Conferences are a funny thing.
They exist in a number of dimensions at once.
For people new to a profession, a job, or to a community - they are an entry into another world. Often overwhelming and seemingly complex, but if the conference team does their job right – that person leaves with new knowledge, connections that could help achieve new goals, and comfort knowing that new heights can be conquered.
True collaboration and cooperation is required to achieve success in a comprehensive campaign. No fundraising units of a charity should be perceived as being in competition with any other unit. In my opinion, this requires strong leadership and creative goal setting. Why are so many planned giving shops measured with metrics designed for major gift fund raisers? I have heard a broad range of answers to this question, none of which was particularly satisfactory and a few reasons made no sense at all.
Strategic Gift Planning is more than just Planned Giving.
It’s more than donations and fundraising and philanthropy.
It’s tied to tectonic questions like, “why are we here”, and actions that change the world.
As practitioners, we get stuck in our day-to-day activities.
But who is a practitioner? We are fundraisers, lawyers, accountants, bankers, insurance professionals, estate trustees --- and we need to start talking to each other if we want to be of better service to our donors and clients.
SO. Let’s get talking.