Zac Kester

Zac Kester is the Managing Director of Advanta Management and the Manager of Advanta Charitable Lending Fund LLC (Advanta Fund). This private credit facility provides bespoke charitable gift financing loans to individuals. He moved into this leadership position within six months of joining the organization, supported by his knowledge of complex charitable giving, personal tax planning, and pooled charitable investment funds. His areas of expertise include accredited private placement, charitable pooled investing, private credit lending, and private debt fund management.

The Advanta Fund is organized and operated as a program-related investment (PRI), an advanced philanthropic tool. As a PRI, the fund prioritizes charitable purpose by working to reverse the nationwide decline in charitable giving through the democratization of complex charitable giving strategies under the PRI Mission. While charitable outcomes remain the primary focus, the fund also seeks to maintain appropriate financial returns so that capital can be recycled and applied to future philanthropic initiatives.

Kester joined the Advanta Fund in 2025 as Executive Vice President, where he worked with accredited charitable institutional investors as they completed due diligence and considered participation in the fund. During his first year as an investment relations professional, he secured $50 million in new investments.

Within the second year, he and the Advanta Fund anticipate obtaining more than $100 million in new investments, funding more than $100 million in loans, and supporting more than $100 million in charitable gifts.

Kester's Role as Managing Director

As Managing Director of Advanta Fund, Kester oversees the lending and investment teams and the organization's broader operations. His role requires coordination across several highly specialized areas that must remain balanced to support the fund's effectiveness and long-term stability.

His principal responsibility is ensuring that the fund continues to operate as a PRI while appropriately managing both lending and investment risks.

Supervising the Lending Team

In managing the lending team, Kester aligns incentives by linking compensation to proper documentation of each loan's alignment with the PRI Mission, long-term loan performance, collateral performance, and overall loan yields. He works to ensure that sales representatives carefully assess borrowers and avoid unsuitable transactions.

Because the loans are bespoke and asset-backed, he ensures that strict, data-driven standards for collateral valuation are maintained. He also supports continuing education so team members remain informed about specialized, evolving markets related to loan securitization.

Although the Advanta Fund is structured to accept more risk than conventional commercial lenders, it does not accept unlimited risk. Instead, it focuses on strategic and appropriate risk. To support this objective, he ensures that collateral covenants are established, monitored, and enforced when required.

Kester also brings together sales, credit, and compliance teams early in the review process to evaluate opportunities before moving forward, helping avoid unnecessary time spent on transactions that are unlikely to succeed.

Supervising the Investment Team

As Managing Director, Zac Kester works closely with charitable and mission-driven investors to explain how the fund's lending programs support charitable objectives and advance the PRI Mission. He focuses on demonstrating how financing enhanced charitable giving with paid-up assets can create a measurable impact that aligns with an organization's mission and investment goals.

He also helps structure loans using specialized collateral strategies that are designed to protect investor capital. This approach enables organizations to conserve resources and potentially reinvest them in future charitable and community-focused programs.

Overseeing the Organization

In this position, Kester oversees the fund's strategy and financial stability. He works to maintain sufficient liquidity to support operations, meet investor obligations, and respond to market fluctuations. Because many of the loans and assets associated with the fund are highly specialized and held over the long term, he carefully manages cash flow and investment exposure to reduce unnecessary risk.

Kester works closely with lending, underwriting, treasury, and risk management teams to evaluate the assets backing the fund's loans. This includes implementing real-time collateral monitoring and stress testing to determine whether those assets can continue to support loans if market conditions change or borrowers default. By encouraging collaboration at an early stage, he helps maintain a balanced and disciplined approach to risk management throughout the organization.

Zachary Kester also oversees investor reporting, financial controls, and audit preparation to maintain transparency and accountability with charitable and institutional investors. His responsibilities include ensuring that investment activities remain aligned with financial objectives and mission-driven priorities while meeting complex compliance and reporting requirements.

Ultimately, he serves as a central coordinating figure within the fund, helping ensure that complex financial operations remain aligned with organizational stability and the fund's charitable purpose.

Volunteer Work

Kester serves as a Director of Advanta Philanthropic, whose mission is to advance charitable giving by making complex giving strategies and sophisticated philanthropic approaches more accessible through expertise, technology, and partnerships with professional advisors.

He is also a Director of a large charitable grantmaking (regranting) organization and remains actively involved in his local church.

Certifications

Kester received his Certificate in Fundraising Management and Philanthropic Studies from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy in 2012.

He also earned the Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy® (CAP®) designation from The American College of Financial Services, the nation's largest nonprofit educational institution devoted to financial services professionals. The CAP® designation is held by advisors who help clients integrate charitable giving into financial and estate plans. These professionals specialize in tax-efficient strategies, legacy planning, and aligning philanthropic goals with personal wealth management while serving both high-net-worth/high-earning donors and nonprofit organizations.

Kester is expected to soon receive his Chartered Life Underwriter® (CLU®) designation from The American College of Financial Services and is also pursuing his Chartered Financial Consultant® (ChFC®) designation.

Through his professional leadership, volunteer involvement, and commitment to continued learning, Zac Kester continues to support charitable giving initiatives, mission-driven investing, and responsible philanthropic fund management.