Alabama Family Trust, established by the state in 1994 to invest and protect assets of people with disabilities, is growing. AFT has a new executive team, a new office in Vestavia Hills and plans to expand trust offerings nationwide to families with special needs.

AFT’s planned expansion outside Alabama is expected to begin by the end of 2016. The pooled special needs nonprofit 501(c)3 trust moved recently to a new office in the Berry Building on Columbiana Road in Vestavia Hills. It held an open house in March where community leaders, chamber members, nonprofit and health care professionals, judges, elder law attorneys, corporate executives and representatives of AFT partner BancorpSouth toured the new headquarters.

The Alabama Family Trust funds are invested at BancorpSouth Asset Management and Trust, typically by the families of those with special needs to cover costs above what is provided through core governmental benefits, such as Medicaid and SSI, and to give them the financial ability to improve their quality of life. AFT has 627 active trusts with a market value of $19.3 million as of March 31, with the opportunity to invest in one of nine investment strategy funds with BancorpSouth.

All trusts are actively managed or index-based. The minimum cost to set up a trust at AFT is $1,500. The average trust at AFT is $31,000.

In 2014, AFT board members appointed a new executive team. Melanie Bradford, with extensive trust and elder care law expertise, was named executive director. Doug Marshall, a former Alagasco vice president and  controller, was named CFO and chief taxation officer. Shannon Brubaker, who worked almost a decade with the Department of Human Resources in Jackson County, was named chief administrative officer in 2015.

This week, Marshall was named director of community relations for AFT. Lesley Byars, a CPA with more than 35 years of tax experience, was hired as chief taxation officer.

Bradford said AFT plans to expand its reach to offer special needs trusts to more clients in Alabama and soon across the country. “AFT is truly a special organization, perhaps the best-kept secret in Alabama because we only serve those with special needs. In 2014, the Alabama Legislature passed a state statute that allows AFT to expand nationally, making our nonprofit one of only a few trust services in the country with such national capability,” Bradford said.

“I’m honored to be a part of a nonprofit like the Alabama Family Trust led by a dedicated board that volunteers their time to serve. Our board focuses on and is compassionate about offering families with disabilities a progressive way to financially support their loved ones,” she said.

AFT has begun conversations with private and nonprofit entities to form new relationships and forge new joint ventures. In addition, AFT has built partnerships with Birmingham companies and nonprofit organizations. For example, it offers education and training to Alabama-based clients of American Behavioral.

AFT has also begun working with the Exceptional Foundation and KultureCity to assist families of their clients with disabilities to better understand the complexities and benefits of establishing a special needs trust. “We needed an organization like AFT to work with our special needs families because of our significant and expected new growth,” said Tricia Kirk, executive director of the Exceptional Foundation.

“Alabama Family Trust gives families peace of mind knowing their disabled loved ones will be taken care of financially through sound investing to ensure they have an excellent quality of life,” said Julian Maha, founder of KultureCity, a nonprofit organization that serves the autism community nationwide. “We look forward to AFT working with our clients across the country in the future.”