January 24th - Stages to Planning Optimal Estate Gifts

BIO: 

Marc Littlecott is the Director of Gift Planning at the South Dakota State University Foundation, in Brookings SD.  He is a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy® and a Certified Gift Planning Professional. He has worked in the field of non-profit development for over two decades, working for the Boy Scouts of America, The Salvation Army, and the SDSU Foundation since 2014.  He has specialized in the discipline of Planned Giving since 1999.  Prior to his nonprofit career, he was a commissioned Army officer after earning his B.A. at VMI in 1989.

Marc is also Board Secretary of the Charitable IRA Initiative, which is presently endeavoring to secure passage of the Legacy IRA Act, an expanded version of the Charitable IRA Rollover that would allow tax-free transfers to charitable remainder trusts and charitable gift annuities.

This presentation is based upon his article in the October 2013 issue of Planned Giving Today titled “Seven Stages to Gauge Your Progress”.  Borrowing from the financial services industry, these seven stages help gift planners (and supervisors) to effectively gauge where a prospective donor is in the gift planning journey.  By identifying the correct stage with a prospective donor, the gift planner is less apt to get stuck or even worse, hurry the gift planning process.  Disciplining (as best as one can) a conversation to its proper “stage” can prevent buyer’s remorse, a smaller planned gift, or perhaps no gift at all.