Fidelity Family Office Services says it has formed a business alliance with Foundation Source, a provider of support services for private foundations, to strengthen its philanthropic service offerings.
Family offices that work with Fidelity will have access to Foundation Source's back-office administration tools and online platform, and its philanthropy and private foundation advisory specialists, the firm said yesterday.
The service expansion will allow family offices to take a more flexible approach to managing private foundations -- from administration and reporting to the coordination of tax preparation, compliance support and investment management, according to Fidelity. "This alliance with Foundation Source is really matching up the services of the leading provider in private foundations with our clients that had those sophisticated needs," said Phil Brown, senior vice president of Fidelity Family Office Services.
Fidelity's alliance with Foundation Source means that family offices "can leverage those services to help them be more efficient, more effective in managing the foundation," he said.
The program includes:
Back-office administration: Families, directors and staff will provide administrative support to keep their private foundations running smoothly and in compliance with federal and state laws. This includes transaction processing, compliance monitoring, federal and state filings, and advanced back-office services.
Web-based platform: Foundation staff can monitor and manage day-to-day foundation activities via an online platform, including research capabilities so that family offices can conduct due diligence on IRS-approved charities, flexible grant making and expense tracking options, and an online reporting and document archive system for storing, organizing and sharing foundation documents.
Support services: Family offices can work directly with their dedicated Fidelity client service manager and support team to help keep the foundation operations running smoothly and, when needed, engage Foundation Source specialists in areas of philanthropy, tax, legal and accounting services.
-Jim McConville