In her role as financial advisor, Portland attorney Amanda Rand helps her clients make the most of their charitable giving. As Rand tells Jennifer Southard, vice president, donor services and operations, she considers the Maine Community Foundation to be an important resource in her work — more a complement than a competitor.
MaineCF: Could you talk a little bit about your career path?
Amanda Rand: I started as a practicing lawyer in Boston at Ropes & Gray, working in their trusts and estates group, advising individuals and families on all aspects of estate planning, including their charitable giving goals. I later moved home to Portland and served a similar role at Pierce Atwood for about three years and then with Betsey McCandless, a sole trusts and estates practitioner. I joined Spinnaker Trust about four years ago and shifted to advising clients on total wealth management. I focus on advice, strategy, planning, and getting to the heart of what a client wants to do with their money, which frequently involves charitable giving.
MaineCF: What kind of interactions have you had with the community foundation?
Rand: I have used the foundation as a tool to give to clients — as a resource for organizing their philanthropy without setting up a whole new structure like a private foundation. The community foundation takes care of the administrative work, which allows clients to focus their efforts on the fun part: giving money away.
Last year I joined the advisory board for the Vincent B. and Barbara G. Welch Foundation. The Welch trustees had just converted their private foundation into a supporting organization at the Maine Community Foundation for just that reason: to spend more time on grantmaking and less on administration.
MaineCF: When I’ve met with trust companies, everyone is friendly, but I sometimes get the comment that we’re competitors. How do you view this?
Rand: I think trust companies and the Maine Community Foundation complement one another rather than compete. We manage money like you, but there are instances where it makes sense to tell our clients how the community foundation can help them meet their charitable goals.
MaineCF: We have many donors who work with multiple advisors and charitable structures, so it’s not an all-or-nothing relationship.
Rand: Exactly. The community foundation can be a huge benefit to our clients. You have relationships all over the state and you’re able to help people who need some guidance in selecting organizations that will help them meet their charitable goals.
The foundation’s staff is great to work with, and the volunteers on the board are incredibly dedicated folks that are committed to its mission. Maine is better off for the foundation’s presence and for the people who are leading it.
A native of Falmouth, Maine, Amanda Rand is a senior vice president at Spinnaker Trust, charged with developing and servicing client relationships with a particular focus on tax planning and wealth transfer strategies. Rand earned a BA from Duke University and a law degree from Harvard Law School. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Center for Grieving Children. She is a member of the Maine Estate Planning Council, the Maine Medical Center Planned Giving Committee, and the Trusts & Estates Section of the Maine Bar Association. She lives in Falmouth with her husband and their three children.
