In this episode, Charitable Chit with Cathy & Claire shine a spotlight on the fantastic regional planned giving conference -- The Carolinas Planned Giving Conference! Special guests are Tamisha Keith, J.D., Director of Gift Planning at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College in Greensboro, North Carolina and Dana Taylor, CFRE, Director of Planned Giving a at the Medical University of South Carolina. Both are instrumental in the planning of the 2023 Carolinas Planned Giving Conference which is held every year at the beautiful Kanuga Conference Center in the beautiful mountains o ..read more

In this episode, the noted philanthropy expert and author Doug White walks us through two extremely interesting cases of a nonprofit nightmare... When GOOD gifts go BAD. The first is a case from New Jersey that went to trial. It was a 50k gift to a no-kill animal shelter from a couple who were promised the gift would be used to build a specific area for larger breed and other types of hard to place pets. The charity merged with another, did not fulfill the donors wishes -- and so the donors sued -- and won their case. The second case was the subject of Doug's book Abusing Donor Intent: The ..read more

In this episode, meet Steve Clark, Assistant Vice President for Gift Planning at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.  Our hostesses Cathy Sheffield and Claire Meyerhoff chat about college planned giving efforts with this experienced development professional. We also discuss the very important "soft skills" of fundraising, such as listening well and asking the right questions. Learning from your donor about their full-philanthropic interests and what matters them.  Steve has a few great questions that every fundraiser should think about, especially those who are newer to the field ..read more

College Planned Giving and Empathy in Fundraising In this episode, meet Cheryl Mott Smith, Executive Director, Gift Planning at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California.  Our hostesses Cathy Sheffield and Claire Meyerhoff chat about college planned giving efforts with this experienced development professional. We also discuss a very important trait that many planned giving people have  -- empathy.  Cheryl is someone who knows much about this as she battled cancer while continuing to work as a frontline fundraiser. In this interview, Cheryl shares what sh ..read more

Dr. Russell James of Texas Tech is the unofficial ROCK STAR of the wonderful world of planned giving. And in this episode our hostesses Cathy Sheffield and Claire Meyerhoff chat with Dr. James about his work and his life. You'll get an inside look at how Dr. James views his work and hear some amazing and useful ideas for discussing planned giving options with your nonprofit's likely planned giving donors. If you'd like to learn much, much more, you can visit Dr. James YouTube Channel. We hope you enjoy this episode with Dr. Russell James! If you need any help with your planned giving, just ..read more

The 2020 CGP Conference! In this episode, meet CGP 2020 Conference Chair Meryl Cosentino of New York University and Kent Weimer, Parkland Foundation who is the current National Association of Charitable Gift Planners board chair. Our Charitable Chit Chat hostesses Cathy Sheffield and Claire Meyerhoff preview the 2020 CGP Conference as Meryl and Kent share their enthusiasm and give us some behind the scenes insights into the 2020 CGP conference which is virtual for the very first time.  If you haven't already registered for the  National Association of Charitable Gift Planners annua ..read more

All about Charitable Gift Annuities! In this episode, meet Tia Graham Senior Director, Individual Giving with PBS Foundation as our hostesses Cathy Sheffield and Claire Meyerhoff explore the amazing philanthropic vehicle we know and love -- the Charitable Gift Annuity. You'll hear how CGA's fit into an overall fundraising program and learn some surprising information about CGA's donors and why they choose to support their favorite nonprofits with a CGA. Also, Tia gives us a preview of her upcoming session at the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners annual conference. We hope you ..read more

Time to BLAST the myths of Planned Giving! In this episode, planned giving expert Cathy Sheffield and nonprofit marketing specialist Claire Meyerhoff introduce you to David Moses, Senior Director, National Estate and Gift Planning with the Anti-Defamation League and Juan Ros a financial advisor working with philanthropic families and businesses. Along with our own Cathy Sheffield, we blast the myths standing in a nonprofit's way of planned giving success. Our first myth is "You have to be an expert to help donors make a planned gift to your nonprofit." Our experts say this is definitely a MY ..read more

Planned giving expert Cathy Sheffield and nonprofit marketing specialist Claire Meyerhoff introduce you to Dianne Belk, Founding Chair of the Girl Scouts of the USA's Juliette Gordon Low Society. In this lively charitable conversation, they talk about how Dianne, a volunteer, went from planned giving donor to spearheading an effort to ask other Girl Scouts to include the nonprofit in their estate plans. In less than ten years, more than 4,000 Girl Scouts made a planned gift and joined the Juliette Gordon Low Society. As the Girl Scouts have such a great planned giving success story, Cathy &a ..read more

Planned giving expert Cathy Sheffield and nonprofit marketing specialist Claire Meyerhoff introduce you to Jackie Franey, Director of Gift Planning at The Nature Conservancy. In this conversation they talk about how nonprofit fundraisers can focus on non-cash assets (real estate, business interest, securities, retirement plan assets, etc), as a source of funds for nonprofit organizations. Jackie and Cathy, both experienced philanthropy experts, share insights into how to talk to donors about other assets instead of going straight to the idea of a gift of cash. Listen to our interview to hear ..read more