Welcome to the new Planned Giving Design Center! Two years in development, the PGDC is all new: the look, content organization, speed, navigation, searching and exploring have all been improved dramatically. We now invite you to take a brief tour of the new features of the new PGDC.
In addition, the site includes new community features that will enable you to participate by commenting on news stories and articles, and share your questions and best thinking with thousands of PGDC members nationwide via seven new discussion forums.
For the "techies" in the group, behind the scenes, the new PGDC is written on the Redhat CMS enterprise platform, powered by an Oracle database and co-located at Savvis. You will find the site magnitudes faster than before with 99.999% uptime. And with this new platform, we will be able to quickly implement many new features and improvements that are already on the drawing board.
We are now proud to present the new PGDC:
Signing In
Moving onto the site, we might as well start at the top. In the top left corner of every page you will either see, Sign In/Register or Welcome, [Your Name] [Sign Out, My Account]. If you see Sign In/Register this simply means you have not yet joined the PGDC or that you are a member and are not currently signed in.
Unlike the original PGDC, you need not be a member of the new PGDC to read its content; however, you do need to be a member to receive email newsletters, comment on news stories and articles, participate in discussion forums, access the national member directory, and utilize other site resources such as the planned giving calculations.
If you migrated from the old PGDC, your previous member information was transferred automatically; therefore, there is no need to re-register. Simply sign in using your email address and password. The system will place a cookie on your system so you will never have to sign in again (unless you are using a different PC).
If you aren't yet a PGDC member, we encourage you to register now. It's free!
My Account
Once you are signed in, select [My Account] in the top menu and you will be taken to a page where you can edit your profile, change your password, view your subscriptions, add your bio, and make some or all of your personal and contact information public when you make comments and participate in discussion forums. In addition, you can elect to join in the PGDC National Member Directory.
Navigating the PGDC
This first thing you will recognize about the new PGDC is that it looks nothing like the old site.
Research has shown that people interact with web site content in two ways: First, they want to find information about a particular topic or an answer to a specific question (search). Second, they want to just relax and browse and read and learn among various areas of interest (browse).
Navigating the PGDC is accomplished via the search tool (found in the top right-hand side of every page) and via the menu that appears on the left side of this page.
Searching
The PGDC has greatly improved search tools. The search and advanced search tools are found in the lower right side of the banner at the top of every page. To learn how to use these powerful tools, see How to Search in the Help menu.
Browsing
The left-hand menu begins with two headings: Browse by Type and Browse by Category.
Every document on the PGDC is assigned a type and a category. Content types include news stories, articles, case studies, and technical reports. These are similar to how content on the original PGDC was organized.
In addition, every document is assigned a category based on its source. For example, a Revenue Ruling would be categorized under Government>Treasury>Revenue Rulings. This is similar to a site map for content.
To learn about how content is organized and how to effectively browse the site, see How to Explore in the Help menu.
Resources Menu
You will recognize some items from the original PGDC in the Resources menu: the PhilanthroCalc planned giving calculator, sample trust forms, and rates & tables.
However, there are three new exciting features that have transformed the PGDC into an interactive online community:
Discussion Forums
Did you know the PGDC is not just one website but over 120 websites in geographically distinct regions throughout the United States with thousands of members?
One of the most exciting new community features of the PGDC is the ability of members to participate in topic-specific Discussion Forums.
Discussion forums foster the free exchange of ideas and collaboration amongst PGDC members. Breaking geographic boundaries, these forums bring together PGDC members from every state in the union and beyond. If you have a question on a planned giving subject, or simply need help with a real-life situation, these forums provide access to one of the most valuable resources on the Internet: Your peers.
Comments
In addition to participating in Discussion Forums, PGDC members can post their opinions about news stories and articles. Comments are found at the end of all news stories and articles and can be a valuable source of additional information and resources on the subject at hand.
To learn more about how to make comments and participate in discussion forums, see Comments/Discussions in the Help menu.
Member Directory
Have you lost touch with a colleague or need to find a gift planning specialist in a different part of the country? The Member Directory allows you to search for PGDC members by name, profession, and location.
To protect your privacy, however, this feature will require you to opt-in to be listed in the directory. This is accomplished by checking the member directory box under your Privacy Preferences under [My Account]. We believe listing yourself in the PGDC member directory will prove to be an invaluable means of networking in the planned giving world.
About
Under the About menu you will find links to the organization(s) hosting this site and site sponsors, a listing of the PGDC's Editorial Board, information about the publisher, and how you can contribute articles or other content for publication on the site.
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On behalf of the hosts and sponsors of the Planned Giving Design Center nationwide, we hope you enjoy the new site. We will strive to provide you with an ever expanding body of quality content, resources and features to help you in your important work.
The PGDC Team
Comments
New site
New Format
What an Upgrade!