Harris Launches Philanthropy Initiative in Collaboration With National Philanthropic Trust

JENKINTOWN, Pa., Aug. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- National Philanthropic Trust (NPT) and Harris announced today an initiative demonstrating Harris' expanded commitment to philanthropy. Harris is launching a donor-advised fund program, the Harris Charitable Fund Program, under the sponsorship and management of NPT, a national public charity. Also, the Harris myCFO Foundation, a public charity, has also granted its assets to NPT, which will also administer the granted assets under the Harris Charitable Fund Program.

A donor-advised fund under the Harris Charitable Fund Program will be distinguished by the wide range of assets it can accept, the breadth and flexibility of investment options it offers, and the global scope of grant opportunities it creates for its donors.

"Charitable giving is very important to our clients, and we want to offer them the most flexible donor-advised fund program possible," said Claudia Sangster, Director of Philanthropy Services for Harris. "NPT has great experience, and we feel our philosophies are closely aligned in providing such opportunities to donors. With NPT serving as the sponsor and administrator of the Harris Charitable Fund Program, we can do this in the simplest and most seamless way, while maintaining the high level of service our clients expect."

The Harris myCFO Foundation was originally established to address the desire of donors to recommend direct foreign grants and to require accountability from the recipient organizations regarding the use of restricted grant funds.

NPT follows a similar philosophy in allowing direct foreign grant recommendations and allowing donors to request grant accountability reporting for restricted grants over a certain amount. Collaborating with NPT will allow Harris to tap NPT's extensive expertise in these areas and also enable them to offer their customers a broader scope of philanthropic opportunities.

"We are pleased to administer the Harris Charitable Fund Program and help clients donate to their favorite charitable causes," said Eileen Heisman, President and CEO of NPT. "We offer a wide range of sophisticated and highly personalized donor-advised fund services. Our work with the Harris Charitable Fund Program represents a significant collaboration of two distinguished organizations devoted to philanthropy."

The wide range of assets now acceptable as contributions from donors under the Harris Charitable Fund Program includes cash, appreciated stock, bonds, mutual funds, restricted and closely-held or non-publicly traded securities, real estate, limited partnerships, deferred gifts and other illiquid assets. As for investment options, the new program offers a variety of investment pools that are designed to reflect a donor's philosophy on investment risk, reward and time-horizon for the donor-advised fund grant recommendations under the Harris Charitable Fund Program.

About the Harris Charitable Fund Program

The Harris Charitable Fund Program is an initiative of Harris, a Chicago-based integrated financial service provider of banking, lending, investing, financial planning, trust administration, portfolio management, family office and wealth-transfer services to more than one million personal, business and corporate clients. Harris, a trade name used by Harris N.A. and its affiliates, is part of BMO Financial Group (NYSE, TSX: BMO), one of the largest diversified financial services providers in North America. Established in 1817 as Bank of Montreal, BMO Financial Group is a highly-diversified North American financial services organization. With more than $390 billion in assets as of April 30, 2010, and more than 37,000 employees, BMO Financial Group provides a broad range of retail banking, wealth management and investment banking products and solutions, including investment management, trust and estate services, and private banking. The Harris Charitable Fund Program is not a separate legal entity.

About National Philanthropic Trust

One of the 100 fastest growing charities in the United States, National Philanthropic Trust (NPT) is an independent public charity that helps individuals and families reach their philanthropic goals meaningfully and effectively. Founded in 1996, NPT is one of the nation's largest donor-advised fund providers and is recognized nationally for its charitable expertise, grantmaking, stewardship, and unique donor services. NPT has raised over $2 billion in charitable gifts, has made more than 44,000 grants totaling $1 billion to charitable institutions worldwide since its inception, and currently manages approximately $800 million in assets. A national board of trustees and a team of professionals with over 200 years of combined philanthropic experience lead NPT. For more information, visit www.nptrust.org.

National Philanthropic Trust is not an affiliate of Harris N.A. or any Harris N.A. affiliate.

Harris myCFO Foundation is not an affiliate of NPT, Harris N.A. or any Harris N.A. affiliate.

SOURCE National Philanthropic Trust