Company Background

54Freedom was founded in 2007 when CEO, Jim Griffin, a very successful Wall Street executive collaborated with another dynamic and creative entrepreneur; Board Member and 54Freedom Company Director, Tom Sullivan, one of only two recipients of a Lifetime Achievement Award from The American Foundation for the Blind.

The Company targeted the 54 million people with disabilities in the USA who were not able to obtain life, health, or accidental death & dismemberment insurance. Coverage existed, but not without exceptions being applied. 54Freedom worked with top insurance providers and industry leaders to provide products that specifically met the needs of this group.

In 2009, the company began looking at other groups with under-served needs. The entire baby boomer generation, all 78 million of them, has just entered or is fast approaching retirement age. They have assets which have appreciated over the last four decades and, in the current tax and economic environment, Boomers are beginning to search for ways to turn those assets into current income.

Now, 54Freedom has a patent pending process for a new Gift Annuity product, a transaction which serves the needs of this demographic group. A traditional Charitable Gift Annuity allows a donor to make a large donation to a Charity, and permits the Charity, in turn, to provide fixed income to the donor or his designee(s) over their remaining life or lives. The transaction has very favorable tax implications for the donor, as it permits the donor to offset significant capital gains tax with a tax deduction from a donation. Monies so contributed also reduce the donor's taxable estate. 54Freedom's proprietary methodology retains the tax benefits and security of income, but provides increased flexibility to the donor.

The Company serves the needs of three groups who participate in this transaction: donors, planned giving professionals of not for profits (which may receive donations), and the independent life insurance agents and financial planners who help us to execute the transaction. This opportunity, currently addressed by estate planning professionals supporting very wealthy individuals and larger not-for-profits, has never been the focus of a national marketing effort targeting individuals with more modest portfolios but who will still benefit greatly from this transaction. Nor have smaller not-for-profits been able to afford to develop planned giving programs to address this opportunity with their constituencies. 54Freedom provides the sales support processes to market directly to these groups with integrated internet lead development, webinar training, and systematic national sales force follow up through a national network of insurance agents and brokers.