Three members of the Impact team had the chance to attend Planned Giving Day last month. Sponsored by the National Capital Gift Planning Council, it’s the best conference of the year for folks who like to geek out on gift planning! Here are a few takeaways from our team:

Hali Lee from the Donors of Color Network shared insights from her study of high-net-worth donors of color. Of the 150 donors interviewed, nearly 80% were self-made entrepreneurs rather than having inherited wealth. Nearly all generously give back to family and friends, funds that are outside traditional charity tracking.

Authors of the Generosity Crisis, (Nathan Chappell and Brian Crimmins), shared their formula for dealing with declining donor numbers across the nonprofit sector—radical connection! Their thesis: generosity is the manifestation of radical connection with your cause. They shared that a planned gift is the greatest example of radical connection between a person and an entity.

Tracy Malloy Curtis of MWD inspired attendees to go after Donor Advised Fund (DAF) money. There is an estimated $300 billion currently sitting in DAFs. Tracy’s advice was to “Integrate DAF messaging in all your campaigns.”

Dien Yuen, Center for Philanthropy & Social Impact led an Advanced Practitioners Case Study focused on “Peter & Charlotte Cade: Honoring Family and History Through Philanthropy”, an African American family approaching retirement. The Cade Case Study presented an opportunity to create recommendations for this philanthropic family with deep connections to their heritage, their church, aging parents, and a teenage grandson, all while navigating the effects of systemic racism on their histories and daily lives. An important learning objective was for advisors to leverage multidisciplinary teams and widen their awareness of how philanthropic planning might be implemented differently, and to think creatively about a variety of possible solutions.