Oct. 28, 2009 (PR Newswire) -- ATLANTA, Oct. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SunTrust Banks, Inc. (NYSE: STI) today announced the formation of its Foundations and Endowments Specialty Practice, the latest addition to the specialty practices set up within SunTrust's Wealth Management business.

Drawing on more than 95 years of experience delivering solutions and guidance to not-for-profit organizations, SunTrust's Foundations and Endowments Specialty Practice has more than 50 specialists dedicated to serving the unique needs of these sectors. It gets underway already serving more than 550 foundations, educational institutions and other endowment-supported organizations across the nation.

"We have found that a specialty approach differentiates us in our ability to provide highly attentive service and focused expertise to clients with unique needs," said Jack Nichols, senior vice president and head of the new specialty team. "We bring these clients dedicated, experienced advisors who are trained to meet the specific needs of private, corporate and family foundations, as well as educational institutions and other organizations with endowments."

SunTrust Foundation and Endowments Specialty Practice will offer a full array of financial and advisory solutions, including strategic guidance on key investment, governance and operational issues, open architecture investment management, and sector-specific administrative services, to meet the needs of its clients.

Survey Findings

In conjunction with its formation, the Foundations and Endowments Specialty Practice commissioned a survey of private foundations across the nation with less than $100 million in assets, regarding their strategies in response to the economic downturn. The survey was developed with input from the Association of Small Foundations and focused on five key aspects of foundation management: investments, grant requests and awards, community engagement, operations and governance, and mission definition and effectiveness.

"Our team has witnessed first-hand how the ongoing economic environment is moving this sector to seek-out solid solutions and partners to help them meet investment, grant making and efficiency challenges head-on," said Mr. Nichols.