2007 NPGC Conference

The Second NPGC Conference Featuring Paul Comstock and Alison Comstock Moss was a Success!

The Second Annual National Planned Giving Council Conference was held on October 4-5, 2007, with great success, building upon last year's event. Planned giving professionals from across the nation gathered at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City, Utah, listening to presentations and lectures and networking to share ideas, insights, and experiences amongst their professional peers.

"This has been a great experience being surrounded by professionals who are all trying to approach their business with similar values," said Alison Comstock Moss, a keynote speaker at the conference. "It's a conference where the presenters are focused on values and families and how those apply to our specific professional interests."

Participants were able to attend technical classes on everything from planned giving basics to complex private foundations. In addition, sessions about many different areas of the Church, like Humanitarian Aid or the Tabernacle restoration, were held. This allowed spouses who are not estate planning professionals to attend classes that would be of interest to them, but were still applicable to the field of planned giving. Participants also received the opportunity to learn about specific opportunities within the Church.

"I listened to President Woodhouse speak about LDS Business College, and it was really helpful for me to have a better understanding about the goals and missions of that specific college. Now I can take that information back to friends, family, and clients," said Susan Lawrence, a financial advisor from Issaquah, Washington.

Mark Bohn, National Chair for the National Planned Giving Council and attorney with Snell and Wilmer in Phoenix, Arizona, said: "Our hope is that we can help spread the word about Philanthropies to professional advisors because they're the ones that have the contact with the clients—the potential donors. With the Church, 100 percent of their donated dollar goes to the cause, whereas with other charitable organizations sometimes it's 80 or 90 percent."

Ron Black, Manager of the Planned Giving Office of Philanthropies, said that there are three specific benefits from participation in the conference: one, for professionals to become aware of what the Church is doing in terms of charities, priorities, and continual education; two, to gather professionals who share the same values from across the nation and place them together in a networking situation where they can build on each other's strengths; and three, for those at the Planned Giving Office of Philanthropies to get to know each professional individually.

The conference continues to grow, as was shown in the development from last year to this year. Robert Packard, a second-year participant and CPA from Mesa, Arizona, said: "I'm so pleased with the growth from last year to this year. There are more people, and there ought to be twice as many people next year because of the quality of the event."