Highlights from the Conference on Charitable Giving

Last week Silicon Valley Community Foundation and Stanford University’s Office of Planned Giving hosted the Conference on Charitable Giving featuring renowned presenters and a variety of significant topics in the gift and estate planning field.

Attendees included nearly 300 donors, planned giving professionals, speakers and staff—a 48% increase from last year. The 17 breakout sessions provided networking and learning opportunities for everyone. This year the program offered additional sessions reflecting the increased professional diversity among attendees. A third of the participants attended the basic planned giving sessions, evidence of the influx of professionals new to charitable gift planning. More than 100 seasoned gift planning professionals expanded their expertise in a session on advanced charitable giving. Other sessions included “Advanced Planning and Drafting,” with Howie Pearson of Stanford University and Martin Hall of Ropes & Gray LLP, and “The Family Wealth Paradigm,” with Tom Rogerson of BNY Mellon.

Professional advisors who attended the conference are invited to join the Valley Council, the community foundation’s professional advisor networking and recognition group. To learn more about the Valley Council, or if you would like to be added to our invitation list for next year’s conference please contact Karyn Cilker, professional advisor relations officer, at kjcilker@siliconvalleycf.org or 650.450.5517.

This was the ninth annual conference and the second consecutive year that the community foundation partnered with Stanford University on the event. As Emmett Carson, CEO and president of the community foundation, said in his opening remarks, “Two great institutions came together to collaborate for the benefit of the community.”

We hope you will join us at the Conference on Charitable Giving next year in 2009!