Understanding how to be effective in legacy gift fundraising starts with reality. How are these gifts made? Who makes them and who doesn’t? When do they get added or dropped? Who is your competition? Where does the money really come from? Who should I be talking to? When should I be talking with them? This presentation answers these question by reviewing the most pleasant, and the most painful, realities of charitable estate giving across 100 years of data.

Russell James, J.D., Ph.D., CFP® is a professor in the Department of Personal Financial Planning at Texas Tech University where he directs the on-campus and online graduate program in Charitable Financial Planning (planned giving).  He graduated, cum laude, from the University of Missouri School of Law where he was a member of the Missouri Law Review and received the United Missouri Bank Award for Most Outstanding Work in Gift and Estate Taxation and Planning. He also holds a Ph.D. in consumer economics from the University of Missouri, where his dissertation was on charitable giving.  

Prior to his career as an academic researcher, Dr. James worked as the Director of Planned Giving for Central Christian College in Moberly, Missouri for 6 years and later served as president of the college for more than 5 years, where he had direct and supervisory responsibility for all fundraising. During his presidency the college successfully completed two major capital campaigns, built several new debt-free buildings, and more than tripled enrollment.

Dr. James has published research in over 40 different peer-reviewed scientific journals and has been quoted on charitable and financial issues in a variety of news sources including The Economist, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, ABC News, U.S. News & World Report, USA Today, the Associated Press, Bloomberg News and the Chronicle of Philanthropy and his financial neuroimaging research was profiled in The Wall Street Journal’s Smart Money Magazine.

A limited number of scholarships are available for this program. To be eligible, please complete and submit the application by Tuesday, August 18, 2020. If you are a PGCGP member interested in supporting scholarships with a donation, please contacts us at info@pgcgp.org.