The 2016 Northwest Planned Giving Roundtable Annual Conference in Portland, Oregon on September 16 features several notable speakers including NEO Of Counsel Brigit Kavanagh, who will be co-presenting a session on Why Donor Advised Funds and Supporting Organizations are a Gift Planner’s Friend with Wendy Chou, senior philanthropic advisor with The Oregon Community Foundation.

Donor advised funds and supporting organizations are increasingly familiar features in philanthropic planning and represent an opportunity for gift planners to think creatively about ways these vehicles can be mutually beneficial to donors and charities alike. Too often, gift planners view these giving vehicles as competitors to the would-be recipient of a charitable gift. This does not have to be and is not usually the case. This session will give context to these two giving vehicles and familiarize gift planners with them, including why they may be compelling gift options for donors. Using a series of case studies, the presenters will demonstrate how donors are using donor advised funds and supporting organizations to achieve their philanthropic objectives, dispel some myths about these giving vehicles, and discuss ways that how gift planners can work with donors to secure gifts from donor advised funds and supporting organizations.

Development and governance consultant Alan Cantor, a frequent contributor to The Chronicle of Philanthropy, is delivering the opening keynote: Building Assets or Deferring Impact? How Our Infatuation with Charitable Endowments is Hurting the Very People and Causes We’re Trying to Help. Read Cantor’s article on The False Allure of Charitable Endowments here. Cantor’s strong opinions, including on donor-advised funds, should make for provocative discussion at the Conference!