2024 Course Descriptions

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7:30 – 8:30am: Registration, Breakfast and Sponsor Exhibits
8:30 – 8:45am: Welcome

Carol Eames
Gift Planning Officer
American Red Cross

8:45 – 9:45am: Keynote Address

Albina: The Largest Restorative Redevelopment Effort in America

Winta Johannes
Executive Director
Albina Vision Trust

The Albina Vision Trust (AVT) is a community-driven non-profit 501(c)(3) created to buy back land, rebuild community, and reroot Black legacies and Black futures in the heart of Portland’s central city. Their work intentionally connects place, wealth, joy, and culture, transforming what they build, how they build, and who they build it for.

Objectives:

  • Identify how culturally-specific, placed-based non-profit organizations can conduct intentional and collaborative philanthropic campaigns.
  • Consider how culturally-specific, placed-based non-profit organizations can strengthen new and continuing relationships with donors and community foundations, while also navigating the regulations and requirements of local, state, and federal entities.
  • Examine how culturally-specific, placed-based non-profit organizations can utilize a range of fundraising and community development strategies to repair the damage caused by racist urban planning policies, with a particular focus on the areas of restorative redevelopment, housing, transportation, clean energy and environment, and wealth building.
9:45 – 10:00am: Break and Sponsor Exhibits
10:00 – 11:00am: Breakout Session I

Breakout Session I: Track One

Planned Giving 101: Introduction to Gift Planning

Rebecca Bibleheimer, JD, LLM
Senior Complex Gifts Officer
Oregon Community Foundation

Designed for attendees who are new to planned giving or are in need of a refresher of the basics, this seminar will provide a broad overview of types of planned gifts. We will cover bequests, beneficiary designations, charitable remainder trusts, charitable gift annuities, and IRA gifts with an explanation of what each of these tools are and how they can benefit your donors. We will also take a moment to look at the big picture of planned giving, what it is and how it fits into development.

Breakout Session I: Track Two

Navigating Complex Strategies for Tax-Efficient Giving

Jordan Patterson, CPA
Certified Public Accountant
Perkins & Co

What tax advice are your donors hearing from their CPAs? Jordan Patterson, CPA will share the top planning strategies used by clients when considering their financial, charitable and legacy planning goals. The session will focus on optimizing tax efficiency through innovative approaches, including the implications of recent legislation, advanced retirement account strategies, and the effective use of charitable remainder trusts. He will also explore sophisticated estate planning techniques, such as leveraging higher exemptions, managing capital gains taxes, and using legal structures like LLCs and SLATs to protect assets and reduce tax liabilities. Attendees can step into their donor’s shoes to learn about assets and strategies from a different perspective, in order to be prepared to serve the overall goals of their donors while supporting their charitable mission.

Breakout Session I: Track Three

Accelerating the Remainder Gift

Russell A. Willis III, JD, LLM
Consultant
Planned Gift Design Services

This interactive session provides important insights and information about how to proceed when a gift annuitant or income beneficiary of a Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT) gives part or all of their income interest to the issuing or remainder charity. Attendees will strengthen their ability to identify scenarios in which the gift of a life income interest would be appropriate or advantageous, increase their understanding of the tax implications of such a gift, and further develop a sense of how anticipating this possibility might have informed the structure of the initial gift.

11:00 – 11:20am: Break and Sponsor Exhibits
11:20am – 12:20pm: Breakout Session II

Breakout Session II: Track One

Planned Giving 102: Legacy Giving and How to Talk to Your Donors About It

Rebecca Bibleheimer, JD, LLM
Senior Complex Gifts Officer
Oregon Community Foundation

Now that we know what the types of planned gift are, let’s look closer at how they intersect with your donor’s estate planning and how to identify opportunities to discuss these vehicles with your donors. We will discuss when these tools may be appropriate for your donors and what the next steps are when you identify a prospective planned gift. Part of this discussion will also focus on marketing of planned gifts as well as a discussion on legacy giving in general, the motivations involved, and how to work with your donors to help ensure that their intent and wishes are fulfilled by their planning.

Breakout Session II: Track Two

The Lazarus Gifts: How To Bring Stalled Gift Conversations

Stephanie Shenigo Zaino, JD
Director of Development II, Gift Planning
Oregon State University Foundation

We have all have encountered gifts that looked like easy wins – great for the donor, and great for the organization. But something goes sideways, and the gift is never completed, or is even revoked. How do we restart the conversation, earn back donor trust, and make forward progress? This session is focused on how to identify the root cause of the disconnect, find common ground, rebuild trust, and advance stagnant gifts to completion. The audience will use a word cloud platform to enter their input on both issues and solutions they have encountered in their donor work.

Breakout Session II: Track Three

Purpose Trusts: A Noncharitable Trust That Can Champion Charitable Causes

Victoria Bejarano Muirhead, JD
Associate
Stoel Rives LLP

Steven Bell, JD
Of Counsel
Dunn Carney LLP

Perpetual purpose trusts are emerging as a compelling way to preserve the mission of a company. Learn how this technique can also align with a founder’s philanthropic goals. Participants will understand the basic elements of a perpetual purpose trust and why this vehicle is gaining traction today, as well as the types of business owners who are interested in this model. They will also come away with strategies for making connections to charitable giving, as these trusts can signal an individual’s interest in charitable causes and can contain provisions that benefit charitable beneficiaries.

12:20 – 1:40pm: Lunch
1:40 – 2:40pm: Breakout Session III

Breakout Session III: Track One

Unlocking The Power Of Partnership: Empowering Major Gift Officers

Meghan Crane, CSPG
Senior Director of Gift Planning
Providence Foundations of Oregon

Dawn Johnston, CFRE
Director of Development—Brain and Spine
Providence Foundations of Oregon

Crystal Logan, MS, CAP
Senior Philanthropy Officer
Providence Foundations of Oregon

In this presentation, the focus is on empowering major gift officers to confidently ask for planned gifts. Megan, Crystal, and Dawn will highlight the importance of combining major and planned giving efforts to maximize fundraising results. They will emphasize that major gift officers already possess the skills necessary to solicit planned gifts and explain how to leverage these abilities effectively. Through the use of real stories, we will demonstrate practical strategies and techniques to cultivate relationships with potential planned gift donors, such as highlighting the impact of bequests, tailoring the ask to the donor’s values and motivations, and demonstrating stewardship of planned gifts. As our industry is tasked with raising more money with limited resources and time, our goal is to empower major gift officers to integrate planned giving into their work and successfully secure these valuable donations.

Breakout Session III: Track Two

Strategic Planned Giving Marketing

Hal Abrams, JD, LLM
Principal/Owner
Hal J. Abrams Planned Giving Consultant

This interactive presentation is designed to give attendees a broader strategic approach to planned giving marketing that will compel donors to take action and inspire them to more readily collaborate with their fundraising teams.

Breakout Session III: Track Three

Charitable Remainder Trusts For Those With Authority Issues

Bill Zook, JD
Principal
Evergreen Planned Giving

This interactive session considers qualified Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT) benefits and requirements and the relatively larger number of benefits and the relatively smaller number of requirements associated with non-qualified CRTs. We’ll discuss charitable QTIP trusts and some special needs trusts, as well as situations where one kind of CRT or the other would be most appropriate.

2:40 – 3:00pm: Dessert and Sponsor Exhibits
3:00 – 4:00pm: Breakout Session IV

Breakout Session IV: Track One

Valuing Handraisers in Your Planned Giving Metrics

Brantley Boyett, JD
President and Co-Founder
Giving Docs

The term “handraiser” is on the rise in the planned giving community. Nonprofits have begun to understand the value of incorporating individuals who have indicated an intention to leave a planned gift. Attend this session to learn:

  • Specific metrics you can apply to your handraisers to gather credible insight on planned giving prospects
  • Best practices to incorporate handraiser data with the National Standards for Gift Planning Success
  • Insights from your fundraising peers on how rethinking planned giving with handraisers in mind has been beneficial
  • Marketing and communication tactics that work best in persuading your audience to raise their hands

Breakout Session IV: Track Two

The Back of a Napkin and a Spreadsheet: Planned Giving Prospect Research on a Shoestring

Michael Davis, MBA, CTFA
Senior Philanthropic Advisor
The Charitable Services Group, U.S. Bank

Khoi Dinh, MBA
Director of Prospect Development
Lewis & Clark

Marina Muñoz de Martínez, MPA, CNP
Co-Treasurer, Fundraising and Board Director, Development
People’s Nonprofit Accelerator

How do you identify your organization’s best planned giving prospects? Your database likely holds thousands of records, so it’s critical to have tools to help you make good use of your time, budget, and energy when trying to secure legacy gifts. In this panel discussion, we’ll talk to a prospect researcher at a large nonprofit to learn about the best practices and screening tools used to develop planned giving prospect lists. Understanding that many organizations do not have dedicated research staff, we’ll talk about ways that you can apply some of the same principles to your own work – in other words, how do you mix a little science, a little art, and a dash of gut instinct together to figure out a recipe for planned giving success?

Breakout Session IV: Track Three

Realizing Potential: A Case Study of Innovative Real Estate-Backed Charitable Gift Annuity Strategies

Rochelle Makela-Goodman
Assistant Vice President, Gift Planning
Oregon Health & Science University Foundation

Liz Arrington, CSPG
Senior Director of Development
Oregon Health & Science University Foundation

This interactive session presents a case study of a Charitable Gift Annuity (CGA) funded with real estate including flexible CGA options. The presenters will walk attendees through the process of donor conversations, engaging with professional advisors, and working with the board on gift acceptance, while identifying pitfalls, managing donor expectations, and lessons learned in the process.

 4:00pm: Reception and Raffle