Our 2023 Planned Giving Days tracks will be released soon!
Fundamentals Track
Introduction of planned giving fundamentals for professionals with 0-5 years of experience
Sponsored by: BNY Mellon Wealth Management
Track Dean: Pamela Spears, Chief Development Officer, Cornerstone Montgomery
Session 1:
Tuesday, June 2,2020 • 1:30 – 2:30 pm
So You Want to Create an Endowment
Steve Widdes | Principal, Stein Sperling Bennett DeJong Driscoll PC
As part of good financial planning, an endowment ensures that a nonprofit organization will put itself on solid footing to weather economic downtowns without having to cut back on programs, services and staff, and to be around in the future to carry out its mission. Participants in this session will learn how endowments work, the different types of endowments, and the critical issues nonprofit organizations should consider to start an endowment program.
Level: Beginner
Session 2:
Tuesday, June 2,2020 • 2:45 – 3:45 pm
Trip Logic: Your Formula for Being in Front of the Right People
Charlotte Meyer | Director, Planned Giving – Ocean Conservancy
Jessica Schonig | Planned Giving Officer – Ocean Conservancy
Your time is valuable, and so are your organization’s resources. Instead of casting a broad invitation net, “hoping” to receive enough confirmed visits to make a donor trip worthwhile, consider sending invitations only to those that are absolutely necessary to meet. This session will provide attendees with a proven formula on sending invitations to the absolute best people and innovative ways that should become standard best practices that will get you in front of donors. Presenters will walk through developing queries that combine giving history, target loyalty insights, and wealth overlay criteria to produce the beginning of a good invite list. Charlotte and Jessica will further help narrow donor prospect lists by reviewing additional statistics and nuances of where donors are in their line of continuum. Once the list contains only the best visit prospects, they will share tips for crafting invitations and follow up that result in robust donor trips. Finally, they will teach how to conduct the perfect donor “drive-by.”
Level: Intermediate
Session 3:
Tuesday, June 2, 2020 • 4:15 – 5:15 pm
Our Best Donor are Aging: Communicating to and Working With Seniors
Hannah Olson | Chief Fundraising Strategist – Aleinu Consulting Services
Walking through the outline of a tried-and-true legacy plan, attendees will learn about the critical components to drafting a plan for their own organization. Combining bursts of group learning, quick practice periods, and reflection and writing time in a recurring pattern, each attendee will finish the session with an outline/draft of a legacy plan that includes a case statement, management plan, target audience lists, marketing plan, stewardship and recognition plan, goals for years 1-3, and an implementation strategy.
Level: Beginner
Session 4:
Wednesday, June 3, 2020 • 10:45 – 11:45 am
Demystifying Death Administration for Charitable Beneficiaries: A Candid Conversation Between a Fiduciary and a Bequest Administrator
Fred Weber | Senior Vice President, National Estate Settlement Services – Northern Trust Company
Andrew Fussner, Esq. | National Vice President, Estate Settlement – American Heart Association
The estate settlement process can be daunting for charitable beneficiaries. This presentation will consist of a candid conversation between a professional fiduciary who specializes in death-related administration and a planned giving professional who administers bequests for a public charity. Through this dialogue, the presenters will use real-life examples from the administration of estates and trusts that include charitable bequests and distributions to help charitable beneficiaries better understand their rights and responsibilities when an estate or trust gift they have been cultivating for years has “matured” as a result of the donor’s death. This presentation will help planned giving professionals better understand the information that is owed to them during the post-death administration process, advise them about the information they may be called upon to provide to the fiduciary, and allow them to set realistic expectations about the length of the process and how long it should typically take for them to receive their distribution following the death. Attendees will walk away feeling prepared to question the actions and decisions of the fiduciary and hold the fiduciary accountable in a productive and effective manner.
Level: Intermediate
Session 5:
Wednesday, June 3, 2020 • 12:00 – 1:00 pm
Using Donor Advised Funds to Promote Planned Giving
Courtney Tsai, JD, CAP® | Executive Director, Planned Giving – George Washington University
Fernando Gonzalez | Regional Director of Development, Mid-Atlantic – National Philanthropic Trust
Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) have been growing in popularity, particularly over the last two decades. There has been a rise of commercially managed Donor Advised Funds— Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable, and Vanguard Charitable, to name a few. These funds have become such strong players in the philanthropic market that gift officers must be prepared to talk about them with donors. This presentation will equip major gift officers, planned gifts officers, and other development professionals with knowledge about DAFs so that they can speak intelligently about this gift vehicle. Specifically, attendees will learn: the benefits of working with DAFs to increase philanthropic commitments to their charities; about Designated Funds; how a DAF can accept complex assets; how to use DAFs to bring multiple generations into the philanthropic conversation; and how DAFs can be used for estate planning purposes.
Level: Intermediate
Mega-Gifts Track
Successful paths to winning 7- and 8-figure gifts
Sponsored by: Crescendo Interactive, Inc.
Track Dean: Evelyn Morgner, Director, Planned Giving and Transformational Gift Services, Investor Relations, United Way Worldwide
Session 1:
Tuesday, June 2,2020 • 1:30 – 2:30 pm
Identifying and Cultivating Prospective Mega-Gift Donors: Getting the Ball Rolling on Mega-Gifts
John Kendrick, CAP® | Assistant Vice President of Development, Planned Giving – The George Washington University
Rob Cushing | Senior Principal Gifts Officer – The Nature Conservancy
Organizations identify and secure mega-gifts in two ways: by careful analysis, relationship building, and strategic outreach as part of a principal gifts program; and by being nimble and able to recognize and react decisively when potential mega-gifts unexpectedly “walk in the door” unannounced. Join Robert Cushing and John Kendrick as they share insights and case studies on both of these types of gifts. Robert will share mega-gift identification stories from his experiences at The Nature Conservancy, Brown, Harvard, and Cornell, and John will share stories from the George Washington University and Smithsonian Institution. They will address the thrills, spills, and internal and external challenges that inevitably arise when large gifts become a possibility for organizations.
Level: Advanced
Session 2:
Tuesday, June 2,2020 • 2:45 – 3:45 pm
Trip Logic: Your Formula for Being in Front of the Right People
Karen Gallardo, CFRE, CAP® | Director of Planned Giving and Major Gifts – Best Friends Animal Society
Annie Coppola | Director of Planned Giving – Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts
This session will focus on cultivating mega-gift donors and how Best Friends Animal Society designed its Accelerator Fund to work with two lead volunteers and engage prospects and donors in their networks as well as in the Best Friends’ donor family. Presenters will share insights in winning a mega-gift, the journey moving the donor from a more modest level of giving to a mega 7- or 8-figure gift, intentional and effective cultivation of the donor, how to design a sophisticated gift plan, and recommendations about how to embark on a mega-gift journey of your own.
Level: Advanced
Session 3:
Tuesday, June 2, 2020 • 4:15 – 5:15 pm
Making the Complex Gift Ask
B.J. Davisson II | Chief Development Officer and Executive Vice President – West Virginia University Foundation
Anne Dean | Managing Director, Research & Relationship Management – The George Washington University
Being part of a team that secures a mega-gift is a tremendous learning experience and honor—regardless of the specific hat development professionals may wear. Helping a donor recognize her/his philanthropic potential that speaks to their passion is a “mixed bag.” There is stress and anticipation, cynicism and euphoria. Managing the expectations of the donor and other stakeholders can be a tightrope walk by the team involved in the process—including the CEO and the board chair. The presenters will share insights and experiences that culminated in a transformational gift, a process that began before either were employed by the organization. They will discuss the “tests” along the way that helped secure donor confidence and the crucial role that key institutional leadership played in building that confidence. With insights into the paramount importance of patience and the high level of trust and confidentiality within the team, the speakers will share their thoughts about the key factors that need to be in place to attract and secure transformational gifts.
Level: Advanced
Session 4:
Wednesday, June 3, 2020 • 10:45 – 11:45 am
Stewarding and Recognizing Mega-Gift Donors
Kay Tuttle | Gift Planner – Smithsonian Institution
John-Joseph van Haelewyn | Director of Gift Planning – Smithsonian Institution
This session will focus on stewarding and recognizing mega-gift donors. Our speakers plan first to share their insights in winning a mega-gift, the journey they experienced in moving their donor from a more modest level of giving to a mega 8-figure gift, their intentional and effective cultivation of the donor, how they designed the sophisticated gift, and their recommendations about how you might embark on a mega-gift journey of your own. The development officer will be interviewed by a colleague, and then there will be a Q&A for the audience.
Level: Advanced
Session 5:
Wednesday, June 3, 2020 • 12:00 – 1:00 pm
The Keys to a Successful Blended Gift Program
Ned Montgomery | Chair of the Endowment Campaign – Curtis Institute of Music
Evelyn Morgner | Director, Planned Giving and Transformational Gift Services – United Way Worldwide
This session will focus on the cultivation and ask for three specific mega-gifts to United Way and the Curtis Institute of Music. The speaker will share insights in winning three mega-gifts, the journey in moving these donors from a more modest level of giving to an 8-figure gift, the intentional and effective cultivation of the donor, how he designed the sophisticated gift, and his recommendations about how you might embark on a mega-gift journey of your own. Then, our seasoned fundraiser will be interviewed by a colleague, followed by a Q&A.
Level: Advanced
Marketing Track
From tried-and-true to cutting-edge, ideas that work for every size organization
Sponsored by: PG Calc
Track Dean: Tiffanie Purvis, Esq., Assistant Director, Office of Gift Planning, University of Maryland College Park
Session 1:
Tuesday, June 2,2020 • 1:30 – 2:30 pm
Worth the Investment: A Case Study of Special Olympics’ Integrated Planned Giving Marketing Success
Tracy Malloy-Curtis, JD | Legacy Giving Director – Mal Warwick Donordigital
Connie Grandmason | Director of Bequests and Estate Gifts – Special Olympics
Organizations that invest in smart, strategic, multichannel planned giving marketing are reaping the benefits. Not only are they building a steady stream of future support, they are hedging against a fundraising ecosystem that is increasingly unstable. Organizations with strong planned giving programs will weather these challenges and thrive; those that don’t, won’t. Building a successful and robust legacy gift pipeline requires not only investing in marketing but spending those dollars wisely. In this interactive and engaging presentation, the presenters will offer a deep case study of Special Olympics’ planned giving marketing program. They will demonstrate how an upgrade of the existing marketing program to an intentional, integrated marketing plan resulted in new legacy gift intentions and a tenfold increase in qualified leads in just two years–all without increasing the budget or staff. The presenters will share strategies and results and explain how attendees can start to implement these strategies in their own programs, while building a case for additional investment in their planned giving marketing programs.
Level: Intermediate
Session 2:
Tuesday, June 2,2020 • 2:45 – 3:45 pm
How to Leverage Technology to Build Your Planned Giving Pipeline, Increase Donor Engagement and Play Nicely with All Fundraising Colleagues
Kay Malone Quillen, JD | Director of Planned Giving – American Humane
Jeff Giannotto | Senior Solutions Advisor – MarketSmart
Recent studies show traditional fundraising tactics are yielding poor results (e.g., 45 percent donor retention rate and 51 percent fundraiser attrition). Now, more than ever, nonprofits must leverage technology to develop effective processes to generate, prioritize, and cultivate donors in engaging ways while using their budgets wisely. American Humane recently piloted MarketSmart’s approach to leverage technology to increase donor engagement, reach lapsed donors, and generate highly qualified midlevel and legacy gift leads at remarkably low cost. The methodology for effective donor engagement involved the following: strict adherence to Dr. Russell James’ research and findings; careful attention to donor-centric copy and design principles; email and digital marketing landing page best practices; and online survey innovations. During this presentation, attendees will converse around mid-level and planned giving pipeline development, how technology can assist, and how fundraisers can work together across teams.
Level: Intermediate
Session 3:
Tuesday, June 2, 2020 • 4:15 – 5:15 pm
How Planned Giving and the Annual Fund Work Together
Timothy D. Logan, FAHP, ACFRE | Vice President – Barton Cotton
Loyal donors make good planned giving prospects. Many planned giving officers do not work with their annual fund/direct response program or fully use direct response to build donor affinity or to identify and educate planned giving donor prospects. In this informative session, participants will learn how to use their annual fund/direct response program to build donor loyalty, identify planned giving prospects on their donor file, and effectively use direct response for marketing their planned giving program. The session is a fast-paced lecture format that will highlight: using donor loyalty to cultivate planned giving donors; identifying planned giving prospects from analyzing annual giving behaviors; developing a comprehensive direct mail plan—focused on planned giving; how to use the phone to qualify direct mail donors as planned gift prospects; and how to use data analysis including purchased planned giving scores and wealth ratings.
Level: Intermediate
Session 4:
Wednesday, June 3, 2020 • 10:45 – 11:45 am
Data-Driven Gift Planning
Kristen S. Jaarda, JD, LLM | Executive Vice President – Crescendo Interactive, Inc.
What does data tell you about who your best prospects are for planned gifts and how to reach them? Discover the data points you need to be tracking to turn your database donor “suspects” into strong planned giving prospects. Learn about what these planned giving data points look like for a broad cross-section of charities nationwide and how to use aggregated data to benchmark and measure your organization’s success.
Level: Beginner
Session 5:
Wednesday, June 3, 2020 • 12:00 – 1:00 pm
The SECURE Act and Beyond: New Opportunities for Planned Giving Marketing—Including a Deeper Dive into TCGAs and TCRTs
Zach Christensen | Creative Director/Director of Marketing – The Stelter Company
Lynn M. Gaumer, JD | Senior Gift Planning Consultant – The Stelter Company
How do the new retirement plan laws impact your organization and your donors? Join this session to find out. You will learn about the details of the new SECURE Act, understand how the new rules impact charitable giving, take a deeper dive into new marketing opportunities that will grow your planned giving program, see what makes the presenters’ top five list of best gifts to make this year, and keep on the path to success with ten best practices for communicating to your donors.
Level: Intermediate
Special Topics
Challenging the status quo with fresh ideas
Sponsored by: Campbell & Company
Track Dean: Jennifer Stitely, CFRE, Director of Gift Planning, Office of Advancement, Chautauqua Institution
Session 1:
Tuesday, June 2,2020 • 1:30 – 2:30 pm
Gender Matters: A Guide to Growing Women’s Philanthropy
Kathleen Loehr | Senior Consultant – Aspen Leadership Group
Everyone is looking for increased funding for their missions. What if previously taught “best practices” actually turn off women or gain only minimal support, when so much more is possible? Women are increasingly driving philanthropy, yet is the organization capturing all the ways women may significantly support the mission? This presentation is designed to grow the awareness that gender does matter in charitable giving behavior, share stories of the significant growth of support that occurs when there is intentional focus on women, and provide examples on how to adapt fundraising behaviors to meet women as they prefer.
Level: Intermediate
Session 2:
Tuesday, June 2,2020 • 2:45 – 3:45 pm
Using Your Fundraising Campaign as a Catalyst for Legacy Giving
Jeff Wilklow | Vice President – Campbell & Company
Mamie Jackson Williams | Vice President of Development – Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, DC
This session will explore the role of planned giving in a campaign, sharing strategies for incorporating legacy giving into a major fundraising initiative. Presenters will focus on two main tactics. First, they will describe how to structure campaign projects to facilitate legacy giving, such as including an endowment component in the campaign. Second, they will discuss how fundraisers and campaign volunteers should talk about legacy giving in conversations and asks with potential donors. Jeff Wilklow will share his experiences counseling a variety of organizations on campaign planning and execution and Mamie Jackson Williams will explain how Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, D.C. successfully secured legacy gifts during a federation wide planned giving challenge. Audience members will have a chance to ask questions and share their own experiences, and they will leave with concrete strategies they can use to boost planned giving during a campaign at their own organization.
Level: Advanced
Session 3:
Tuesday, June 2, 2020 • 4:15 – 5:15 pm
The Fourth Industrial Revolution & Philanthropy: What AI Means for Fundraising
Robert Hoffman, MA, CFRE | Senior Development Officer – University of Minnesota Duluth School of Fine Arts
Lani McCollar | Associate – Bentz Whaley Flessner
Nonprofit organizations are at risk of litigation and loss of reputation if they don’t have written policies and procedures for working with adults who are experiencing cognitive impairment due to the onset of dementia and its common form—Alzheimer’s Disease. A team of charitable gift planning professionals who led a summit on philanthropy and dementia will present findings from this summit. Together, they will explore issues that arise as dementia is increasing among a growing population of active elderly philanthropists who are retaining their wealth for philanthropic purposes. Attendees will form teams to review summit findings and draft policy statements that answer the question: How does our institution balance the risks and rewards of seeking philanthropic support from a population that is at risk of cognitive impairment?
Level: Intermediate
Session 4:
Wednesday, June 3, 2020 • 10:45 – 11:45 am
Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Generosity
Nathan Chappell, CFRE | President – Futurus Group
This informative and interactive session will shed light on the emerging landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for philanthropy and nonprofits and discuss best practices for nonprofits and foundations. The session will include a brief history of AI, best practices, and current trends in the private sector, as well as specific and actionable cases in the nonprofit sector. From operations to mission delivery, attendees will learn how AI is accelerating the pace and precision in the social sector and already helping improve the human condition.
Level: All
Session 5:
Wednesday, June 3, 2020 • 12:00 – 1:00 pm
The Estate Planning Attorney: Your Partner in Planned Giving
Lauren Jenkins, Esq. | Principal – Offit/Kurman
If it is difficult to identify planned giving prospects, it can be close to impossible to confirm they have included your charity in their estate plan. The key for planned giving success is partnering with estate planning attorneys (after all, they draft the documents). This presentation will provide a roadmap for identifying your estate planning partners, as well as outlining topics to discuss with prospects without focusing on the two topics no one likes to address with policy company: death and money.
Level: Advanced