Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards
The standards-setting and certifying body for the CFP mark in the United States, defining education, examination, experience, and ethics requirements, enforcing a fiduciary duty to clients, and operating a Center for Financial Planning to broaden the profession.
Peer societies
Five societies Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards is read alongside.
FPA
Financial Planning Association
The membership community for CFP professionals and the broader financial planning field, built around…
47 companies named
ACFS
The American College of Financial Services
A nonprofit college that has served for nearly a century as the credentialing engine of financial services…
16 companies named
AFCPE
Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education
The standards body for financial counseling, owner of the accredited AFC credential, working to raise the…
10 companies named
AFP
Association for Financial Professionals
The standard-setting body for corporate treasury and financial planning, best known for credentials that…
196 companies named
NBCC
National Board for Certified Counselors
The national certifying body for professional counselors, holder of the NCC and specialty credentials and the…
Who backs CFPBS
Every company Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards names publicly as a supporter, exactly as published. Companies also named by other associations on Sociogene come first.
| Company | Support as published | Also named by |
|---|---|---|
| Charles Schwab | Foundation donor | FSI GAC GPC IAA IWI +3 |
| Edward Jones | Foundation donor | ACC ACS A CDCC CBACC +3 |
| Equitable Foundation | Foundation donor | ADA ASBOI FDA GFOA GFLCC +3 |
| Fidelity Foundation | Foundation donor | A CRC FSI GBCC HCCC +3 |
| Morgan Stanley | Foundation donor | AFA AFA AFP CCCF CADA +3 |
| Northwestern Mutual | Foundation donor | BMCC CRCC L LRBA MMAC +3 |
| Vanguard | Foundation donor | FPA GPC NAST SACC WIC |
| Thrivent | Exhibitor | AACC FCCC MPA ACFS |
| Envestnet | Corporate partner | FSI MMI WIC |
| LPL Foundation | Foundation donor | AGS NASS ACFS |
| Merrill, A Bank of America Company | Foundation donor | ANA IAS IWSMF |
| AssetMark | Foundation donor | FSI MMI |
| CeriFi Dalton Education | Foundation donor | AFCPE |
| College for Financial Planning® — a Kaplan Company | Foundation donor | FPA |
| Dalton | Exhibitor | FPA |
| Ballentine Partners | Foundation donor | Only Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, so far |
| Key Wealth | Foundation donor | Only Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, so far |
| Voyant | Exhibitor | Only Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, so far |
Sources: 3 published lists, read September 2026
Annual Corporate & Organizational Donors (2025), CFP Board Center for Financial Planning. Read September 27, 2026. 2025 corporate and organizational donors to the Center; named circles recorded without their dollar thresholds. Independent foundation (DJHDF) and an association (Quad-A) omitted; corporate foundations mapped to their companies.
Connections Conference Sponsors. Read September 27, 2026. Undated page, likely the most recent Connections Conference; names read from logo alt text. American College of Financial Services (nonprofit) omitted; the page's repeated founding sponsor logos are covered by the founding list.
Founding Sponsors of CFP Board Center for Financial Planning. Read September 27, 2026. Undated founding sponsors page (scholarships, research, Diversity Summit).
Who backs Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards's peers, but not Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards
Companies named publicly by at least one of Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards's five peer societies, and not found in Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards's reviewed public records.
The outside view
The standards-setting and certifying body for the CFP mark in the United States, defining education, examination, experience, and ethics requirements, enforcing a fiduciary duty to clients, and operating a Center for Financial Planning to broaden the profession.
- Authority
- Preserve
- Outward
- Operational
Their shape
The Citadel
Led from the center, built to endure.
The Citadel runs on clarity and decisiveness, its direction held by a strong center the whole organization moves behind. Its gift is speed and coherence, its challenge is leaning too heavily on the few at the middle.
Also reads toward The Republic, The Movement and The Guild.
Strengths
Not an official page of Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards. Sociogene does not consult. Everything here comes from public sources, dated and linked. Something wrong here? Tell us what we missed.