Pre-registration for this program is closed.

Morning  Session
11:00 a.m.  - 12:00 p.m.

What’s Common, What’s Complex?   Blended Giving Presents Opportunities to Answer This Question

Panel Discussion

In an effort to maximize the levels to which their donors reach, organizations are integrating annual, major and deferred components into blended asks.

What’s the best approach to sequencing these components within an ask?  How do you resource this internally? How do Gift Planning and Major Giving collaborate?

Is there friction?  How can both areas share credit and relationships and achieve success?

Renee P. Atkinson, CAP is a dedicated professional who currently serves as the Associate Vice President for Advancement at Swarthmore College, a role she has excelled in for a decade. With her roots in planned giving and a passion for philanthropy, she has made a significant impact on the institution's mission.

Renee's dedication to the field goes beyond her role at Swarthmore College. She is a former board member of the Planned Giving Council of Greater Philadelphia board, where she also co-chaired the educational sessions committee. Her 18-plus years of membership in the council have been personally enriching. Through the council's quarterly education sessions and Planned Giving Day, she has deepened her knowledge of complex gift structures. She has not only found mentors and friends among her peers but has also become a mentor herself through the council's mentorship program.

Chip Giese is a Planned Giving client product specialist in PNC Institutional Asset Management®. He serves as the senior planned giving relationship manager in PNC Institutional Asset Management’s Planned Giving Services Group. In addition to working with local and national charitable clients, he provides subject matter expertise to markets throughout PNC’s national footprint. He is a past board member and current member of the Chesapeake Planned Giving Council, and a member of the Planned Giving Council of Greater Philadelphia.

Chip assumed his current position in 2005, after spending two years as the director of planned giving at The Gilman School in Baltimore. His industry experience extends back to 1994.

Chip graduated with a Bachelor of Science in mass communications from Towson University.

Caitlyn Walters is the System Director of Planned & Leadership Giving at Main Line Health where she oversees the planned giving programs for Main Line Health entities including Lankenau Medical Center, Bryn Mawr Hospital, Riddle Hospital, Paoli Hospital and Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital. Prior to joining Main Line Health, Caitlyn served as Director of Gift Planning for Gettysburg College. Caitlyn began her fundraising career in 2012, having previously practiced trust and estate law in Maryland where she is a member of the Maryland State Bar Association. Caitlyn graduated from Dickinson College with a BA in Political Science and received her JD from The George Washington University Law School.

Afternoon  Session

12:15 - 2:00 p.m.

DE&I and Fundraising: A Marriage of Convenience or a Soulmate Strategy?

DEI efforts reached their peak during Covid and soon after. However, diminished as waning buzzwords now, organizations seem to be abandoning DEI efforts at an alarming rate. In this capsule, Michelle addresses the importance of DEI in the fundraising context. As our donor demographics change, as fundraisers themselves begin to represent diversity, how should we approach philanthropy through the lens of DEI that will help us advance our missions? Is there a secret sauce? And if there is, how, where, and when can we sign up for that? Come and find out!

Michelle S. Gollapalli, MBA, CFRE, CAP^® is an internationally accredited fundraising professional with over 25 years of experience in a variety of fields such as public broadcasting, healthcare, diversity, equity and inclusion youth services, disabilities, and education.

Michelle is currently the Executive Vice President & Chief Development Officer, at Food For The Poor, an international human services and relief organization that seeks to alleviate poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean. She is responsible for leading the organization’s major gifts, donor relations, foundations, planned giving and business development departments. Prior to working at Food For The Poor, Michelle served as the Vice President of Diversity, Inclusion & Development at ECRI Institute, in PA. Formerly, she has served as Vice President of Development and Executive Director of the Jefferson Health Foundation – New Jersey, part of the erstwhile Kennedy Health System in South Jersey, now known as Jefferson Health-New Jersey. And prior to joining the Foundation, Michelle worked as Chief Development Officer for Bancroft, where she oversaw Development, Marketing and Communications, and Admissions.

Michelle’s immediate past development experience includes being Vice President of Development at Presby’s Inspired Life and Regional Major Gifts Officer for the national Alzheimer’s Association.

Michelle’s community involvement began when, as a teenager in India, she was voted to be Director of Community Outreach for the Rotaract Orchards, where the group adopted a village outside her hometown of Bangalore and began, among other things, an adult literacy program there. Between that, and volunteering through her church youth group at a hospital in rural India, Michelle soon gained a deep respect for the positive impact that philanthropy and community engagement can have.