In a Notice of Intent filed on November 28, 2006, the Office of Securities for the State of Maine in conjunction with the Maine Attorney General's office is seeking to revoke the license of a registered representative who allegedly compelled his elderly client to name him trustee of her estate, amend her living trust to establish a testamentary foundation account at the National Heritage Foundation, and then after her death sold a tax deferred variable annuity to the account in violation of NASD rules and Maine securities law and/or ethics rules.  MORE »

The Board of Directors of the American Council on Gift Annuities has issued a statement in which it joins with the National Committee on Planned Giving in reiterating both organizations' long standing opposition to the practice of charitable organizations paying sales commissions to for-profit planners in connection with the sale of charitable gift annuities.   MORE »

In this article, Frank Minton describes some of the current practices regarding compensation of financial services professionals and their affiliated companies, and staff members of charities, and seeks to apply the "Model Standards of Practice for the Charitable Gift Planner" adopted by the National Committee on Planned Giving and the American Council on Gift Annuities to these practices.  MORE »

The Planned Giving Design Center was created on the premise that professional advisors and charitable organizations can better help clients and donors accomplish their philanthropic objectives through collegial working relationships with one another. In this edition of Gift Planner's Digest, former nonprofit CEO and current for-profit financial services executive Craig C. Wruck examines the corporate cultures of the for-profit and non-profit gift planning worlds in "Both Sides Now: The Charity/Advisor Partnership."  MORE »

The current issue of FORBES magazine has published a series of articles under the banner of "Caveat Donor: The stockbrokers, planners and insurance salesmen who used to peddle tax shelters have a new grift: charity. Some of their donation schemes work, some are shaky and some are downright dangerous to your finances." In this edition of Planned Giving Online, we take exception to some of FORBES' charges.  MORE »

As a charitable gift planner, for whom do you really work? Donor? Charity? Yourself? In this edition of Gift Planner's Digest, attorney Douglas K. Freeman brings over twenty years of experience to the ethical issues of gift planning with "Balancing the Scales: The Gift Planner's Dilemma."  MORE »

In this week's Gift Planner's Digest, planned giving officer and attorney Joel Breitstein presents "Donor/Client: The Two Faces of a Prospect" which explores the practical, legal, and ethical aspects of the planned giving officer's and professional advisor's roles in the gift planning process.  MORE »

In this week's edition of Gift Planner's Digest, Kansas City, Missouri attorney Scott Blakesley explores some of the legal and ethical issues that professional advisors and planned giving officers must consider when advising clients and donors in matters of charitable gift planning.  MORE »