This session is designed to equip fundraising leaders with the tools and strategies to elevate their entire advancement team’s awareness of planned giving, even among staff who don't specialize in it. Attendees will learn how to train their teams to recognize planned giving opportunities, identify key donor signals, and seamlessly introduce these conversations into routine donor interactions. By the end of the session, leaders will be prepared to empower their staff with practical knowledge that strengthens donor relationships and ultimately increases planned gift commitments.

Engaging donors around planned giving opportunities is a powerful fundraising approach. As Professor Russell James, expert in Planned Giving strategies, puts it: cash is not king. Gift officers are often aware of planned giving vehicles but are challenged to find organic ways to guide donors to understand these opportunities. Planned giving vehicles can also seem technical and intimidating to many development officers. Planned giving training often focuses on the mechanisms themselves, which can generate curiosity but leave unanswered questions about how to turn theoretical knowledge into gift closures. This session follows a different approach. Through story-telling and case-studies, this session builds from the relationships and conversations development officers have with their donors to show the path forward to planned giving strategies and partnership approaches that close gifts.

The fundraising basics to learn about wills, trust, and beneficiary designations from retirement plans. This presentation will explain these terms, discuss the the benefits to the donor and charity, and offer useful conversation starters for gift officers to use with prospective donors. Whether you are a staff person or board volunteer new to fundraising or a seasoned gift officer this session will give you the knowledge and wording to use to secure these important future gifts for your organization.