She supports this assertion by stating, “Government budgets are really crunched, and so that means that the philanthropic sector is playing a huge role in addressing some of the business and (societal) challenges that we face in the economy, and I think that should be part of an understanding of ethical duties and obligations as we think about social impact.”

“Government budgets are really crunched, and so that means that the philanthropic sector is playing a huge role in addressing some of the business and (societal) challenges that we face in the economy, and I think that should be part of an understanding of ethical duties and obligations as we think about social impact.”

Lehman and Filabi go on to discuss several additional topics relating to ethics in the philanthropic sector including the Donor Bill of Rights, what an organization should do if a donor’s values don’t align with the organization’s values, key items to consider when weighing the ethical implications of our choices, and more in this discussion, available exclusively on Knowledge Hub+!

To access this learning opportunity and other valuable CE, visit Knowledge Hub+.

More From The College:

• Gain philanthropic and legacy planning knowledge with our CAP® Program.
• Learn about the American College Center for Philanthropy and Social Impact.
• Join the waitlist to be notified when enrollment opens for the TPCP™ Program.
• Learn about the American College Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics in Financial Services.