{ return to Annual Conference page }
7:30 – 8:30am: Registration, Breakfast, and Sponsor Exhibits—Special thanks to our breakfast sponsor Oregon Community Foundation
8:30 – 8:45am: Welcome Remarks
8:45 – 9:45am: Keynote Address
Neurogiving: The Neuroscience of Gift Planning (and What to Do About It)
Cherian Koshy, ACFRE, CFRE, CAP
Most planned giving strategies are built on financial logic, tax incentives, and estate mechanics.
Neurogiving begins somewhere deeper.
In this keynote, Cherian Koshy reveals how neuroscience, behavioral science, and memory research explain what truly drives legacy decisions and why even well designed gift plans often stall.
- Why do donors express interest in a bequest but never formalize it?
- Why do some planned giving conversations feel meaningful and values driven while others feel procedural and delayed?
- Why do donors postpone legacy decisions even when the financial case is compelling?
In Neurogiving, Cherian takes audiences inside the human brain to show how memory, identity, mortality awareness, trust, and emotional safety shape legacy generosity long before tax benefits or gift vehicles enter the discussion.
Planned gifts are rarely triggered by spreadsheets.
They are activated by meaning.
Blending research with real fundraising experience, this session equips planned giving professionals to move legacy work from transactional to identity anchored, helping donors see their plan not as paperwork, but as the completion of a life story.
This is not a session about technical instruments.
It is a session about the psychology of forever.
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, CAP
Senior Director of Planned Giving
Providence Health Foundations
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
Alphabet Soup or Strategic Advantage? The Role of Professional Designations in Fundraising Careers
Katie Colhoff, MBA, CFRE
Vice President of Philanthropy
Legacy Health
Megan Crane, MNM, CSPG
Senior Director of Planned Giving
Providence Health Foundations
Crystal Logan, MS, CAP
Director of Gift Planning
University of Portland
Join a candid, practical conversation with seasoned fundraising professionals who hold the Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE), Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP), and Certified Specialist in Planned Giving (CPSG) designations. This panel will break down what it takes to earn each credential, including course structure, study workload, costs, and renewal requirements. Panelists will share why they chose their path, how each designation shaped their careers, and its impact on credibility. You’ll also learn how these credentials influence hiring decisions, strengthen peer connections, and expand networking opportunities. The session concludes with an open Q&A to help you determine whether pursuing a CFRE, CAP, or CSPG is right for you.
Breakout Session I: Track Three
Reading is Fundamental: An Introduction to Reviewing Documents and Identifying Issues
Michael Davis, MBA, CTFA
Senior Vice President | National Director | Philanthropic Services
U.S. Bank and Charitable Services
Whether a donor provides you with a hard copy or an attorney emails you a PDF, gift planners need to be ready to review estate and trust documents. We will learn to identify the key components of a trust document (trustor/grantor, trustee, beneficiary, property, etc.) and what to do with that information. After learning to identify different components, we will examine actual clauses from various trusts (estate gifts, CRUTs, CRATs) and put our knowledge to work. The goal will be both to identify potential gifts, organizational responsibilities, potential pitfalls, and ultimately how to make recommendations to internal Gift Acceptance Committees. We will practice by reviewing sample clauses, ultimately learning how to develop sustainable, repeatable procedures for tackling even the most convoluted and arcane documents. Our goal will be to develop an increased ability to review a potential gift document, so that you are prepared to engage internal and external stakeholders, as well as to know what types of outside assistance you might need to administer and accept a future charitable 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, CAP
Senior Director of Planned Giving
Providence Health Foundations
Now that we know what the types of planned gifts 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
Turning Planned Giving from “Someday” into Strategy
Bryant Weathers, CSPG
Executive Director for Charitable Gift Planning
Michigan Technological University
Some of the most impactful philanthropic commitments happen when gift planning is seamlessly integrated into routine donor interactions. This session offers practical strategies for embedding planned giving into major gift portfolio management—covering how to identify opportunities within current relationships, naturally introduce legacy discussions, and make these conversations effective. Participants will learn to spot signals indicating a donor’s openness to planned gifts, use blended giving approaches, and foster a culture where legacy giving is a standard part of fundraising, not an afterthought.
Breakout Session II: Track Three
ASK: Accept • Sell • Keep: Aligning Policy, Governance, and Opportunity for Real Estate Gifts
Jennifer Millburn
AVP of Gift Planning
Oregon State University Foundation
Stephanie Zaino, JD
Senior Director of Gift Planning
Oregon State University Foundation
Learn to evaluate real estate gifts using the ASK framework: aligning policy, governance, and risk to advance opportunity, steward donors, and make confident, compliant decisions.
12:20 – 1:40pm: Lunch and Program—Special thanks to our lunch sponsor U.S. Bank & Charitable Services
The Northwest Planned Giving Roundtable Distinguished Service Award
Presented to Katherine E. Saitas
With an introduction from Michael Davis, Senior Vice President, National Director, Philanthropic Services, U.S. Bank and Charitable Services
1:40 – 2:40pm: Breakout Session III
Breakout Session III: Track One
How to Build a Planned Giving Program
Mike Conway
Director of Development II, Gift Planning
Oregon State University Foundation
Participants will learn how to build a planned giving program that aligns with an organization’s mission and long-term financial goals. The session will explore the foundational elements of a successful program, including gift acceptance policies and the legal and administrative infrastructure needed to support planned gifts, with a particular focus on bequests and other simple giving vehicles. Strategies for integrating planned giving into major and annual giving efforts will also be discussed. In addition, attendees will examine ways to identify and engage loyal, long-term donors through clear, values-based messaging focused on legacy and impact. Practical examples will highlight how staff partnerships can strengthen donor conversations, support consistent stewardship, and foster the long-term commitment and patience required to build a thriving planned giving program.
Breakout Session III: Track Two
Smarter, Faster, Kinder: Ethical AI Tools Every Gift Planner Should be Using Now
Cherian Koshy, ACFRE, CFRE, CAP
AI is reshaping fundraising, but in gift planning, the real opportunity isn’t about automation; it’s about amplification. AI can help us better prepare, understand donors more deeply, explain complex gifts more clearly and remove the friction that gets in the way of generosity. But only if we use it wisely.
In this immediately practical, ethics-first session, I’ll show you exactly how AI can support the human side of charitable gift planning. No abstractions. No hype. Just real examples and usable workflows drawn from the work gift planners do every day.
Together, we’ll walk through how to:
- Surface donor motivations, identity signals, and readiness cues, quickly and ethically
- Translate CRTs, CGAs, bequests, and blended-gift strategies into clear, donor-friendly language
- Draft outreach, meeting prep, proposals, and stewardship messages in minutes
- Turn messy notes into polished follow-ups that deepen trust
- Build simple, transparent guardrails so AI strengthens relationships instead of risking them
This session is designed to help you show up smarter in donor conversations, faster in your internal workflow, and kinder in how you communicate gratitude and guidance. If you’ve been curious about integrating AI into gift planning but unsure where to start, you’ll leave with the confidence, tools, and prompts to begin the same day and to do it in a way that honors your donors, your mission, and the sacred nature of legacy giving.
Breakout Session III: Track Three
Fight For Your Rights (to Party Like a Beneficiary)
Steven Bell, JD
Senior Vice President, Wealth Strategist
Ferguson Wellman Capital Management
Rochelle Makela-Goodman
AVP of Gift Planning
OHSU Foundation
The best intentions of donors are not always easily realized as a gift made under an estate plan is administered. Beneficiaries under a will, trust, or beneficiary designation have enforceable rights that can be exercised, but it is important to know the rules and the right questions to ask. Learn how to push for the most efficient realization of donor intent and how nonprofit beneficiaries may navigate estate and trust administrations, and understand the information you are entitled to as a beneficiary (timely notification, inventory of estate, professional fees/how to manage, when and how to escalate).
For allied professionals and advisors, better understand and embrace your role in honoring your client’s philanthropic intentions. What does it mean to serve as a trustee? What are your obligations when managing final distributions from IRAs and other accounts? How can nonprofit professionals and professional advisors work together to honor a donor and client’s ultimate wishes?
2:40 – 3:00pm: Break and Sponsor Exhibits
3:00 – 4:00pm: Breakout Session IV
Breakout Session IV: Track One
Turning Conversations About Bequests into Major Gifts
Hal J. Abrams, JD, LLM
Principal
Hal J. Abrams Planned Giving Consultant
The presentation is designed to help fundraisers become more comfortable with discussing death and estate plans with donors. The presentation also strives to help fundraisers be more strategic in their donor meetings to better qualify, cultivate and solicit donors. The 5 case studies highlight ideas and usable approaches to educate a donor how planned giving can help them accomplish their personal and financial goals while supporting a non-profit.
Breakout Session IV: Track Two
Tax Smart Strategies with Charitable Gift Annuities and Charitable Remainder Trusts
Natalie Chapman
Director of Planned Giving
The Salvation Army
Scott Claeys CAP, CFRE, FCEP
Senior Director of Gift Planning
The Salvation Army
Discover powerful, underutilized strategies that help donors and clients create lifetime income while maximizing tax and estate planning benefits. This program explores how Charitable Gift Annuities and Charitable Remainder Trusts can reduce taxes, increase income, and support loved ones and charitable goals. Through practical examples and case studies, attendees will learn how these flexible planning tools can unlock meaningful financial and philanthropic advantages.
Breakout Session IV: Track Three
Advising Donors in a SECURE World: Charitable Gift Planning with Retirement Accounts
Jessica Baggenstos, JD, LLM
Partner
Black Helterline LLP
This session explores advanced charitable gift planning strategies that leverage retirement assets to create meaningful donor impact while maximizing tax efficiency. Attendees will gain practical insight into how the SECURE and SECURE 2.0 Acts have reshaped charitable planning opportunities, including the growing role of testamentary charitable remainder trusts, charitable gift annuities funded with IRA assets, and other strategies for integrating philanthropy into retirement and estate plans.
Designed for both fundraising professionals and professional advisors, this presentation will combine technical planning concepts with relationship-based approaches for engaging donors and clients in these important conversations. Participants will learn how to build trust, identify planning opportunities, and confidently discuss charitable solutions that align donors’ financial, family, and philanthropic goals.