Bailard Recognized as a Top Bay Area Corporate Philanthropist
Foster City, CA — August 3, 2023 — Bailard today announced that it has, for the third year in a row, been ranked among the San Francisco Business Times’ annual top 100 Bay Area Corporate Philanthropists List. This year, Bailard earned 79th place, joining many of the Bay Area’s top companies including Salesforce, Google, and the San Francisco 49ers.
The Corporate Philanthropy Awards, list, and supplement celebrates the Bay Area’s most generous corporate citizens and recognizes those companies that also give their time, talent, and resources. The annual list recognizes 100 top corporate philanthropists ranked by local cash giving. It includes for-profit companies and nonprofit health care organizations that made contributions to Bay Area-based charitable organizations in the following counties: San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma. This year’s winners were recognized at the Corporate Philanthropy Summit on July 27.
“Bailard’s generosity helps to raise the bar on corporate philanthropy and inspires more giving,” said Mary Huss, Publisher of the San Francisco Business Times. “Their participation in this program helps challenge others to do more.”
“Corporate philanthropy goes beyond just financial contributions,” said Bailard’s Chief Executive Officer Sonya Mughal. “It’s about touching lives and igniting hope in our community, and also empowering our employees to demonstrate the compassion that runs deep for all of us at Bailard. We are pleased to be recognized among the leaders of the Bay Area, knowing that our collective efforts inspire others to embrace the transformative power of giving.”
The recognition highlights the efforts of both Bailard, Inc. and the Bailard Foundation. The Bailard Foundation has donated $454,700 in impact grants (as of 6/30/2023) since its 2019 launch, with 85% of funds going to Bay Area grantees. The Bailard Foundation supports three core focus areas of affordable housing, homelessness & poverty, and financial literacy. To learn more about the Bailard Foundation, please visit the 2023 Annual Update here. Dive deeper into Bailard’s dedication to impact here.
About Bailard, Inc.
Founded in 1969, Bailard is an independent asset and wealth management firm serving individuals, families, and institutions alike. Bailard has built a long‐term asset management track record across domestic and international equities, fixed income, and private real estate, as well as robust, in-house sustainable, responsible and impact investing expertise. Through it all—and in line with its core principles and strong ESG mindset—Bailard works with clients to align their financial goals with their values. With $5.5 billion in assets under management as of 6/30/2023, Bailard is a majority employee-owned and women-led firm, and a Principles of Responsible Investing (PRI) signatory. A values-driven firm based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Bailard has its own private charitable foundation* and is deeply committed to its core values of accountability, compassion, courage, excellence, fairness, and independence.
* The Bailard Foundation supports initiatives that the Firm, its employees, and its clients value, as we seek to collectively improve the communities in which we live, work, and engage. The Bailard Foundation has a board of directors that is led by chairwoman Terri Bailard, widow of Firm co-founder Tom Bailard, and features both select friends of Bailard, Inc. and employees.
About the Corporate Philanthropy Awards
For 23 years the San Francisco Business Times has published the Corporate Philanthropists List. The list features 100 top corporate philanthropists in the Bay Area ranked by local cash giving. It includes for-profit companies and nonprofit health care organizations that made contributions to Bay Area-based charitable organizations in the following counties: San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma. The Corporate Philanthropy Awards program was founded in partnership with Northern California Grantmakers. A portion of the proceeds goes to NCG to fund the Corporate Philanthropy Institute, with the mission to educate more companies about effective giving and best philanthropy practices. The aim is to honor those who give the most and in doing so to help raise the bar and inspire more giving. This achievement does not evaluate the quality of services provided to clients and is not indicative of Bailard’s future performance. The San Francisco Business Times Top 100 Bay Area Corporate Philanthropists is an annual award, given to Bailard by the San Francisco Business Times in July 2023, July 2022, and July 2021. Each year, 100 firms appeared in the San Francisco Business Times list. Bailard ranked #79 in 2023; #82 in 2022; and #89 in 2021. There was no fee to enter.
The Bailard Foundation Annual Update 2023
The Bailard Foundation continues to be a bright spot of the Bailard community. In the last year, the Foundation donated over $197,200 to 22 charities and held seven successful volunteer events. The Bailard Foundation highlights the best of Bailard in a genuine way by putting its community first, showing compassion to those in need, and always going the extra mile for others.
The focus areas of giving for the Foundation remain affordable housing, homelessness and poverty, and financial literacy. In its four years since inception, the Foundation has made over $454,700 in impact grants. This giving is a combination of support from Bailard, its clients, employees, and friends of the Firm.
In this fourth year, the members of the Board worked to increase community engagement with additional volunteer opportunities. In-person engagement became easier as COVID subsided across the country and the Bailard team took full advantage of the ability to be in person. Volunteer opportunities included teaching financial literacy to high school students, volunteering twice with Bay Area food banks, physical labor with Habitat for Humanity of Greater San Francisco, and co-hosting two Pride celebrations for a homeless shelter network in San Francisco alongside Bailard’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee.
The Foundation also worked to establish routine donations for ten charities to provide consistent financial support, while maintaining a portion of its annual funds to be used for just-in-time donations. This allows the charities to rely on funding as part of their annual budgets and helps disseminate the funds in a reliable way, while preserving our ability to react to real-time needs as they arise. In the coming year, the Foundation will continue to evaluate new charities and offer new volunteer events.
Volunteer Events
The Foundation held its largest volunteer event in April with Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco: 33 Bailard colleagues participated, representing over half of the Firm’s locally-based employees. In what is also a treasured opportunity to work together, the group designed and constructed three playhouses, which were donated to Mission Neighborhood Center and also provided funds to help build eight permanently affordable homes in the Bay Area.
The Foundation’s most recent volunteer event was held in late June in conjunction with Bailard’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee in celebration of Pride Month. Bailard teammates helped to bring a celebration of the Month to A Woman’s Place. A Woman’s Place provides the only 24-hour supportive residential services in San Francisco, providing emergency shelter and long-term treatment to all women, regardless of their special needs.
Bailard has collectively donated more than 240 volunteer hours since it began hosting employee events one year ago in June 2022.
The Bailard Foundation supports initiatives that the Firm, its employees, and its clients value, as we seek to collectively improve the communities in which we live, work, and engage. The Bailard Foundation has a board of directors that is led by chairwoman Terri Bailard, widow of Firm co-founder Tom Bailard, and features both select friends of Bailard, Inc. and employees.
CEO Sonya Mughal ‘Women in Wealth Advisory (Individual)’ Winner
Please see page 19 for Sonya’s profile by the Family Wealth Report. The awards program is designed to showcase excellence in the North American wealth sector, and how entrants put their case forward can often be very revealing about the qualities on display. The Family Wealth Report Awards 2023 and 2022 judging process was conducted by expert panels and consist of judges from family offices, private banks, trusted advisers, consultants and other service providers each of whom has in-depth knowledge and a broad experience. The judging process is organized in a way so as to avoid conflicts of interest, and no judge will be asked to review a submission from an organization competitive to their own. Every submission is carefully reviewed to ensure the best companies and individuals are selected as winners in each category, whilst commercially sensitive information is kept confidential. This recognition does not evaluate the quality of services provided to clients and is not indicative of Bailard’s future performance; there was no fee to enter.
Bailard Named a 2023 Best Places to Work for Financial Advisors
San Francisco, CA (March 2023) – Bailard has been recognized as a 2023 Best Places to Work for Financial Advisors as announced by InvestmentNews this week. The award recognizes firms that demonstrate a commitment to creating a positive work environment.
Bailard was chosen as one of this year’s top 75 firms based on employer and employee surveys delving into everything from company culture, benefits, career paths, and more. This serves as a testament of Bailard’s dedication to its stated core principles of accountability, compassion, courage, excellence, fairness, and independence.
“Our employees are the heart of Bailard, and we are thrilled to receive this honor for the fourth year in a row,” says CEO Sonya Mughal, CFA. “Bailard is fiercely committed to maintaining an environment where our colleagues feel empowered and valued. By encouraging our employees to grow and thrive, both professionally and personally, we bring our best to our clients and our community.”
Bailard’s dedication to providing exceptional service and guidance to clients remains steadfast, and the firm is honored to be recognized yet again by InvestmentNews. This is part of Bailard’s longstanding acknowledgement by the industry as a leading firm and a top workplace. In the past year, Bailard was also named one of the Pensions & Investments’ Best Places to Work in Money Management, as well as CNBC’s Financial Advisor 100.
InvestmentNews partnered with Best Companies Group, an independent research firm specializing in identifying great places to work, to compile the survey and recognition program.
“Every year, InvestmentNews is proud to profile those who prioritize taking care of their own. We applaud this year’s Best Firms for Advisors winners for investing in their most precious resource: their people,” said Paul Curcio, executive editor of InvestmentNews.
To learn more about the InvestmentNews 2023 Best Places to Work for Financial Advisors, please visit bestplacesforadvisors.com.
About Bailard Inc.
Founded in 1969, Bailard is an independent asset and wealth management firm serving individuals, families, and institutions alike. Bailard has built a long‐term asset management track record across domestic and international equities, fixed income, and private real estate, as well as robust, in-house ESG expertise. Through it all—and in line with its core principles and strong ESG mindset—Bailard works with clients to align their financial goals with their values. With over $5 billion in assets under management as of 12/31/2022, Bailard is a majority employee-owned and women-led firm, and a Principles of Responsible Investing (PRI) signatory. A values-driven firm based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Bailard has its own private charitable foundation* and is deeply committed to its core values of accountability, compassion, courage, excellence, fairness, and independence.
About InvestmentNews
InvestmentNews is the leading source for news, analysis, and information essential to the financial advisory community. Since 1998, our standard of editorial excellence and deep industry knowledge has allowed us to educate, inform and engage the most influential financial advisors. Through a weekly newspaper, website, newsletters, research, events, videos, and webcasts, InvestmentNews provides exclusive and up-to-the-minute news, as well as actionable intelligence, that empowers financial advisors to serve their clients and run their businesses more effectively whenever, however, and wherever they need it.
About InvestmentNews Best Places to Work for Financial Advisors
The 2023 ranking was released by InvestmentNews in March 2023. Each year, this project is conducted in partnership with employee survey firm Best Companies Group. Winners are selected from a two-part survey completed by employers and employees. Employers report their organization’s workplace policies, practices and demographics, and employees complete a survey designed to measure the employee experience. Scores from the employee survey represent three-quarters of the weight of the final rankings. To qualify as one of InvestmentNews Best Places to Work for Financial Advisors, an advice firm must have at least 15 employees and have been in business for one year. This award does not evaluate the quality of services provided to clients and is not indicative of Bailard’s future performance. There was no cost for Bailard to enter. In 2023, 75 firms were ranked, with 17 managers in Bailard’s category of 50+ employees. 2022’s ranking including 75 firms, 21 of which were in Bailard’s category. 2021’s ranking including 75 firms, 25 of which were in Bailard’s category. 2020’s ranking including 75 firms, 25 of which were in Bailard’s category.
*The Bailard Foundation has a board of directors that is led by chairwoman Terri Bailard, widow of firm co-founder Tom Bailard, and features both friends of Bailard, Inc. and employees.
Our Values in the Midst of the Pandemic
Having accepted the post of CEO in the depths of a pandemic, I was optimistic that once we got past the worst, the next couple of years would at least be on a somewhat more upward trajectory. That was wishful thinking, in hindsight. The last 36 months have been challenging for all investment professionals. From dealing with the pandemic and inflation worries that have persisted longer than most thought, to an aggressive and very hawkish Federal Reserve Bank that raised interest rates at the fastest clip than most of us have seen in our careers, not to mention major market sell-offs in the equity and fixed income markets, and finally to classic “runs on banks” that bring back memories of the 1930s, this has been a challenging time. And it’s important to acknowledge that.
Several years ago, in connection with Bailard’s 50th anniversary, we set about codifying the values that are foundational to our company. Several were not unexpected—like Excellence, Fairness, and Accountability—but two stood out as different and important. I speak often to my colleagues about Compassion. It plays an instrumental role in how we treat each other and how we care for our clients, partners, and community. But, as the world continues to raise new challenges, the value of Courage keeps bobbing up to the surface.
Courage takes many forms in work and in life. Sometimes, Courage means holding steadfast to a sound plan in the face of adversity. On the other hand, it speaks to the willingness to challenge one’s thinking and take calculated risks when warranted. And, at its core, Courage is the backbone to stand up and do what is right, even when it is hard.
Crucially, I find that courage begets courage. When we push outside our comfort zones, we grow professionally and personally. It then compounds, building trust and serving as inspiration and creating a community where we motivate each other in the pursuit of greatness. I am inspired every day by this team. I see how their courage creates a workplace that is innovative and thriving, but also brave and caring.
With the words of Jim Collins in mind, it is impossible to foretell exactly what lies ahead and we, instead, rely on each other. For over five decades, individuals, families, and institutions alike have entrusted Bailard. We have weathered challenges together and forged new paths. The undercurrents of Compassion and Courage run deep and provide the wind at our backs, allowing us to look ahead in preparation for the next challenge.