Tag Archives: National Conference on Philanthropic Planning

The Chronicle of Philanthropy & Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio Interview of Kathryn Miree

Thank You, Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio, , , , , , , , , , ,

I’m blogging from the National Conference on Philanthropic Planning. Raymund Flandez from The Chronicle of Philanthropy is here and we partnered to talk to Kathryn Miree about her upcoming seminar, Endowments In Crisis! Best Practices for Nonprofit Management to Avoid the Abyss.

Crisis and abyss. Sounds ominous.

She distinguished for us between true and quasi-endowment. The former is when a donor demands in writing that her gift be restricted to a particular purpose in perpetuity. Quasi-endowment refers to a bequest or other unrestricted transfer where the nonprofit board restricts the use of the gift. The organization’s board is free to lift the restriction down the road.

I subjected Kathryn to a short stint in Jargon Jail when she introduced UMIFA and UPMIFA: Uniform Management (and Uniform Prudent Management) of Institutional Funds Act. You’ll have to listen to our interview on The Chronicle of Philanthropy website or Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio to get the details of these laws and how they impact your nonprofit.

Kathryn Miree
A few endowment management best practices she recommends:

  • strong document retention practices (not merely a written policy) to preserve donors’ written instructions
  • accounting methods that closely track your restricted funds’ earnings, additions, expenses
  • standards for the board to set and release quasi-endowments
  • trustees should not act as investment managers; even if they’re unpaid, you risk proper oversight, which is conducted by fellow trustees

If you’re at the conference you can hear Kathryn in-person at 9AM Thursday. Thank you for sitting for an interview, Kathryn!

Raymund, a pleasure to work with you.

These interviews have me looking forward to my next remote podcast day, at NextGen:Charity in NYC on November 18 and 19. I’ll do podcast interviews on Thursday, 11/18. I’ll run over to Bernstein Global Wealth Management for a lunch program at their midtown office. Then on Friday the 19th, I deliver a workshop at NextGen from 11 to 1.

More live tweeting and blogging and podcast interviews tomorrow. (That sentence has 3 words that didn’t exist just 4 or 5 years ago. I feel so 2173.)

Aviva Shiff Boedecker Interview at National Conference on Philanthropic Planning

Fundraising Fundamentals, Planned Giving, , , , , , , , , , ,

This week I’m at the National Conference on Philanthropic Planning. While here, I’ll interview a few people for Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio and also attend a few sessions.

My first interview was Aviva Shiff Boedecker. My partner in these podcast interviews is Raymund Flandez, reporter with The Chronicle of Philanthropy. He’s joining me later today.

Aviva’s seminar on Friday is Red Flags & Pitfalls of Planned Giving.  She used to have 10 red flags but has jacked it up to 11. That reminds me of the movie Spinal Tap, where the band’s amp has a volume setting of 11 for extra special gigs. I mentioned that during our interview and embarrassed myself by not remembering the name of the film. It occurred to me later and I interrupted her flow to blurt it out. Skilled interviewer, I.

Aviva shared that Planned Giving officers often aren’t aware of their own institutional policies. This leads to trouble when the gift officer assures the donor their gift will be accepted, without realizing a higher level of approval is required. The fundraiser might also promise credit and recognition that the nonprofit isn’t prepared to provide.

Your donor needs counsel that is qualified. Their real estate attorney isn’t knowledgeable in the details of a charitable remainder trust. (Difficult question that I’ve had to answer for clients: how far should the nonprofit go to insure qualified representation?)

Aviva Shiff Boedecker

“Be careful to avoid conflicts of interest,” Aviva warns. Even the appearance of a relationship that’s too cozy can lead to a gift challenge from heirs who feel they aren’t getting enough because your charity is getting a portion of the estate.

Her final advice: don’t be afraid to ask for help. As a gift officer you should know what you don’t know (didn’t Donald Rumsfeld call those “known unknowns”?), and consult an advisor who has the expertise you lack. That could be someone from your trustees or advisory board or a paid consultant. You need not work alone. If you do you could really screw things up. (That last sentence is my own commentary.)

I mentioned Rumsfeld to Aviva. Suffice to say, I don’t think she’s a neo-con lover.

If you’re at the conference you can hear Aviva’s full complement of 11 red flags on Friday 9 to 10. If you listen to my radio show, Friday’s 1 to 2PM Eastern, you’ll hear my full interview with Aviva. Not this week, but soon. You can sign-up for radio show alerts at the Facebook fan page.

Thanks for being my first guest, Aviva!

Next up is Kathryn Miree, this afternoon, on Endowments in Crisis! Raymund should be here by then.