Edna was exhausted. Her husband required 24/7 care for serious health problems as well as dementia. She felt that she was the only person who could care for him, and the emotional and physical hardships of being a caregiver were taking their toll. Just when she thought she had nowhere left to turn, she met a family caregiver navigator at Marian Regional Medical Center and was referred to a caregiver support group. Now, Edna feels confident leaving her husband with other caregivers and has started to make action plans to address her own needs. Edna now feels like she has returned to living again and this is thanks to donors like Jean-Luc Bourdon, who support the Santa Barbara Foundation’s Community Caregiving Initiative.
“As a financial advisor, several of my clients are caregivers and I am amazed by the challenges and difficulties they face in every day tasks,” said Bourdon, a principal and wealth advisor at BrightPath Wealth Planning, LLC. “I wanted to be able to do more to help them, so I decided to donate to the Santa Barbara Foundation’s Community Caregiving Initiative because it really makes a difference on a local level. Working with the foundation has also helped me understand aspects of caregiving that I was unaware of and this information helps me support my clients who are caregivers.”
Bourdon’s passion and dedication to helping his clients extends beyond caregiving into his volunteer work with professional organizations in financial advising. He volunteers his time to the American Institute for Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the California Society for Certified Public Accountants to help train professionals to give wholesome advice. He believes that if people receive good financial advice, their lives will be better, which will make the world better. Bourdon has been able to inspire real change in the financial advising profession through his volunteer work, including helping to create the AICPA personal finance report card, which is a free tool to help people improve their financial planning.
“A lot of times, I find that people overlook certain aspects of financial planning and do not fully explore important areas such as estate planning wishes or philanthropic legacy until later in life,” said Bourdon. “I always advise my clients who are interested in philanthropic planning to contact the Santa Barbara Foundation because the staff has mastered being a bridge between assessing needs in the community and knowing how to address those needs based on the donor’s interests.”
In addition to his contributions to the Community Caregiving Initiative, Bourdon has firsthand experience with the Santa Barbara Foundation’s ability to match donor’s interests to community needs through his donor advised fund, which allows donors to make grant recommendations.
“Through my donor advised fund, I get to connect with and support the Santa Barbara Foundation, its initiatives, and a variety of non-profit organizations.” said Bourdon. “This makes me feel involved and empowered to make a change. It is also why I encourage people to interact with the foundation beyond their checkbooks. Getting to know the people who make up the foundation, attending events and getting involved has given me a greater appreciation for what the Santa Barbara Foundation does and has increased the personal reward I feel from contributing.”
Without donors like Bourdon, the Santa Barbara Foundation would not be able to help people like Edna. You too can have a local impact on the causes you care about and help one person at a time in creating lasting change in our community – just like Jean-Luc Bourdon. For more information about how to donate to the Santa Barbara Foundation, please visit our website or contact Jan Campbell, Chief Philanthropic Officer and Senior Vice President at jcampbell@sbfoundation.org.
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