The Balser Professional Advisors Council’s giving circle has announced a $25,000 grant to the Thomasville Boys & Girls Club of the Boys & Girls Club of Metro Atlanta. The club, located in the Thomasville Heights neighborhood in downtown Atlanta, works with hundreds of kids and teens in after school programs aiming to help them succeed in school, live healthy and become leaders. The grant was made after the group heard funding pitches from three nonprofit organizations that had been selected via a diligent vetting process.
 
The Balser Professional Advisors Council is a network of professional advisors including accountants, wealth managers and estate attorneys who have demonstrated an interest in philanthropy, both personally and professionally.  The group is a joint program of the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta and United Way of Greater Atlanta to provide opportunities for education, knowledge sharing and networking.
 
The Balser Professional Advisors Council giving circle is a way for council participants to learn more about their community and the challenges faced by local residents. Members pool funding in order to make a collective grant to nonprofits, allowing for a more significant, collective contribution. They selected the Thomasville Boys & Girls Club because it serves as a beacon in the community and a gathering place that provides an environment where all youth feel safe and secure to dream, discover and develop.
 
Prior to making their pitch to the council, representatives from Boys & Girls Club and selected other nonprofits received presentation training from the Center for Civic Innovation. Their training included a seven-hour workshop on pitching techniques plus individual coaching sessions that were sponsored by the council.
 
“The giving circle was moved by the hope that the Boys & Girls Club in Thomasville Heights provides to hundreds of kids on a daily basis. Their living conditions, safety, nutrition and future success depend on the club, which sits adjacent to where the majority of the kids live and the giving circle has made a large grant to further the ability of the Boys & Girls Club to provide for these kids,” said Christy Eckoff, director of gift planning at the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta.