Company Information

Dedicated to providing solutions that empower and inspire.

Crown Philanthropic Solutions, the firm behind DonorFirst, was established with a singular mission: to create cutting-edge, turnkey solutions that unlock the charitable and social promise of donor advised funds to power the global shift from charity to strategic philanthropy.

Whether your interest is mobilizing charitable efforts within a financial services firm, a community foundation, a small college, a university, or a large corporation, Crown has a solution that will match your needs. DonorFirst enables you to offer a market-leading DAF solution to your constituents in a flexible cost-effective manner.

We’re an established company of professionals, seasoned industry leaders with an overriding commitment to customer relationships and delivering the highest-quality solutions. We take the time to get to know the unique needs and goals of your organization and will carry that commitment from the first call through each stage of the deployment process. Crown ensures that each DonorFirst implementation aligns with your mission and contributes to your success.

 

Latest News (See All News)

First Hand Foundation Launches Crown's Donor Advised Fund Technology for Cerner associates. Englewodd Cliffs, NJ, June 1, 2010 .....View the full press release.

Noted Melissa Frerking, First Hand Foundation Vice President, “Our adoption of the Crown DonorFirstTM platform provides our associates with an engaging and efficient way to manage their families charitable giving, to share information about the causes they care most about, and to build charitable social networks that raise awareness of the organizations and programs they support.  While corporate donor-advised funds typically have been reserved for top executives, First Hand is among the first to make the fund available to all of its associates. Each has the option to contribute corporate stock or cash, as well as schedule on-going payroll deduction to fun their individual DAF accounts.”

 

Interactive Donor Technology Series - May 15, 2010

How will nonprofit organizations keep pace and remain competitive in an environment that is rapidly transitioning from the traditional ‘relationship-based’ development model, to one with an increased emphasis on outcome-based giving?

Beginning this month, Crown will be releasing a series of six monthly research reports related to this growing demand for interactive donor technology within the nonprofit community. Based on an ongoing series of interviews with national foundations, these reports will begin to provide a benchmark for where these trends are headed, and best-practices guidelines for capitalizing on the evolving opportunities.

- First report entitled “The Future Is Now”

- Second report entitled “Interactive Technology - An Inside Look”

- Third report entitled “Critical Success Factor”

- Fourth report entitled “Affluent Donors Expect Direct Access to Relevant Information”

- Fifth report entitled “Universities Embrace Enhanced Technology to Drive Alumni Engagement”

American Bar Endowment Selects DonorFirst(TM) Platform For ABE Charitable Giving Fund New York, NY, November 9, 2009 .....View the full press release.

Noted Renee Leskiw, Executive Director of ABE, “I believe that our adoption of the Crown DonorFirstTM platform for the ABE Charitable Giving Fund will provide our donors and advisors with the type of leading edge solution and enhanced service they have come to expect from ABE. The DonorFirstTM platform offers our members a state-of-the-art system to manage their personal, family and family office philanthropy by providing levels of collaboration, investment and grants management flexibility previously unavailable even within private foundation programs.”

Ball State University Foundation Selects DonorFirst(TM) Platform New York, NY, August 5, 2009 .....View the full press release.

Crown Philanthropic Solutions, LLC (www.donorfirst.org), an innovative provider of philanthropic technology for the financial services and nonprofit industries, announced today that the Ball State University Foundation has selected their innovative DonorFirst(TM) platform as the web-based host for their new Cardinal Funds Donor Advised Fund (DAF) initiative being launched for alumni and friends of Ball state University.

"With technology evolving in rapid-pace and enduring economic uncertainty, Ball State University Foundation strives to always have the tools and knowledge to keep our alumni engaged and committed to our cause. Adopting DonorFirst(TM) means a new communication channel with a new style of framing to our fund raising message... noted Phil Purcell, Vice President of planned Giving and Endowment Stewardship at teh Ball State Univeristy Foundation." 

 

Charities Navigate ‘Perfect Storm’ - By William H. Hewitt - July 8, 2009

In recent months the Obama administration has proposed changes in the tax code, including some that could impact the charitable community. One proposal—a plan to reduce the maximum allowable tax deduction for charitable contributions from 35% to 28% for families making $250,000 or more—has become a virtual lightning rod in the financial and philanthropic communities. View the full story.

 

American Indian College Fund Selects DonorFirst(TM) Platform New York, NY, Dec 15, 2008 .....View the full press release.

Crown Philanthropic Solutions, LLC (www.donorfirst.org), an innovative provider of philanthropic technology for the financial services and nonprofit industries, announced today that the American Indian College Fund (the Fund) has selected them to provide the Web-based administrative platform for their new Donor Advised Fund (DAF) initiative.

"Tribal colleges are beacons of hope for social and economic change in the communities they serve," said Tammy Miller-Carlson, Chief Financial Officer of the Fund. "These institutions are vital to Native America and beneficial to the country as a whole because they help Native communities in the fight against poverty, and act to preserve language and culture by integrating these important elements into their curriculum. Our new Crown DonorFirst(TM) DAF program will help us mobilize more supporters and dramatically expand our ability to provide scholarships for the Native American community." 

 

Upcoming Events

Learn more about Crown and the DonorFirst platform at the following events:

September 13-15, 2010, Charlotte, NC
COF - Fall Conference for Community Foundations - www.cof.org

October 10-13, San Antonio, TX
FTPI 2010 - www.jewishfederations.org

 

Executive Profiles

D. Patrick Curran, Chairman

Mr. Curran has been an active and successful private equity investor since 1979 and was a founder and Principal of C3 Holdings, (www.c3holdings.com) which invested over $60 million in ten businesses. Prior to this, he served as CEO of Cook Composites & Polymers, a $1 billion chemicals business that he helped create through a joint venture between Cook Paint and Total Chimie of France. He spent nearly 20 years at Cook Paint, working his way up to CEO, and performed one of the first leveraged buyouts on this company in 1979. He has served on the board of numerous highly successful Midwestern companies, including Applebee's International, Gold Banc, Lockton Companies, Unitog, Sealright, JPS Packaging, and American Safety Razor.

Ephy Torenberg, CEO

From 2001 to 2005, Mr. Torenberg (Ephy) was President of MicroEdge, Inc., (www.microedge.com) a division of Advent Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADVS). He began his tenure at MicroEdge in 1998 as the Chief Operating Officer. Ephy developed MicroEdge, restructuring it to respond to high growth needs, sustaining organic growth, and integrating various acquisitions. Under his leadership MicroEdge acquired NPO Solutions, which serves the community foundation market’s technology needs. During his tenure as MicroEdge/NPO President, the company expanded its client base to 2300 foundations and charities and brought to market a first of its kind donor advised fund program in partnership with Merrill Lynch & Co. and a consortium of community foundations. To read more about this innovative fund, please click here.

From 2006 to 2007, Mr. Torenberg was the Chief Operating Officer of Pando Networks, Inc., (www.pando.com) a web 2.0 internet technology company. At Pando, Ephy led all aspects of the technology development and scaling/evolving its internet infrastructure. Within a year Pando’s technology grew to serve and deliver successfully tenfold users and content with great performance and economics.

Ephy holds a Computer Science degree from the Bar-Ilan University (Israel) and the equivalent to an MBA degree with multiple studies and credits. Ephy is also a graduate of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) Flight Academy and served many years as an active air crew. Today, Ephy brings to Crown advanced technology and business leadership needed for continued growth and momentum.

Rob Reuss, Chief Technology Officer and Chief Security Officer

Before joining Crown, Mr. Reuss was Chief Technology Officer of MicroEdge, Inc., from 2002 through 2005, and led the development of a suite of Web-based products. Prior to joining MicroEdge, he was an independent consultant and educator, teaching technology and cultural studies at a wide variety of institutions, including Columbia University, The New School for Social Research, SUNY New Paltz, Queens College, and John Jay College. With over 20 years of experience in designing and developing information technology solutions, Rob Reuss is responsible for Crown’s technology vision and strategy, as well as the principal architect for new technology products.

William H. Hewitt, National Marketing Director

Mr. Hewitt has over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, and was most recently with the Software as a Service (SaaS) provider, Kintera, as national sales manager and senior sales executive for their GivingFund™ donor advised fund platform. During his time with Kintera, Mr. Hewitt was instrumental in enhancing client development efforts and introducing a support program focused on field level education efforts and tighter integration with charitable organizations supporting the financial services programs. He has broad experience in the design and delivery of client-focused solutions to the financial services industry. Mr. Hewitt will spearhead the delivery of Crown's private-labeled donor advised fund programs within the financial services markets.

Terry McAloon, Professional Services

Ms. McAloon was most recently the Donor Advised Fund Operations Manager at MicroEdge/NPO Solutions(www.microedge.com), where her responsibilities included managing the Charitable Service Bureau that provided back-office administrative and accounting services for the Merrill Lynch Community Charitable Fund. During her eight years tenure with MicroEdge/NPO Solutions she was a member of the support team, and in 2001 she was promoted to manage the company Professional Services team. Terry was responsible for implementing and supporting hundreds of FIMS Community Foundation clients. She was actively involved in promoting and implementing the online DonorCentral and SuggestionCentral modules which are the web extensions serving thousands of Donors and Financial Advisors. As Crown's Director of Professional Services, Terry will manage Crown's Service Team and be responsible for the implementation, deployment and back-office administration of the DonorFirst™ platform for existing and new clients. Terry brings to Crown more than ten years experience in financial management within the environment of philanthropic solutions, she holds a BA degree in psychology and an MBA from the University of New Hampshire.

Russell M. Rush, Founder

Mr. Rush began his career in financial services with the New York Life Insurance company. In 1992, he developed a software cash flow approach to retirement and estate planning. His financial planning software system (InsGift) was published in January of 1994 and thousands of financial professionals have utilized his system. In 1994, Mr. Rush co-founded a financial planning company, Crown Financial Group Inc. to work on a national level with high net worth private clients. Mr. Rush has spoken to numerous financial planning, legal and accounting groups across the country. He has also published articles on financial and charitable planning issues in many journals including Planned Giving Today, National Underwriter, Broker World, and Estate Planning Quarterly.

In 2001, he became engaged in the development of a new operational process for charitable organizations and since then has been refining the process of Open Architecture™. In connection with the development of this operational process, Mr. Rush has given a series of speeches across the country to many of the nation’s top universities, colleges, and other philanthropies, explaining the benefits of donor advised fund programs. He currently publishes a periodical newsletter that is read by many of the nation's leading charities. Most recently, through the founding of Crown Philanthropic Solutions, LLC, Mr. Rush has completed the process for philanthropies to install and market a successful donor advised fund program and integrate the new program into current administration and marketing systems.

John C. Otterman, Managing Director

From 1969 through 2005, Mr. Otterman has had an extensive career in banking as an executive officer responsible for a broad range of activities, which include investments, funding, balance sheet management, and trust services.

Since 2003, Mr. Otterman has collaborated with Russell M. Rush in the development of a donor advised program. In connection with the development of this operational process, Mr. Otterman has met with a number of charitable organizations, explaining the benefits of installing a donor advised fund program. Their efforts led to the founding of Crown Philanthropic Solutions, LLC.

 

Contact Us

1-877-Donor85 ext. 345
info@crownps.com