Building a Planned Giving Program that Lasts
Speaker: Diane Tuntland
Planned giving is one of the most powerful and underleveraged tools for fueling long-term endowment growth and ensuring the financial sustainability of mission-driven organizations. While annual fundraising and investment returns often receive more attention, it is the thoughtful cultivation and strategic management of planned gifts that lay the foundation for generational impact. This session explores how a well-designed planned giving program can transform an organization's financial trajectory—turning deferred gifts into enduring sources of support. A key focus will be the critical importance of having a plan in place before planned gifts are received—including governance protocols, investment and spending policies, donor intent documentation, and communication strategies that ensure gifts are stewarded responsibly and aligned with the organization's long-term mission. Participants will leave with actionable frameworks to strengthen collaboration between development and finance teams, align their planned giving and endowment strategies, and position their organizations for long-term stability and growth through intentional foresight and disciplined planning.
The Gift of Being Known: How Deep Listening Transforms Legacy Conversations
Speaker: Lorelei Mah
The most powerful legacy conversations don't start with tax benefits — they start with being heard. This session teaches how to listen for the story behind the gift, uncovering the values and motivations that shape a donor's generosity. You'll gain practical tools for reflective listening, the art of asking better questions, and how to help donors articulate the legacy they truly want to leave. Listening well isn't soft — it's strategic, and it changes everything.
Mastering Planned Gift Conversations in the AI Era
Speaker: Ann Kolakowski
At a time when growing numbers of organizations are leaning into AI avatars and digital interfaces, the heart of planned giving remains true human connection. Fundraisers often approach gift planning conversations burdened by their own internal biases and deeply personal "money stories"—unconscious narratives about wealth, giving, and self-worth that can sabotage meaningful donor interactions. They may also bring deep-seated fears: limited technical knowledge, lack of confidence, and an underlying discomfort with mortality that leads to avoidance. Yet the most successful legacy conversations are surprisingly joyful, hopeful, and forward-looking—transformative moments that connect deeply to human desires for meaning and lasting impact. How can fundraisers overcome their internal objections and access a donor's profound desire for symbolic immortality? This session will help bridge the gap between fear and possibility, offering insights and practical skills to transform transactional interactions into powerful, values-driven partnerships that honor donors' legacies and aspirations as they fulfill institutional needs.
Charitable Giving Post OBBBA
Speaker: Matthew Karch
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) brought sweeping tax changes with some important implications for charitable giving. This presentation provides a practical overview of the changes to the charitable tax rules under OBBBA as well as an overview of some of the most effective strategies that you can explore with your donors to help maximize their giving in the wake of OBBBA. It also offers a concise review of charitable giving concepts, including outright gifts, donor advised funds (DAFs), qualified charitable distributions (QCDs), charitable gift annuities (CGAs) and charitable remainder trusts (CRTs) with a focus on when and why each may be an appropriate giving method. With this knowledge you can feel confident in navigating your donors through these tax changes and find opportunities for them to maximize their impact with meaningful gifts.
