Morgan Stanley Offers Charity Guide
Over 500 U.S. charities were good enough to be rated last year by The American Institute of Philanthropy. To make due diligence less daunting for wealthy donors, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney has put together a guide that narrows the focus down to 20 charities.

The firm's second annual Perspectives in Philanthropy Gift Catalog was put together by Morgan's in-house panel, with the help of certain charities and after a vigorous vetting process, according to the firm. In the process, the list was narrowed down from last year's roster of 40 charities.

The catalog isn't intended to be comprehensive but, rather, serve as a showcase to stimulate philanthropic ideas and encourage philanthropic giving, explained Melanie Schnoll Begun, managing director of philanthropic services at Morgan, who along with Steven Rosandich, vice president of philanthropic services, served as a co-editor.

The catalog provides detailed information about each charity. Included are Aid to Artisans, Cherokee Boys Club, The Fistula Foundation, Panthera and Doctors Without Borders. Many of the charities are already supported by Morgan clients with a net worth of at least $50 million and the proclivity to give at least a million away a year. The point of teh guide is to get these charities in front of a wider audience, according to Begun.

"Take a client of ours with a foundation directed towards a particular initiative--say, for example, childhood sarcomas," Begun said."How does that client find other families that have lost a child to a similar cancer, who want to do something to memorialize or honor that person and are intent on making a difference? How do they stop that other family from starting another foundation that may, after a couple of years, flounder? The only way to do it is to build this larger community."

Despite a nationwide drop in charitable giving, the catalog has been "incredibly well received," said Begun, noting that charitable giving by Morgan's wealthy clients has not significantly diminished. "In fact, some gave more because they felt the need to make up for the difference in what others weren't contributing," she said.

During the past year, Morgan client-donors have become increasingly "mission driven," and engaged in a "much more intentional and thoughtful process of selection," Begun said.

She observed, too, that some clients had begun to consider "spending up" their foundations. "They are making more contributions now to groups and issues they really care about instead of just a mandatory minimum payout from their foundations," she explained, adding that the philanthropy catalog serves as a useful resource in this regard as well.

To download a copy of the catalog click here.

In other news ... 

Average Wall Street bonuses dropped 5% this year, according to the eFinancialCareers Global Bonus Survey, which cited the early reports of Wall Street professionals who are bonus-eligible and know the amount of their annual bonus. These individual bonuses ranged from zero to $5 million, demonstrating that pay-for-performance remains intact on Wall Street, the report noted. While 8% of bonus-eligible Wall Street professionals took home no bonus this year, and 19% saw their bonuses decline, the majority (56%) of financial professionals who saw bonuses in both years took home more than the previous year. Go to www.efinancialcareers.com for more information.

In a year already marked by natural disasters such as flooding in Brazil and Australia, foreign nonprofits can reach out to American donors for help much more quickly though the Friends of Charity Fund now being offered by Charities Aid Foundation America (CAFAmerica). The fund is designed to cut red tape and lower expenses (about a third of the cost to establish a US 501(c)3 charitable entity), enabling foreign nonprofits to quickly launch and maintain a U.S. fundraising appeal and accept tax-deductible donations of any size from U.S donors. Go to www.cafamerica.org for more information.

Nearly half (44%) of accounting and finance workers are likely to make a job transition in the next 12 months, up 14 percentage points from the previous quarter, according to the Accounting and Finance Employee Confidence Index. At the same time, more than three-fourths (78%) of accounting and finance workers are confident in their job security, as compared to 74% reporting confidence the third quarter of 2010. The survey was commissioned by The Mergis Group and conducted by Harris Interactive. Go to www.mergisgroup.com for more information.

CFOs at large North American companies, citing and improving business environment, are more optimistic about their companies, despite moderate expectations on revenue and earnings growth, according to the Deloitte CFO Signals quarterly survey for the fourth quarter of 2010. Overall, 53% of surveyed CFOs are more optimistic than they were in the previous quarter and expect an average 8% rise in capital spending over last year. contact [email protected] for more information.

Investment Management Consultants Association has for the first time released its cumulative pass rates for IMCA's two Certified Investment Management Analyst Examinations. The rates were: 63% for the CIMA Qualification Examination and 58% for the CIMA Certification Examination. 2010 pass rates for the two CIMA exams are comparable to those reported in 2010 for the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation (42%) and Certified Financial Planner (CFP) certification (52%), according to IMCA. More than 6,300 advisors hold the CIMA certification. Go to www.imca.org for more information.

The Dow Jones Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Index ("Broad Index") wa up 2.90% for December and up 10.95% year to date. Nine out of ten sectors posted positive performance for December, with managedfFutures the best performer, finishing up 5.42%. Go to www.credit-suisse.com or www.djindexes.com for more information.

Three years after the start of the recession, U.S. CEOs' short-term confidence has returned to pre-2007 levels and moved back in line with CEOs around the globe, according to PwC's 14th Annual Global CEO Survey, with nearly three-fifths (56%) of CEOs surveyed reporting they are "very confident" about business prospects over the next three years. (In 2006, 53% of U.S. CEOs expressed optimism.) Growth internationally and sourcing from within the U.S. were cited as drivers of opportunity. Go to www.pwc.com/ceosurvey for more information.

Events

The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2011 is underway in Davos, Switzerland (January 26-30). Live Webcasts are available at www.weforum.org/events.

The 2011 LegalTech East Conference will be held January 31 through February 2 in New York City, providing a look at what the technological world has in store for attorneys and their practices. Go to www.legaltechshow.com for more information.

MIPIM 2011, scheduled for March 8-11 in Cannes, France, will provide a forum for investors seeking real estate business opportunities and partnerships with other investors. Featured is a keynote address by world-renowned economist Dr. Nouriel Roubini. Go to www.mipim.com for more information.

Strategic Solutions Network's First Annual Summit--"Training & Development Innovations for Financial Services"--will be held March 14 and 15 at the Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel in New York City. Go to www.fintraininginnovations.com or contact Shawn Jeffcoat at (561) 674-0086 for more information.

The SkyBridge Alternatives Conference, SALT 2011, will be held May 11-13 at the Bellagio Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Former President George W. Bush, Colin Powell and former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will serve as keynote speakers. Go to www.saltconference.co for more information.

Richard Attias & Associates will hold its second annual New York Forum--this year's theme is "Committed to Growth"--June 20-21 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City. Produced in collaboration with The New York Times, the forum will focus on the role of entrepreneurship in driving economic change, the relationship between business and government, and the dynamics of major emerging economies such as Brazil and China. Go to www.ny-forum.com for more information.

On The Move

Neuberger Berman Group LLC, an employee-owned asset management firm based in New York, has hired Eli M. Salzman as a managing director and portfolio manager specializing in U.S. large-cap value equity strategies. Previously, Salzman was a partner at Lord, Abbett & Co.

Oxford Financial Group, a multifamily office based in Indianapolis, Ind., has acquired Crowe Wealth Management of Grand Rapids, Mich. The merger has brought another $1 billion in assets and an additional 60 individual, family and institutional clients to Oxford, which has oversight over more than $13 billion in assets for about 550 clients in 34 states.

Reliance Trust Company, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Reliance Financial Corporation, has acquired Harrington Wealth Management Company, an operating subsidiary of Pacific Western Bank, which provides trust and investment management services to individuals and institutional clients. Wealth managers Richard E. Harrison, David R. Goodman and Larry O'Callaghan have joined Reliance Trust's wealth management team.

HighTower, an advisor-owned financial services company based in Chicago that serves high-net-worth and institutional clients, has named Matthias Paul Kuhlmey, a partner and managing director at HighTower, head of the company's newly established Group Investment Solutions division. Previously, Kuhlmey worked for UBS's Private Wealth Management Office in New York and oversaw the New York-based Domestic Private Banking Team at Bank Julius Baer.

--Cort Smith