Nonprofit Resources

ProBonoPlannerMatch.Org helps bring free, quality financial advice and planning to people in need by matching CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals with volunteer opportunities nationwide.

CFP®’s can register here and browse opportunities to volunteer. Nonprofits can register here to connect with CFP® volunteers who want to provide free, no-strings-attached financial planning and advice to underserved populations. Check out 7 steps Nonprofits Can Use to Get Started to learn more.

The Pro Bono Financial Planning Volunteer Training is a free, one-hour online module that helps financial planners understand the basics of how to provide pro bono service to underserved members of the community. The Pro Bono Financial Planning Volunteer Training is approved for one hour of continuing education (CE) credit by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards (CFP Board). After viewing the training in its entirety, volunteers must take and pass a self-assessment to receive their CE credit. *A version of the Pro Bono Financial Planning Volunteer Training specially geared to FPA members is also available on FPA’s site here.

This deck provides additional information about many key aspects of building a pro bono financial planning program, from promoting the program to potential clients to recruiting and training pro bono financial planners. Other tools and resources, several developed by nonprofit grantees of FFP, include:

• Pro Bono Financial Planning: An Overview for Nonprofits can help you understand how CFP® professional volunteers can support your nonprofit organization’s constituents, and 7 steps Nonprofits Can Use to Get Started provides actionable recommendations for developing a program.
• Sample Financial Habits Survey: This survey, developed by Britepaths, can be taken by clients prior to and post- financial planning sessions as a part of a nonprofit’s performance measurement process.
• Sample Volunteer Resource Manual: This manual, developed by Goodwill of Lane and South Counties, was developed to give volunteers access to information that will support its Prosperity Center It contains information about community resources including childcare, housing, food, health insurance, career counseling, vehicle purchase, education, and more.
• This brief and webinar by the Asset Funders Networks provides recommendations for improving client engagement and retention in financial capability programs.
• This report summarizing the findings of our efforts, with GreenPath Financial Wellness, to understand barriers and gain insights into how to best help people with low- to moderate- incomes engage with pro bono financial planners.

These disclosures can also serve as important tools in a pro bono engagements:

• Sample Pro Bono Financial Planning Engagement Letter: Used to define the terms and objectives of the relationship as well as the limitations of service. FFP recommends that the Letter of Engagement be signed by the financial planner and the client, with a copy retained by each, and if feasible by the nonprofit host of the program.
• Sample Verbal Disclosure: If it is not possible to use a written Letter of Engagement due to the nature of service delivery (for example, if there is only a brief, one-time consultation using video conference or telephone), FFP has developed a Sample Verbal Disclosure for the planner to share with the client verbally. Note however that the abridged version is not as protective as the Letter of Engagement, and does not include a Privacy Policy, a requirement per the CFP Board’s Standards of Ethics and Conduct when a CFP professional is providing financial planning or advice.
• Sample Privacy Policy: If needed by the volunteer, FFP has also developed a customizable Privacy Policy.
• Sample Volunteer Agreement Disclaimer: This disclaimer, developed by the Foundation for Financial Planning, ensures that pro bono financial planners and nonprofit organizations agree to a set of terms as they engage with one another.

Resources focused on a specific population, like military/veterans, people affected by serious illness, or domestic violence survivors.

• Secure your Financial Future: Building Wealth is a personal finance education resource that presents an overview of wealth-building strategies for consumers, community leaders, teachers and students.
• CFPB’s Your Money, Your Goals toolkit, and related videos, helps practitioners have money conversations with their clients. A companion to this toolkit, the Your Money, Your Goals Military Guide, provides resources to help military families overcome the unique financial challenges they face and improve their financial well-being.
• Navigating Your Financial Roadmap Workbook PDF (all populations)

• Make a Budget PDF
• Current Spending Plan PDF
• Future Spending Plan PDF
• Family Goals PDF
• Family Balance Sheet PDF
• Bill Payment Schedule
• Debt Management Worksheet PDF
• MoneySense Complete Financial Planning Toolkit PDFs
• Savings Fitness Worksheets

• FindHelp.org: A comprehensive, location-based network of free and reduced-cost resources for food, housing, goods, transit, health, money, care, education, work, legal assistance and more. It includes listings for both social services provided by nonprofits and government benefits. Visit findhelp.org, and enter a zipcode to find resources.
• Benefits.gov: The official benefits website of the U.S. government, where consumers can find public benefits they may be eligible to receive and information about how to apply. Examples of public benefits include Medicaid, Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), LIHEAP (utility assistance), Section 8 (rental housing vouchers), and much more!

CFPB Bulk Publications and other Practitioner Resources: The mission of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is to make markets for consumer financial products and services work for consumers by making rules more effective, by consistently and fairly enforcing those rules, and by empowering consumers to take more control over their economic lives.

Nonprofits and pro bono financial planners can use CFPB publications and resources to help the people they serve increase their understanding of key areas such as credit, saving, debt, retirement, and more. CFPB also offers a number of prerecorded webinar series that pro bono financial planners can use to support their clients, including:

• Helping clients explore their personal finance rights and;
• Helping Clients Monitor and Improve Their Credit Reports and Scores

FFP has developed a series of client testimonial videos that nonprofits can use to highlight the impact of pro bono financial planning. We encourage you view the videos below to learn how pro bono financial planners can support low- to moderate income people, and to use them in your client recruitment efforts. NOTE: Please reach out to us if you would like to use portions of any of the videos for your outreach and we may be able to work with you to provide shorter segments.

• Rifka’s Story – Rifka remembers feeling depressed and anxious as the financial realities of her breast cancer treatment began to settle in. The wife and mom of seven did not want her family to have to deal with the burden of her medical expenses.
  After receiving guidance from a pro bono financial planner, Rifka began to see a light that she could not find before being connected to Family Reach. As a breast cancer survivor, Rifka now owns her dream house and more. She describes the opportunity to meet with a pro bono financial planner as an amazing resource to help current cancer patients reach their dreams of becoming triumphant survivors.
• Raven’s Story – As a single mom of four, Raven is the family’s only source of income. When her three-year-old son was diagnosed with Leukemia, Raven began to miss work to take care of her son and before she knew it, Raven began to overdraft her account to cover basic expenses and her dreams of homeownership were put on hold.
  Raven recalls being apprehensive about financial coaching but gained comfort as she found her pro bono financial planner non-judgmental and easy to talk to.  Raven created a budget, lowered her expenses, and purchased her first home within six months of planning. Raven is still in disbelief as she was able to turn her dream into reality in the midst of her son’s fight with cancer.
• Nora’s Story – After living 10 years in Bolivia, Nora and her family moved back to the United States with very little to seek a life of financial independence. Although Nora and her husband did not know where to start on their journey, they had concerns about meeting with a financial advisor.
  “She never, at any point, was trying to sell me anything or go a certain way,” says Nora about her pro bono financial planner. In three months of planning, Nora and her husband began to budget, and their net worth began to grow. Nora highly recommends Britepaths and pro-bono financial planning to help others feel empowered and take control of their finances.
• Darrell’s Story – Growing up poor with 16 siblings in Bronx, N.Y., Darrell never received financial education during his childhood. In a kind-hearted attempt to help one of his siblings, Darrell signed a loan for a car while in college for his brother. When his brother stopped making payments on the car, Darrell’s credit began to plummet.
  Knowing that his parents were not able to help financially, Darrell turned to Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation for financial guidance. Darrell started to gain the financial education he never received growing up within a matter of weeks. Using the advice from his pro bono financial planner, Darrell turned his credit score from poor to excellent and is looking forward to buying a home soon.
• Michael’s Story – Michael knows firsthand how hard readjusting to civilian life can be as a wounded veteran. Like many of the men and women who served in Afghanistan, Michael was injured in Afghanistan. Civilian life became hard as an amputee and single father of three girls.However, Michael says his life changed for the better after his first, confidential meeting with a pro bono financial planner. He encourages other veterans to take the leap of faith and give pro bono financial services a try to gain peace of mind.
• Pro Bono Client Voices: The Impact of Financial Planning – A short compilation of the stories above. Listen to five clients describe how they benefited from pro bono advice provided by a volunteer CFP® professional.