“We’re collaborating with our best clients to get them involved and be advocates for us as well,” Sarti said. “The second part was getting our non-advisory people involved. They were excited because they thought it was a way they could add value in a way they normally couldn’t.”
He added that Morton Capital put a lot of thought into how deep it could go with this program. “We didn’t know how much response there would be, and we’re obviously sensitive to the capacity of our advisors,” he said.
In essence, the program entails a three-step process that’s focused on goal setting. As Sarti explained it, people interested in the program fill out a simple survey designed to be user-friendly that asks people about their goals and what keeps them up at night. Then a person who fills out the survey talks to an advisor, where they dive deeper into the goals and prioritize them.
“More than anything, that process is about getting them organized regarding what’s important to them,” Sarti said.
After the goals are outlined, the third step is to put pen to paper in the form of a spreadsheet to come up with budgeting and savings strategies to help participants accomplish their goals.
Sarti estimated that between 20 to 30 people have tapped into its community outreach program. He added that the firm started slowly with this by limiting their outreach to existing clients who might know people in need of financial help, along with asking the company’s operations team to reach out to their family and friends in the community.
And he noted that program participation by the firm’s advisors is voluntary. “Advisors are capacity constrained, so we left it up to them,” Sarti said. “Virtually every advisor at the firm is participating, which really is wonderful. The generosity and gratitude we’ve received from the people we’ve helped has been overwhelming. As a result, our advisors have got a lot out of it—more from an internal point of view than we envisioned.”
While this is a do-good endeavor, it’s also a form of marketing for the firm. “Of course, this is a way for us to build our brand in the local community,” Sarti said.
It might also translate into more business down the road, though what exactly that means remains to be seen.
Sarti said he expects the program to continue, though he doesn’t know what it will look like after things return to normal.
“Does it serve its purpose in its current form, or does this potentially expand our existing offering?” he asked. “Like with most firms, our offering has certain restrictions and investment minimums that are just the reality of doing business. We’re learning along the way how to service a different type of clientele that could potentially broaden our future service offering to help people who don’t fit our typical client profile.
“That’s up in the air at this point because this is a learning process for us,” he added.