In these crazy times, some financial advisors are doing what it takes to help make things a little uncrazy for people coping with the Covid-19 world.

One such firm is Morton Capital, a registered investment advisor in Calabasas, Calif., that serves about 1,000 families with roughly $2 billion in total assets. Shortly after the crisis started, the firm started a program that offers free financial planning to community members.

“We’re looking to be a resource in the community to provide financial advice to anyone who needs it during these tough times,” company CEO Jeff Sarti said during a recent webcast on advisor best practices delivered by a handful of firms participating in the G2 Leadership Institute, a training program administered by The Ensemble Practice.

“It could be someone who lost their job or was furloughed from their work,” Sarti continued. “Perhaps it’s a small-business owner struggling with payroll issues and who wants to navigate various government programs, or an older person with questions about RMDs or should they be taking Social Security.”

He noted the genesis for this program began about a year ago when the firm got together to discuss services it would like to provide a few years out.

“There has always been an internal push towards charity and helping the local community,” Sarti explained. “Someone suggested we create what’s essentially an open house where people in our community could come in and talk with a financial advisor free of charge. We were thinking that was maybe a 2021 initiative, but with everything that has been happening in the past few months we saw this a catalyst to start that process now.”

The firm made a three-minute video about its “Community Give Back” program to serve as its marketing vehicle. 

“It was a fun and artistic process,” Sarti said in a follow-up interview. “It actually came together pretty quickly. We wrote the script and we just kind of put it together with a film editor we work with.”

They didn’t want it to have the “educational” feel of typical videos from advisory firms.

“I wanted the video to have a community feel,” Sarti said. “It was all shot on iPhones.”

Morton Capital relied on its staff—both on the advisory and operation sides of the business—to get the word out about the video and the program. First, the firm sent an email about the video to all of its clients to let them know about it. From there, each advisor contacted a handful of clients they have especially good relations with to ask if they have any friends or family with financial planning needs who could benefit from this program.

“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.