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Pinnacles And Pitfalls In Establishing A Gift Planning Initiative
Presentation by Judi Tichenor
A gift planning initiative is an undertaking by a gift planning program and its overarching organization with a potential for a variety of goals. This presentation covers how to plan an initiative, overcome launch and initiative “maintenance” challenges, and identify new opportunities for your donors and new partnerships for both your team and your organization. The initiative can be as straightforward as a program to enhance the number of donor relationships and estate plan gifts to a full-blown outright and deferred giving program to increase the acceptance of more complex assets, in addition to increasing revocable and irrevocable deferred gifts. Participants will have a better understanding of the evaluation, planning and implementation processes of such a gift planning initiative based on the presenter’s experience with the Rice University Office of Gift Planning initiative, “To Rice Be True.”
Judi Tichenor, JD, MSW
Judi Tichenor is a seasoned fundraising professional with a primary focus in gift planning. She worked in the field of gift planning and major and principal gift fundraising for over 19 years before retiring in 2024, 12 of which were in managing gift planning and fundraising programs. Her last position was as executive director of gift planning at Rice University for nearly 10 years, and previously she was employed by Indiana University Foundation as an associate director of gift planning for five years and as executive and founding director of the university’s Chicago regional development and alumni office for over three years.
While at Rice, Judi spearheaded the university’s premier gift planning initiative, “To Rice Be True,” a comprehensive gift planning fundraising endeavor to increase not only estate plan gifts from Rice alumni, families and friends, but also to expand and broaden giving through such vehicles as CRUTS, CGAs, CLATS and complex assets, including gifts of real estate, mineral rights, personal property and more. “To Rice Be True” was initially introduced in 2017 through a soft launch, followed by a full launch in 2018. The program is scheduled to conclude on December 31, 2025. The gift planning, major and principal gifts teams collaborated on a goal of $365 million in revocable and irrevocable deferred gifts to be raised in that timeframe, including realized estate gifts not previously counted in another campaign, and that goal was met and exceeded in September 2024.
Judi earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana and a master’s degree in social work from the University of Illinois Chicago. After initially co-founding the first Medicare certified, Joint Commission on Healthcare Accreditation approved home health hospice in the U.S., she worked as a clinical social worker for over 17 years, the majority of which was in her own private practice. She combined her clinical work with full-time study for a law degree, which she earned from IIT-Chicago Kent College of Law. Judi spent most of her lifetime in Chicago, enjoyed five years in Bloomington, Indiana, and currently lives in Missouri City, Texas, with her husband of 37 years, Mark Kanelos, and their three dogs: Astro, Cagney and Pax.
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