At the 2023 Celebration of Philanthropy, Frederick R. Franke was among the four new members inducted into The Community Foundation of Anne Arundel County's 2023 Professional Advisor Recognition Society.

Client-centric teamwork are not buzzwords to Frederick and his firm, Franke Beckett LLC. As the firm’s managing attorney, Frederick makes sure they deliver first-rate estate and trust services to their clients. For his estate planning clients, this means that their concerns are addressed and an estate plan constructed to meet those specific concerns. As part of the process, CFAAC is discussed as an important option to clients who want their philanthropy to support local nonprofits. The firm has been working with the Community Foundation since 1998. 

“Many of our clients include charitable bequests in their estate planning,” said Frederick. “By using CFAAC for donations, they can structure bequests that will benefit charities with annual gifts and provide a way to include their younger family members in the process. Such a legacy helps the charities and can promote philanthropy in future generations.” 

Frederick believes that community foundations, in general, permits his clients to create Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) during their lifetimes, which can continue after their deaths. He said that a DAF [through CFAAC] can function similar to a family foundation without the costs and administrative headaches. “CFAAC has a primarily focus on nonprofits serving Anne Arundel County and, consequentially, it has developed a useful working relationship with the local nonprofit community,” he said. “These relationships help inform our clients of which local charities may be addressing a need important to our clients.”

For more than 35 years, Frederick has specialized as an estates and trusts lawyer. He has been a Partner at Franke Beckett LLC for more than five years. Prior to that, he was the Principal at the Law Office of Frederick R. Franke, Jr. LLC. Frederick is past chair of the Council of the Estates and Trusts Law Section of the Maryland Bar Association and is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC). He was also an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Baltimore, School of Law.  Frederick has a master’s degree in taxation from The George Washington University and a JD from Washington and Lee University.