I am excited to announce the launch of a new networking opportunity: the Grundy County Estate Planning Council (GCEPC)!

The vision for GCEPC is to foster cooperation, collaboration, and education among Grundy area professionals who play an integral role in the estate planning process. The professionals invited include estate attorneys, accountants, financial planners, insurance agents, bank & trust officers, and philanthropic advisors. The invitation list is limited to the professional advisors who serve Grundy County residents.

One benefit to being a member of the GCEPC is networking and referrals within a diverse group of professionals with complimentary skillsets & mindsets. A second benefit to membership is to provide access to guest speakers & subject matter experts in order to sharpen our skills, learn best practices, and keep up with regulatory changes. Lastly, participation in the GCEPC will demonstrate to our clients a commitment to excellence, which will improve our clients’ trust in us and the estate planning process.

On the other side of the coin, the benefits to clients include the collaboration of trusted professionals who are able to wrap services around our clients in common. As a result, client estate plans are robust and complete. By building a stronger, collaborative, and trained professional network, it is expected that Grundy residents and businesses will benefit because they will know that we can meet their needs. Our goal is that clients will not need to seek services outside of Grundy County – they can get professional services right here at home.

The initial planning committee for the Grundy County Estate Planning Council is Ben Sisk, CFP®, Edward Jones; Austin Feeney, CFP®, ChFC®, Edward Jones; Cassie Ferrari, CIC, Northern Insurance; Ashley Bechtold, JD, Mahoney, Silverman, & Cross; and Julie Buck, CAP®, Community Foundation of Grundy County.

There are membership dues, partly to cover meal costs as well as honorariums for guest speakers.

Our launch event was held in January, and we had about 30 professional advisors attend. We plan to meet every other month on the 3rd Tuesday over the lunch hour. Our next meeting is Tuesday, March 17th, at Turtle’s Tap. Anyone who wants to attend but is not on our mailing list can contact me to register. If you have questions, feel free to connect with any of the planning team listed above.

We are so excited to be launching this networking and professional development opportunity for estate planning professionals across Grundy County. Yes, we can all get continuing education credits at conferences, but networking at the local level is incredibly valuable!

Julianne Buck is the Executive Director of the Community Foundation of Grundy County, located in the historic Coleman Hardware Building at 520 W. Illinois Avenue in Morris. You can contact them via phone at 815-941-0852 and julie@cfgrundycounty.com.