I will summarize some of my research findings about bequests and I will explain why I utilized the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) publicly available dataset. Specifically, I will discuss my research comparing Caucasians and African Americans on their self-rated importance of leaving a bequest to family, charity, and religion, possible reasons for the bequest gap, and what opportunities this presents for education and service to an underserved community. I will wrap up with my study that explores whether lifetime donors to different types of charities also differ in the importance they place on leaving a charitable bequest. As a whole, individuals give more during life, through annual and major gifts, than they do at death. Many of these donors are an untapped resource for planned gifts, some more than others, and this data about which donor types are most likely to be interested in a charitable bequest could inform our conversations about philanthropy.

Most Prospect Management models rely on the gift cycle to categorize prospects. But is this the most accurate way to describe a prospect's philanthropic engagement with the institution? Does a prospect being cultivated for their first major gift really fall in the same category as a seasoned donor being cultivated for their 10th? The Prospect Development Team at Temple University decided to reframe the way they code and report on prospects based on simple measurements on the donors' records. This enabled the team to engage with the fundraisers they partner with to uncover new opportunities and allowed fundraisers to approach their portfolios in a more strategic way.