Planned Giving focus of SASCI workshop

SASCI speaker John Webster Hochstadt

Toni Lucas, Pincher Creek Voice

John Webster Hochstadt held a workshop for community organizers and not for profit organizations called “Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places”, hosted Southern Alberta Sustainable Community Initiative (SASCI) at Pincher Creek's Ramada Inn on Wednesday June 5.  The focus of the workshop was fundraising and networking.  "I discovered I had a particular bent for hearing and recognizing opportunities," said Hochstadt.


"This lead me to the job as Director of Planned Gifts and Bequests at the University of Toronto, a similar position subsequently at Mount Sinai Hospital, and the last position I held in that regard was with the Nature Conservancy of Canada,"  he said.  "Planned giving is not just about future gifts, but about any gifts that require thinking about the tax treatment, thinking about how they can best be made,  thinking about how value can be extracted from non-monetary gifts.  A tremendous potential is that most peoples wealth is in their home.  A great many people can afford, at least at the end of their life, to give away their home, so there's untapped resources there."

Hochstadt did not restrict himself to the topic of bequests during the workshop.  He explored a variety of ways for organizations to find funds in a highly competitive world.  "Needs go up, costs go up, you need to find more money.  The way to do that is broaden your audience, reach more people, and reach them with a hook.  Once you've engaged their interest, it's just a matter of working out how it's going to happen.  It doesn't require a lot of expertise, it requires setting your antenna so you hear the opportunity."

 "There is someone out there that who would give you the money to eliminate the problem, then everyone could shake hands, and go on to another good cause.  What I'm urging is find ways to engage peoples attention, beyond the local market, beyond the people they already know and work with if they want to raise more money."

Hochstadt was enthusiastic about the wide variety of participants that attended the workshop.  Although some were from registered charities, others represented societies or other kinds of organizations.  "I'm using the word charity to refer to any organization who wants to change the world.  The core of my talk is that most gifts to charity, most of the money that is donated, comes from individuals.  Corporations have a lot of money, they give a lot of money, but there's strings on it. If you can engage the right individual, the potential is really limitless.  I have seen $250,000 gifts from someone that you wouldn't think would have two quarters to rub together."

He related a story to highlight his experiences.  "We did a session at the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto for financial planning for women on their own.  At the end of the session, one of the senior volunteers with the faculty came up to the Assistant Dean and myself, and said 'I'd love to do something but I have nothing.  I have the house in Rosedale, and the condo in Florida, I have the IBM stock that Harry bought in the 50's, I have nothing,'"  meaning that her finances were tied up.

"The Assistant Dean knew this person well, and worked with her and started to show her ways that even if it was at the end of her life, she could unlock those assets and make a huge difference to the Faculty that she was devoted to.  She didn't see it herself, we saw it, because we had trained ourselves to recognize those opportunities."

SASCI is planning one more workshop in this searies for not for profit organizations called 'Connect the Dots:  Matching your organization’s needs with the operating guidelines of funding agencies' on June 12.  To find out more about this last session, contact David Green at sasci@telus.net or leave a message at 403-627-1750.