Chris Gabriel
- Wealth Management Advisor,
- Generosity Expert, Speaker, Author,
- WISEgenerosity Founder
In Person-Fee 🛈
Fee Range
$5,000 - $10,000
Virtual Fee:
$7,500 and Under
Travels From
Georgia
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Chris Gabriel Speaker Biography
With over 30 years of leadership in the fields of philanthropy and finance, Chris Gabriel is uniquely able to advise on the topic of inspired and effective giving using a process he personally created: WISEgenerosity.
After earning his bachelor’s degree with honors from Yale and a master’s degree from Oxford, Chris began his career serving charitable organizations and their donors as a development director. He later became a nonprofit finance and fundraising consultant and a guide for successful charitable givers. Over time, he has participated in the gift process from every vantage point as a donor, staffer, board member, and financial advisor.
Chris currently oversees a thriving wealth management practice at one of the country’s leading investment firms and is a Certified Investment Management Analyst® (CIMA®), a designation sponsored by the Investments & Wealth Institute™ through the Wharton School of Business. As a financial advisor, Chris empowers the individuals and institutions he serves to accomplish their most important goals today and in years to come.
Optimal Giving is a focus of Chris’s work, uniquely combining philosophy and finance. Through experiences and decades of research and relationships, Chris has developed a framework that unlocks the potential of generosity. In order for individuals and organizations to experience the full power of giving, it must be W.I.S.E.: Well-grounded, Inspired, Satisfying, and Effective.
Chris’s mission is to help others benefit from generosity as an essential virtue of a life well-lived. His principles demonstrate why purposeful and practical planning is needed to maximize the generational impact of giving and its benefits to individuals, families, and institutions. With these goals in mind, Chris shares transformational resources on his website, through his advisory work, and in his forthcoming book, WISEgenerosity.
Chris has engaged actively in volunteer and pro bono work for many nonprofits including several terms as a board member and then president of the Georgia Planned Giving Council, as a trustee of Trinity School in Atlanta (a preeminent early education institution), and as a development and financial consultant to Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
He is a current and longtime board member at City of Refuge (a nationally renowned urban mission bringing light, hope, and transformation to those living on the margin), and is a teacher and lay leader at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church. Chris’s personal interests include cycling, music, history, cooking, paddleboarding, and golf.
He enjoys spending time in all arenas with his wife, Courtenay, and teenagers, Ellie and Reed. Their two “tiny-dog” family members, Baxter and Franklin, usually are close by, and often are underfoot.
Principles of WISEgenerosity
For General Audiences: Community Groups, Business Leaders, Professional Associations, Corporate Trainings, Students, Etc.
Have you heard the phrase, “You can never be too generous?” Chris agrees but suggests that there is more to this statement than meets the eye.
After decades of research and experience, Chris believes that all giving – Possessional, Personal, Social, Emotional, and Relational – must be meaningful and effective to truly transform individuals, families, organizations, and our world. In other words, generosity must be W.I.S.E.: Well-grounded, Inspired, Satisfying, and Effective. Chris invites his audience towards successful giving and living.
His principles and tools help individuals and organizations engage with others in ways that deliver personal and professional success with intention and impact. Most of all, Chris inspires and equips his audiences to engage WISEgenerosity principles and practices that will improve their lives and the communities around them.
The Transformational Power of Optimal Giving
For Donor Groups, Non-Profits, and Professional Advisors
Giving without complete purpose or process fails to deliver on its full potential.
However, generosity paired with meaningful intention and effective planning can have a generational impact. Chris has spent years researching and documenting the why, how, what, where, and when of giving. He is on a mission to help individuals engage their time, talent, and treasure in ways that transform them and the wider world.
There are three parties to significant philanthropic or charitable gifts: the donors, the receiving nonprofit organizations, and the professional advisors who support them. Too often, giving fails to achieve its potential because there is not full communication, coordination, and collaboration among these participants. WISEgenerosity provides the tools and resources needed to deliver optimal results.
In this talk, Chris Gabriel combines his wealth management and fundraising expertise to provide transformational guidance. Chris explains the elements of Optimal Giving and offers inspiring and practical ways to maximize meaning and impact. The result is deeper connections between and more productive outcomes for everyone involved in the giving process from the donor to the nonprofit staff and board to the professional advisor.
Generosity and Christian Discipleship
Faith-based audiences: churches, religious organizations, mission-based service groups, etc.
Godly Living and Giving
Connecting spiritual inspiration with practical implementation is a challenge in our faith experience. We can hear a message about the Godly importance of generosity but not have guidance to put the principles into practice. Jesus was the ultimate example of sacrificial giving. How are we supposed to follow his example?
Chris uniquely combines years of Biblical teaching, generosity experience, and wealth management expertise to provide life-changing wisdom for faith-based organizations and their leaders and members. This wisdom aims to build a congregational culture of WISEgiving around each member’s generosity of time, treasure, and talent.
Proverbs 11:24–25 is one compelling Scriptural example: “One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.” Chris references this and other timeless teachings to illuminate true Christian generosity.
Chris explains why following God requires generosity, the ways the Bible teaches us to practice being generous, and how giving and Christian discipleship go hand in hand. Following God’s desire for our lives ultimately will move individuals and organizations from danger to protection, from deficiency to provision, from difficulty to power, and from distraction to peace in finances and in life. Invite Chris to show you and your audience how.
