Today, we sit down with Kent Weimer, our newly elected Chair of the CGP Board of Directors to hear his thoughts on CGP and the upcoming year. Kent has been actively involved in CGP for almost 20 years including 3 years on the board and leadership roles at the Chicago Council of Planned Giving and Charitable Gift Planners of Dallas, where he is a past president. We are excited for the upcoming year and to be led by such a great leader with more than 40 years of experience in the gift planning industry.

Q: What role do you believe CGP plays in the gift planning community?
A: CGP advances the art and science of charitable gift planning through education, advocacy and developing best practices. CGP is the place to come for valuable resources that help our members and our local councils, and, ultimately advance philanthropic support. CGP Conference is the epitome of providing an educational opportunity for people involved in charitable gift planning.

One of the great resources to help advance knowledge in our field is our speaker’s bureau. I or anyone else on the national board will come to local council meetings and regional conferences to speak on a wide variety of topics. Please take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to bring gift planning thought leaders to talk about the most cutting edge topics in charitable gift planning.

 Q: How did you become involved with CGP?
A: When I started my first job that formally involved charitable gift planning, I was encouraged by colleagues to become involved in CGP. That was great advice and I’ve been a member ever since. I’ve been a member of three local councils, but have always maintained my membership in our national organization as well.

 Q: What opportunities do you see for CGP going forward?
A: This is a wonderful time to be working in gift planning. With the anticipated trillions that will be passing down to heirs, the chance for helping our donors craft the charitable aspect of their plans presents amazing opportunities. CGP will help guide gift planners and professional advisors in our journey to successful outcomes for charitable organizations.

 Q: Share a glimpse of your vision for the organization and a bit about your priorities as a leader.
A: Our national board has adopted Vision 2020. We have identified four clear action areas to focus our efforts on in the year ahead.

1. National Standards for Gift Planning Success: This will provide the best practices in the field and guide us on what is important to accomplish and how to measure the outcomes and activities.

2. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: We want to be proactive in creating a culture where all people feel welcome in our organization and specific actions are adopted to begin building a more diverse community of gift planners on both the local and national levels. 

3. Collaboration: Identify those organizations working in some area of charitable gift planning that would offer opportunities to work together to advance philanthropy.

4. Development: Over the years many have donated to CGP and included our organization in their estate plans. We will now formalize a process and develop appropriate policies to advance philanthropic support of our national organization.

Q: What would you like for people to know about CGP that they may not?
A: CGP is our voice on Capitol Hill. The organization actively advocates for action that will be beneficial to our donors and the philanthropic community. At the local council level, we don’t have the resources for this type of advocacy. It is only through our national organization that we can have a voice.

 Q: What are you most looking forward to this year related to CGP’s work?
A: As chair, I am looking forward to working with the board, an amazingly talented group of dedicated thought leaders in our industry, to achieve bold outcomes through our Vision 2020.

 Q: Anything else you would like our members to know?
A: The summer Council Leadership Summit provides an outstanding opportunity to learn from other council leaders. I have found this to be a wonderful resource for making our local council better. Creative ideas are shared, the network of professional colleagues is expanded, and a sense of energy for moving gift planning forward in our communities is generated. Many of the successful outcomes in our local council have come from things we’ve learned at the Council Leadership Summit. Don’t miss this opportunity to advance your local program.