E-Newsletter

Written by Megan Cantalupo

Dear Fellow PGCGP Council Members,

Greetings! I hope you are enjoying a healthy and successful 2026.

The Council has been hard at work planning our 2026 programs, and we’re thrilled with the wonderful attendance we’ve been seeing and all the talented professionals we’ve been meeting along the way.

I’d like to express gratitude on behalf of the entire Council to our board member Jonathan Boiskin for fearlessly jumping in to chair the 2026 Planned Giving Course on April 17 at The American College of Financial Planning. Jonathan and committee members Maura Slatowski, Carol Neilson, Caroline Northrup, and board member Colleen Becht-Folz coordinated another sellout Course, further evidence that planned gifts continue to be a critical part of philanthropic programs of every size. The Council is proud to be a resource for this kind of knowledge-sharing, training, and networking throughout the Greater Philly area.

We also had a wonderful turnout at our March educational workshop with our powerhouse speakers Maribeth Przywara from the Delaware Community Foundation and Lynn Malzone Ierardi from Charitable Solutions, LLC. Guests that day traveled from as far away as Baltimore, NYC, and Central PA! Our next program is June 11 at the Philadelphia Racquet Club - details for the program are included in this newsletter. I hope you’ll be able to attend.

Registration is also live for our signature event, Planned Giving Day, at the Inn at Villanova on October 21. In addition to informative sessions taught by industry leaders, this is a wonderful networking opportunity. I hope to see you there!

Please visit www.pgcgp.org to learn how to get the most from your membership.

Written by Viken Mikaelian, CEO PlannedGiving.com

After 28 years and 5,000+ nonprofit clients, here's the pattern I've watched almost every development shop in America get wrong:

They build major gifts first. Planned giving second. Usually a distant second — funded only after the capital campaign, staffed by whoever's left, treated as the long-horizon "nice to have."

It's exactly backwards.

Consider the donor every gift officer eventually meets — the one who gave $50 a year for two decades, never came to a gala, never answered a major gift call, and quietly left the organization $2 million in her will. Every shop has this story. Most shops tell it as a lucky surprise. It wasn't. She had been signaling for years. Nobody was looking.

She wasn't a major gift prospect on anyone's screen. She was a planned gift donor, and planned gift donors don't fit the major gifts org chart.

Here's what 28 years of watching this pattern has taught me: planned giving isn't the back end of your fundraising program. It's the front door to it.

The mistake is assuming planned giving is about deferred revenue from aging donors. It isn't. It's one of the clearest behavioral indicators of long-term donor commitment ever discovered in fundraising.

The data is unambiguous. Donors who include your organization in their estate plans give more in annual gifts than donors who don't. They give longer. They give through downturns. They renew at higher rates. And — this is the part most development directors haven't internalized — they convert to major gifts at dramatically higher frequencies than donors acquired through any other channel.

That last sentence should change how you build your shop.

If a planned giving commitment is the strongest predictor of future major gift capacity, then planned giving is not a side department.

It is your qualification engine.

Cut planned giving and you're not saving money — you're severing your own pipeline three years upstream of where the pain shows up.

The practical reframe for development leaders is uncomfortable but clear: If you're hiring, hire your planned giving officer before your second major gifts officer. The PG hire will qualify more major gift prospects per year than the MG hire will close.

If you're cutting, cut almost anything else first. Direct mail, events, the new CRM module — all of it goes out before planned giving. You're cutting a flywheel.

If you're a small shop without the budget for a dedicated planned giving officer, train every gift officer you have to ask the planned giving question. "Have you ever considered including us in your estate plans?" is not a closing line. It's a qualifying line. The donors who say yes are telling you something major gifts officers spend years and thousands of travel dollars trying to figure out: I am committed enough to this organization to put it in writing.

There is no stronger major gifts signal than that.

The organizations that figure this out — and a handful of the best ones already have — quietly outperform peers two and three times their size. Not because they're better at major gifts. Because they understood, early, that the legacy society was never the endgame. It was the on-ramp.

Twenty-eight years in, I'm still surprised by how few organizations have noticed.
_______________________________________________________________________________

Viken Mikaelian is the founder and CEO of PlannedGiving.com, founded in 1998 — the same year as Google. The firm has served over 5,000 nonprofits with planned giving marketing, websites, and strategy. He has presented at 500+ fundraising conferences and authored 1,500+ articles on planned giving. He publishes GIVING Magazine (free to clients) and curates Philanthropy.org.

Since 2009, PNC Institutional Asset Management® has been proud to serve as a sponsor of the Planned Giving Council of Greater Philadelphia and support the important work of the planned giving community. As many of us in the planned giving community know well, understanding what drives the success of a charitable gift annuity (CGA) program can be challenging, especially for organizations of varying sizes. In this article, PNC Institutional Asset Management explores how nonprofits can evaluate their CGA programs and better understand the factors that influence long-term performance.

Read more: The Evaluation Complex: Measuring the Success of Your CGA Program

CCS Fundraising is excited to share the newest edition of our annual CCS Philanthropy Pulse Report, which synthesizes survey results from hundreds of nonprofits worldwide to provide insights into the sector's recent performance and current outlook. This year’s data highlights where momentum is building, where opportunities exist, and what leaders are prioritizing across revenue, staffing, boards, and technology. These insights are sourced from the survey responses provided by 618 participating organizations of all sizes across 47 US states and 18 countries, offering a valuable resource for development professionals across our sector.

Written By Megan Cantalupo

Dear PGCGP members and friends,

On behalf of the PGCGP Board, we are grateful and honored for your membership and are excited to offer you another year of enriching professional development and networking opportunities.

Please take advantage of all the benefits included with PGCGP membership. In addition to providing free registration for our educational sessions throughout the year, you receive discounts for our flagship events, Planned Giving Day and the Planned Giving Course®. You’ll also enjoy our quarterly digital newsletter with articles from industry-leading professionals and members-only invitations to other events. Additionally, organizations with 501c3 status can post jobs for free on our Job Bank.

For me, the most rewarding benefit is working alongside Council members on various committees, developing programming, and collaborating on the Council Board. I’m proud to call them colleagues and honored to consider them friends.

I highly encourage you to consider getting involved with a PGCGP committee and/or as a mentor or mentee. There are descriptions of these opportunities on pgcgp.org.

I look forward to meeting you at one our fantastic educational programs this year, including the PG Course® on April 17th. Don’t forget to mark your calendar for October 21’s Planned Giving Day – the region’s signature one-day planned giving professional development and networking event.

Written by Jessica Brookstein, MBA, CAP®

As the beauty of autumn surrounds us, we are reminded that change can be a powerful and positive force. Thank you for your continued dedication and for bringing your unique talents to our shared mission.

Looking to get more involved? A great way to deepen your commitment is by serving on one of our committees. Did you know that the first step to serving on our Council Board is joining a committee?

Our committees include:

No matter what your interests, there is a place for you to contribute and grow.

Don’t forget - The Planned Giving Day Conference is just around the corner!

October 22, 2025, at The Inn at Villanova. Join us for a full day of learning from top experts, connecting with colleagues, and supporting our valued sponsors.

See you at the Conference!

Written by Don Kramer

Not as bad as it could have been for nonprofits; A significant above-the-line deduction for public charities

The so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was narrowly passed by Congress and signed by the President in July 2025, provides a significant above-the-line charitable contribution deduction for public charities and avoids some of the most adverse proposals for the charitable sector. 

But its major benefits flow to wealthy taxpayers whose “temporary” tax cuts of 2017 have been made permanent, and some of its other provisions will have significant impact on the work of the charitable sector.

You can read more in Don Kramer’s article here.

Written by Jessica Brookstein, MBA, CAP®

My second year as President of the Council feels much different than my first year. The same was true for my first and second years as a Member and then a Board Member. Why is that? Is it because in year one of anything really, we are learning? Growing? Getting the feel for how things work? I would say yes to all of those. I felt the same way when I started working in Gift Planning many years ago. What started out as “Can I do this?” turned into “I got this!” The same is true for our Planned Giving Council. You have already taken the first step and joined the Council. Are you learning? Are you growing? Are you starting to feel like part of our team of Planned Giving professionals from around the area? I hope the word “Yes” popped into your head. If YES is your word, then you got this! Time to join a committee, lead a group or continue down the path to becoming a Board Member. 

Whether Yes or No popped into your head, there are a plethora of opportunities for you as a member no matter where you are in your career or involvement with the Council.

Continue to say YES and maximize all the benefits of your PGCGP membership. 

Jessica Brookstein, MBA, CAP®
President, Planned Giving Council of Greater Philadelphia

Every donor has an intent when supporting an organization, whether that be to create an endowment, fully fund a program, or provide the unrestricted support that enables their chosen recipient to serve the needs they wholeheartedly agree with. However, many donors may be unable to fund their intent through a cash gift.

Gift planning, when combined with the donor’s desires, enables this to happen. One example from a university client was a donor, John Smith, who wished to fund an endowed full scholarship (currently $35,000 per year). John was 62, married, paying for the last year of college for their fourth child, and hoping to make a lasting impact on his university in honor of his 40th reunion.

When John met with his gift officer, he told the officer of his desire to establish the scholarship but did not believe he had the resources to fund it in full. He was going to receive a one-time longevity bonus from his company that would amount to $250K after taxes but had little additional capacity beyond the $10K he gave annually to the university.

John’s gift officer proposed a solution that would meet all of John’s needs within his current economic capacity. The gift officer suggested that John purchase and make the university the owner and beneficiary of a second-to-die life insurance policy. They were able to find a $1.5M policy with a single premium of $225K, which John could fund from his longevity bonus. Additionally, if John desired that the university begin awarding the scholarship immediately, he could add an annual $25K to the $10K he normally gave the university. That gift could pay the scholarship each year until the insurance policy matured. John would be able to fund the additional annual gift with half of the tuition he had been paying for the prior 12 years for his four children to attend college, which ceased with his payment that year.

By listening to the donor and examining a multitude of planned gift options, the giving officer was able to accommodate the donor’s wishes despite initial roadblocks.

NOTE: The insurance policy value and premium are specific to this donor and are provided as examples only, please check with the specifics of your donor to determine the exact costs.

Written by Jessica Brookstein, MBA, CAP®

With so much happening in the world and the growing list of responsibilities we all face, I want to take a moment to sincerely thank you for being part of this group. Your involvement means a great deal, especially when time and energy are at a premium. We truly appreciate your commitment.

As we continue to navigate both personal and professional demands, I encourage you to fully explore all the opportunities that come with your PGCGP membership. There is so much to gain, from connecting with like-minded individuals to accessing valuable resources that can help you grow, both personally and professionally. Whether it’s attending events, engaging in discussions, or taking part in educational programs, I want you to get the most out of this experience.

I urge you to dive deeper, discover new opportunities, and take full advantage of all the benefits available to you.

Mark your calendar for the return of the Planned Giving Course scheduled for April 8, 2025 at The American College in King of Prussia. Whether you or your staff are new to planned giving, are looking to refresh your planned giving knowledge or you are looking to build a program at your organization — there will be something for everyone in the day's content. More information is coming in the new year.

With my best wishes for a safe and healthy holiday season and a very happy 2025.

Jessica Brookstein, MBA, CAP®
President, Planned Giving Council of Greater Philadelphia