UPDATED: 11/06/09

As the head of The Sister Fund and co-chair of the Women Moving Millions campaign, Helen LaKelly Hunt did what any levelheaded philanthropist would do as the market careened into a free fall last year.

She called for reinforcements.

"Katie [Ellis Nixon] was there 24/7, and was a very stabilizing force," says Hunt of her financial advisor. "She suggested we stay steady, but cut back in any way we could, by putting things on hold."

The 60-year-old Hunt, an heir to the fortune of the late legendary Texas oil tycoon, H.L. Hunt, is not the kind of person who needs much steadying. Her quiet, slight demeanor belies a strong woman with a steel-like drive for her mission to help women and faith-based groups around the globe. Everything about her appearance and manner—from her hands resting gently in her lap and her carefully coiffed hair, to her frequent pauses as she carefully phrases her thoughts and her even, soft-spoken lilt in her voice—highlight her Southern belle upbringing.

But then she speaks about her work. She is nothing if not passionate about her private foundation.

While it doesn't mirror the fortune of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in assets, The Sister Fund has managed to give away $1 million every year. She and her sister Swanee Hunt, a former U.S. ambassador to Austria, raised $180 million over the past two years. That's $30 million more than she had expected for Women Moving Millions, which was especially gratifying since it was done during the worst financial downturn since the Great Depression.

As she talks about the last year and the possibility of having to retreat on some of her projects, Hunt explains that without experienced financial advice, she could be heading down a series of rapids, some akin to the waters that lead to Niagara Falls.

That's where Nixon comes into the picture. "I always felt Katie would drop what she was doing when I called," says Hunt. "She's an encourager and supporter of all that I do."

A good financial advisor must be more than just an economic sounding board. As the market collapsed last year, advisors found themselves playing the roles of market sage, strategist and hand holder. In tough times like these, the best financial advisors understand that the net worth of a philanthropic client represents more than just an ego-boost; it symbolizes how much they can act on their desire to change the world.

Still, while philanthropy has managed to remain a primary focus for many high-net-worth individuals like Hunt, some cutbacks have been inevitable. The steep decline of the market left everyone in a state of concern and, in many cases-shock-at the close of 2008. The trick was to be able to remind clients that they needed to keep giving-and that they actually could.

"I think everyone was in a panic state in the fourth quarter," says Nixon, a chartered financial analyst and chief investment officer for the Northeast Region of Northern Trust Bank, as well as Hunt's trusted financial advisor for the past five years. "We helped Helen put her arms around how to categorize her list of wishes. Nothing is more important in Helen's life than her family and her philanthropy. It's absolutely the core of what she does."

And Nixon wanted to make sure that Hunt's work, and frankly her mission, would stay vital and her assets afloat.

Those foundations that didn't have advisors who understood that, or that tried to weather the storm with just internal boards, suffered greatly. For example, consider the JEHT Foundation, which focused on criminal, juvenile and international justice. It shut its doors in December 2008—a victim of the multi-billion-dollar fraud perpetrated by the now imprisoned financier Bernard Madoff.

Even well run groups—those that had been managed by solid advisors for decades—couldn't escape some harm. The 65-year-old Meyer Foundation announced it would cut back its giving by 11%, or $1 million, in February. And both the legendary Ford Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation pushed voluntary severance packages on at least a quarter of their staff over the summer.

High-net-worth individuals have also made small shifts, cutting back approximately 2% to 3% of their charitable giving. Older givers and those with smaller asset bases are cutting back by more; 5% to 6%, according to "Tomorrow's Philanthropist," a May report released from Barclays Wealth that polled 500 high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

The number of gifts totaling $1 or more has also slipped in the past few months, from a steady 416 gifts in both the first and second quarters of 2009, to 390 gifts in the third quarter, according to The Center for Philanthropy at Indiana University.