Welcome back. In the last lesson, you learned about planned giving software programs. In this lesson, we'll explore the possibilities and benefits of local and national planned giving associations. After this lesson, you'll be able to describe your visit to a planned giving association meeting. Explain rules and benefits of national and local planned giving associations. List benefits of interacting with planned giving associations. Let's get started. I like to introduce you to professional associations. These associations will be important to your work or career in planned giving. There are local and national planned giving associations. You can find the local chapters in your area by searching the internet or asking a colleague or a development professional. There are four or five local associations in my area. I belong to the Planned Giving Forum of Greater Sacramento. I also attend meetings at the Northern California Planned Giving Council. These associations are networks of professionals in my region. The National Association of Charitable Gift Planners is the primary national professional association. This association is mostly concerned with planned giving on the national scale. These organizations provide benefits to its members and members pay dues for these benefits. If you go to the website for the Planned Giving Forum of Greater Sacramento, you will see that members include; development officers for nonprofit organizations, consultants, attorneys, accountants, financial planners, insurance agents, stock brokers, and trust officers among other professionals interested in gift planning. The Planned Giving Forum of Greater Sacramento holds several luncheon meetings per year as well as an annual conference. The website for the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners outlines how it helps enrich and advance members, work, and careers through education, resources, and advocacy. They are a robust network of gift planning professionals at all levels including the leaders who define our field and the innovators who will transform our profession in the world. Personally, I see the role of the planned giving associations being to provide opportunities to advance your understanding and career through training, educational resources, and networking. They are also instrumental in advocating for and pushing policy and legislation to extend or pass laws to enhance planned giving options. A great example of this advocacy is in the recent law that was passed to extend allowing qualified charitable distribution from a donor's individual retirement account permanently. This planned giving option was available for each of the past six years but Congress would not make it permanent. They just continue to extend it each year which caused a lot of uncertainty and anxiety for donors. They couldn't make long-term plans because they didn't know from year to year if the option would be available. The efforts of the National Association for Charitable Gift Planners were instrumental in getting the law passed. They aren't stopping there. They continue to look for ways to improve the law. This is important to us because we don't have to devote our time and resources to advocacy, get our donors and we benefit from the good work of this association. I see several other benefits to interacting with planned giving association. Training and education, which is equally as important as advocacy. The associations provide tremendous opportunities to learn from a wide variety of planned giving topics. You can learn a new skill or just keep current. It doesn't matter if you're a beginner or an expert, there is something available for you. Another benefit is educational resources. There are numerous resources available to you. These include white papers, reference books, chat forums, and mentoring programs. Networking with other professionals. The networking is invaluable. This may be the best part of your interaction with the associations. You will meet people and develop relationships that will last a career. These relationships will add value to your professional life. I use these network constantly to inquire about a topic to further my knowledge, bounce ideas off of others, find out if they've experienced a similar situation to guide my strategy and ask for advice. Although there are unlimited options when it comes to planned giving, you will find that most options have been attempted or completed by someone. The broader your network the more opportunity you have to tap into the shared knowledge of this professional community when you have a donor who may want to be creative or push the envelope on structuring a gift. There have been many times when I learned from someone in my network about a specific planned giving option that allowed me to avoid the pitfalls and ultimately save time and resources. You will find that this network of professionals is very willing to assist and help. Let me share my experience interacting at a local level. I attend the monthly educational meetings on a regular basis. In addition to sharpening my technical skill, I have met several professionals including development professionals at other charities. In this particular instance, I was working with a donor that wanted to make a gift to UC Davis but also wanted to support another nonprofit. I knew the development officer at the other nonprofit because of previously networking through our local association. This was a huge benefit for a couple of reasons. First, the donor's experience was enhanced because the two charities they are most passionate about worked well together. This was possible because I had a relationship with the other charities development professional. Second, we were able to work more efficiently and effectively because of that relationship, which I strongly believe provided a better philanthropic plan for the donor. The real benefit to having a relationship with other development officers or their professional adviser is the level of communication that you engage in. Communication is essential when everyone is working toward a common goal. When you have an existing relationship, communication is easier and more effective. This results in better service to the donor which is our ultimate goal. Let me share my experience interacting at the national level. Sometimes the state or region you live in may not have a resource to assist you with a donor's need. I was working with a donor who wanted to gift an insurance policy. We worked through all the benefits of the gift and how to transfer the ownership and beneficiary to UC Davis. After we facilitated the gift of life insurance, the donor needed an appraisal in order to substantiate the charitable deduction for their personal income tax return. I checked with my local network and determined there wasn't anyone in my region that provided such a service. However, I had attended the National Conference a few years back and remember attending a session on life insurance led by a development professional in Florida. We were both members of the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners. So I reached out to him to get some guidance. He connected me to an appraiser he had worked with before on a gift. I was able to talk with that person and ultimately connect him to my donor. All of this went on behind the scenes so the donor didn't have any idea what went into tracking down this individual. All the donor cared about was that they could rely on me to deliver on all aspects of their gifting needs. I was able to provide that positive experience due to building relationships and knowledge base through my participation in our National Association. This is important because you don't want the donor to be frustrated with the process of gifting. If they had to find an appraiser it could have been time consuming or an intensive process which could have led to frustration. We want the gifting experience to be positive and enjoyable so they'll feel good about their decision and hopefully, consider you again for a gift. I don't want you to just take my word for it, I want you to explore the potential benefits for yourself. As I've said, networking is one of the biggest benefits of the professional association. The connections you make will be priceless. That's why your activity for this week is to find and visit a local planned giving association. You can easily find a local chapter in your area by doing a Google search for a planned giving association in your town or the nearest major city. For example, I googled Planned Giving Association in Sacramento. You may have multiple associations near you. Pick the closest one to you and look for their next lunch or meeting. Contact the association to register to attend. At the meeting, I'd like you to introduce yourself to three people. Collect a business card from each one. Do a mini-interview with each and gather the following information: Get their name and title. Find out who they work for and what their role is at that organization. Discover if they specialize in planned giving, estate planning, financial advising, or something else. Find out what they value most about their involvement in the association. Once you have gathered that information about your three new contacts, write a one page report including the information you gathered. Additionally, write two or three paragraphs on what you valued most about this experience, what challenges you encountered, and what you would do differently the next time you attend a lunch or meeting of the local association. This is a relationship business whether it's with your donors, colleagues, or network of professionals. The relationships you build last a career and the fulfillment you receive will be incredible and rewarding. These relationships will provide much of what you need to develop your career in this field. The planned giving associations are an integral part of establishing relationships and gaining knowledge to be successful. There is some truth to the saying that it's not what you know but who you know. I believe the more expansive your network the more successful you will be. The planned giving associations provide you a platform to build the best network for you. Take advantage of the resources available to you and you will do amazing things. Let's recap what we've covered. After this lesson, you should now be able to describe your visit to a planned giving association meeting. Explain roles and benefits of national and local planned giving associations and list benefits of interacting with planned giving associations. This concludes the last lesson in module five. I hope that you enjoyed our time together, gain valuable knowledge, and have a clear understanding of planned giving as a professional field. Congratulations on your accomplishment.
