Invest in Others joined Cambridge advisors at Ignite to celebrate the charitable work happening across the profession and share new opportunities to support the causes they care about
Invest in Others recently had the opportunity to participate in Cambridge Ignite, connecting directly with financial advisors and introducing more of them to our mission to amplify, celebrate, and inspire the charitable work of financial advisors.
The timing couldn’t have been better! While Invest in Others celebrates 20 years of recognizing the extraordinary ways financial advisors give back this year, we are also preparing for a significant expansion of our grant opportunities in 2027. Ignite provided an ideal setting to share what’s ahead, hear directly from advisors about the causes closest to them, and demonstrate how Invest in Others can help them grow their charitable impact.
A Gathering Built Around Relationships
For Jeff Vivacqua, President, Growth and Development at Cambridge, an Invest in Others Board member and the organization’s most recent Board Chair, Ignite creates an environment where conversations about charitable impact fit naturally alongside conversations about business and professional growth.
“Ignite brings together advisors from across Cambridge to learn from each other, build relationships, and share ideas they can take back to their businesses and communities,” Vivacqua said. “Giving back is a natural part of that conversation.”
That commitment has long been part of Cambridge’s culture. Since 2004, Cambridge has recognized and supported local charities in Ignite host communities, raising more than $1 million for those organizations along the way.
Having Invest in Others onsite created another opportunity for advisors to talk about the organizations and issues that matter most to them, and to learn about the charitable work of their peers.
“What always stands out is how personal these causes are to advisors,” Vivacqua said. “They aren’t choosing organizations because they feel like they should give back. There is usually a story, a relationship, or an experience behind why they became involved.”
Those conversations also provide a window into who advisors are beyond their businesses. As Vivacqua explained, education and business discussions are an important part of gatherings like Ignite but learning what advisors care about personally can create deeper relationships and reveal just how much they are already contributing to their communities.
One Advisor’s Commitment to Helping Others Build Independence
Ben French’s story is a powerful example. French’s work began in 2015, when he met Dallas, a young man with intellectual disabilities whose family was experiencing homelessness. French rented a two-bedroom apartment, welcomed Dallas into his home and began helping him develop the life skills he needed to become more independent.
That initial act eventually grew into Shepherd’s Way, an organization dedicated to helping adults with autism and other intellectual and developmental disabilities build independent, community-engaged and purpose-driven lives. Its model pairs participants with trained peer mentors who live alongside them and help develop the skills necessary to flourish as adults. The organization has also developed a career program designed to support sustainable long-term employment.
Over its first decade, Shepherd’s Way served more than 100 people with disabilities across Kansas and Texas. French has served as both a board member and president and CEO, contributed thousands of volunteer hours and helped raise more than $2 million to advance the organization’s work.
His story illustrates something Invest in Others sees again and again: financial advisors can bring much more than financial contributions to the nonprofits they serve.
“Advisors build their businesses around relationships and trust,” Vivacqua said. “They know their clients, they know their communities, and they often see needs that others may not see. They also know how to bring people together around a common goal.”
When advisors apply those same skills to charitable organizations, their impact can extend far beyond writing a check. They can contribute their time, expertise, leadership and connections; raise awareness; mobilize others; and help nonprofits grow their impact over time.
Helping More Advisors Grow Their Impact
That is also why Cambridge’s support of Invest in Others is such a natural fit.
“Cambridge has always believed in supporting advisors as people, not just as business owners,” Vivacqua said. “Invest in Others shares that philosophy by recognizing the impact advisors are making outside of their businesses and helping them do even more for the organizations and causes they care about.”
There’s much more ahead! Beginning in January 2027, Invest in Others will launch a redesigned grant program offering financial advisors expanded opportunities to secure funding for the nonprofits they support. The new program will feature a simplified, year-round application process and significantly increase the amount of funding available to support advisor-led charitable work.
Advisors will submit one grant application and can choose to opt in for consideration for the Invest in Others Awards, creating another potential opportunity to receive funding and recognition for their nonprofit partners.
Connecting with advisors at Ignite gave Invest in Others the chance to begin spreading the word about these new opportunities directly to the people they are designed to support, and to encourage even more advisors to think about how their time, talent, leadership and resources can make a difference.
For Vivacqua, that work has implications well beyond any individual advisor, firm or nonprofit.
“Our industry spends a lot of time talking about the value advisors provide to their clients, and that’s important, but their impact often extends much further,” he said. “When we recognize and support advisors who are making a difference in their communities, we’re also showing another side of what this profession can contribute.”
That is a story Invest in Others is proud to help tell, and, with new grant opportunities coming in 2027, one we hope to help even more advisors become part of.
As Vivacqua put it: “Please continue to Invest in Others!”
