Your team is more capable than they think.
Richard helps development staff, boards, and conference audiences get comfortable with gift planning: the conversations, the concepts, and the confidence to ask.
THE PROBLEM
Why most teams avoid planned gift conversations
It's not because they don't care about the mission. It's because the subject feels technical, the stakes feel high, and nobody wants to say the wrong thing to a donor who's thinking about their estate. So the conversations don't happen. The prospects age out of the pipeline. The program stays quiet.
Richard has spent 15 years in those conversations. He knows exactly where the discomfort comes from and how to move past it. His sessions don't turn your team into gift planning experts. They give your team enough confidence to start the conversation, and the clarity to know when to bring Richard in.
What Richard offers
Staff Training
Half-day or full-day sessions for development teams focused on practical skills: how to identify planned giving prospects, how to open the conversation naturally, how to explain common gift types without the legal jargon, and how to work alongside a specialist when things get technical. Richard tailors every session to your organization's program and your team's specific gaps.
Board Retreats
Board members are often the best ambassadors for a planned giving program, and usually the least comfortable talking about it. Richard's board sessions make gift planning feel human and approachable for a non-development audience. Board members leave knowing what a planned gift is, why donors make them, and how to talk about it in a way that inspires others to do the same.
Workshops and Speaking
Richard speaks at conferences for nonprofit professionals, professional advisor groups, and planned giving councils. His sessions are practical, direct, and usually a little fun. Audiences leave with things they can use the following week.
Topics include: Getting Comfortable with Planned Gift Conversations; What Donors Actually Think About Legacy Giving; Simplifying Gift Planning for Small and Mid-Size Shops; How to Work Effectively with Donors' Professional Advisors.
TESTIMONIAL — Development Director or VP of Advancement
— Testimonial
