Your Point Guard
Alison Berger 1984 Yearbook Photo. Pineville Mountain Lions.
Growing up in Pineville, a small town in southeastern Kentucky, we were passionate about two sports, football and basketball. Much to a lot of people’s surprise, I was a basketball player. A Point Guard or Forward to be exact.
We started at five years old. Our Saturday mornings were filled with leagues and games and snacks. By the time I reached high school, even though at 5'5 I was the center on my all-state 5th grade team, my talent wasn’t my ability to shoot.
My gift was about being able to see the play develop on the court and being able to get the ball to the right person to shoot. Was it a bounce pass? Was it a forward pass that would define the play? My hustle and drive made plays happen, even though I wasn’t the one who scored the point.
Knowing intrinsically how to get someone else the ball was my gift in basketball and that's a lot of what I do in terms of philanthropic advising. My clients and I are a team. The team includes my client, or clients, maybe that's a family maybe that's a company or maybe that's a group of people who are coming together to create change. It also includes their financial advisor, attorney, accountant, or their family office staff. My role is to work with everyone involved to figure out the big picture and what kind of shot do they want to take?
Some families or individuals want to take the shot under the goal, some families love a three-point play. For some, it's about the fundamentals, the little things that they can do in their community or hometown that will make a difference. Others, want a big score. They want to see how putting their money, research, time and talent to work can create change locally, nationally and beyond.
My job is to understand my clients/teammates individually. Understand the best way for them to go about their work, bring them together and visualize success. My job is to work alongside their other advisors and look two or three plays down the floor to make sure they have the ball when my clients are ready to shoot. I help my clients focus, make sure that they are moving in the direction of the goal and celebrate our wins together.
I'm not the one who takes the shot, but ultimately, when my clients win, the team wins. And that's where I find my purpose and passion in philanthropic advising. It's watching someone else score. Watching someone else make a difference. Connecting change-makers and movement builders to causes they are passionate about and then stepping back and watching them shine.
In short, when you work with me you are guaranteed that I’ll work hard, I’ll bring energy, compassion, integrity, and grit to the job. And together we will champion the causes you believe in to create real and lasting change in our world.