The Advisor’s Advantage: Giving Back Through Professional Partnerships

Even wealth management experts can benefit from having more connections.

This year, Hays Evans is revitalizing his partnership with the Community Foundation and its Professional Advisors Network (PAN) to connect his clients with causes that matter.

Before rekindling his partnership with the foundation, Hays founded his own wealth management company Clover Capital Partners, the product of decades of work in financial services. 

“I moved to Georgia from Alabama after college and have been in financial services for my entire career,” Hays shared. “I spent the first 17 years in institutional sales and trading, covering mutual funds and hedge funds. I then transitioned into health management in 2012. The last 13 years have been in this world.” 

Hays first connected with the Community Foundation for Northeast Georgia through the Capital Group that manages the foundation’s assets.

“Through working with the Community Foundation, I got to know a lot of people who were on the board and donors as well as accountants, wealth managers, attorneys and other people in the area who helped me meet several individuals who became clients,” he explained.

“I got to know a lot of the advisors in the area who were on the board, including Adam Wilson [Link Adam’s when added to website] and Scott Phelan,” he said. “They invited me to get more involved and help them stir up more interest in [the Foundation].”

When he left Capital Group to found his firm, Hays still maintained a relationship with the foundation through his clients. 

“I’m no longer managing a main portion of [the foundation’s] pool [of assets], but I have several clients who are big donors into it,” Hays said.

After two years spent building his firm, Hays decided to reconnect with the Community Foundation and other advisors through PAN.

“[PAN] has been very helpful in getting ideas from other advisors that do what I do and from attorneys that work with clients in their charitable giving and estate planning,” Hays shared. “I get ideas that I can take back to my client. If they don’t already have causes they support, I can point them to open a donor-advised fund with the Community Foundation.”

Hays is looking forward to engaging with PAN so he can share ideas with fellow advisors for the benefit of his clients and theirs.

“It’s important to bring different ideas from different disciplines around what high net worth individuals are doing with their money and how they’re finding organizations to support,” he said.

Hays appreciates that the Community Foundation connects donors to local causes where their donations can make a big difference. 

“I’ve supported different organizations of all sizes, and there are some organizations where your dollars can go a lot further,” he explained. 

“The Community Foundation helps donors know where they can make a bigger impact.”