Title: Dear Leadership: Here's Why Your Gift Planning Program is Important

Presenters: Elizabeth Ayers

Date: February 8, 2022

Time: 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. EST

How do we gift planners prove to the leaders of our organizations the necessity of a strong gift planning program that includes participation by all fundraisers? Do we emphasize the impact of a large gift, collaboration, messaging and promotion, data, or bold campaign goals requiring “all hands-on deck?” And how do we successfully navigate leadership changes and challenges and “old guard views” of gift planners as deferred gift closers only when there is no current cash gift option? Elizabeth will share how she built a strong case for the gift planning program by building it internally and finding ways to showcase its success in a language her leadership understood and appreciated. She will walk participants through the step-by-step process she followed to build a successful gift planning program embraced by senior management, boards, volunteers, and major gift colleagues. Reports used to demonstrate success will be shared and discussed.

Attendee Comments

• Excellent, tangible suggestions on how to best show the value of gift planning programs.
• Very much appreciated the shared materials.
• Great speaker -- really nice to hear about the thoughtful, committed planning that went into the success.  Thanks for examples of data/reports.

Elizabeth Ayers

Executive director of gift planning, The university of north carolina chapel hill

Elizabeth Ayers is the Executive Director of Gift Planning at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a former member of the Board of National Association of Charitable Gift Planners (NACGP) and served as NCPP 2017 Conference Chair. She is also a member of NACGP Leadership Institute and the North Carolina Planned Giving Council where she served on its Board from 2013 through 2016. Prior to joining UNC in 2008 she worked at The Ohio State University, where she served as Director of Planned Giving for the Medical Center and Associate Director of Planned Giving for the University. She has worked for the Columbus Foundation, served on nonprofit boards and committees and was president of Central Ohio Planned Giving Council in 2007. Elizabeth has presented on various charitable topics at local and national conferences including PPP, Crescendo, NCPGC, AAMC, Wealth Counsel, the North Carolina Community College Fundraisers' state conference, UNC System Conference and AFP North Carolina state conference. She has practiced law in the areas of estate and charitable planning and civil litigation. She holds a JD from Capital University, M. M. from Ohio University, and a B. M. from Wittenberg University.

Group webinars are intended for CGP affiliated councils or groups of up to 30 individuals.