As a Wealth Management Advisor at Merrill Lynch with a Certified Financial Planner designation and an active board member and volunteer at various nonprofits in Pittsburgh, Kirk Johnson has a dual understanding of responsible giving and the funding needs of charitable organizations.

“You have to be charitably minded as an advisor to help your clients give to charity,” explained Kirk.

Kirk learned of The Pittsburgh Foundation through his involvement in the nonprofit community. In many cases, the Foundation was helping to fund programs at organizations for which he served as a volunteer. 

Now, he works with many of his clients to incorporate the Foundation into their giving plan. “How do you maximize what you give away to benefit the community?” said Kirk. “One has to believe that the community foundation will continue to be engaged and effective long after a donor is gone, with a set of principles and procedures that are worth following.”

He advises his clients to map out their charitable giving, and write down exactly what it is they would like to accomplish with their money. In the case of combined giving, Kirk has found that often, after creating individual giving plans, spouses and partners realize that their specific motivations for giving are different. Once all options are laid out, Kirk works with each family member to develop a giving plan that includes multiple interests.  This is another reason that the varied fund options at The Pittsburgh Foundation are appealing to his clients, he said.

Pittsburgh donors young and old and with diverse financial backgrounds are extremely generous with their money, according to Kirk. But they all have one thing in common – the desire to leave a legacy.

“Wealth is not defined by a number, it’s defined by an achievement,” said Kirk, “It’s all about carrying on and sharing.”