President's Message

It is a pleasure to welcome you to the LACGP (Los Angeles Council of Charitable Gift Planners) website. I hope you find the website to be informative and engaging so that you can learn more about our organization. I have found that being a part of this dynamic and growing industry is both challenging and meaningful and I hope you will, too, regardless of whether you are new to gift planning/development or a seasoned professional. I truly believe that there is no better way to stay engaged, informed and to build a network of friends and professional colleagues than through LACGP.

LACGP is a terrific volunteer-based organization, which continues to offer educational opportunities by top leaders in the field that will not only inform you but inspire you and send you back to the office with real tools you can use in your gift planning and development work. Your LACGP Board is already hard at work on our 2018 General Meetings, scheduling speakers who will help you lift your donors to new levels of giving and engage them in ways you hadn’t considered before. As a group, we are nothing if not innovative in our dealings with donors, and LACGP is committed to sharing new ways of thinking about philanthropy—through the advanced case study sessions, general meeting speaker presentations, mini-roundtable discussions and our facilitated “table topic” conversations with your peers at our meetings.

You’ll notice our new look and feel in 2018!  We are beginning to roll out our new three-year strategic plan and the Board is committed to focusing on the following priorities:  Financial Health/Sustainability, Marketing/Communications/Outreach, Membership and Volunteerism/Leadership.

We remain dedicated to enhancing the avenues in which you can engage with your Council.  I encourage you to take a look at the new and improved website, refresh what you know about your Council and take advantage of what makes us so great!

In large part, the success of LACGP is really due to the dedicated efforts of our generous volunteers. I highly encourage you to consider volunteering as well—there is a broad range of opportunities from which to choose, and there is no better way to build a network of friends and colleagues than by getting more involved. Please reach out to our Volunteer Chair, Jim Jacobs, at [email protected] for more information or make a point to talk to him at the next General Meeting.

And finally, a note of thanks to our sponsors - It takes a full community to ensure our success over time, and without the generous financial support of our sponsors at General Meetings, the Regional Conference and the educational offerings held throughout the year, we would not be able to provide all the great programmatic content throughout the year.  A sincere thank you for all you do for LACGP!

Our General Meetings in 2018 will continue to be held at the Universal Hilton in Universal City just off the 101 and 134 freeways. We have heard from our attendees that the meeting space facilitates a strong networking environment. They have also enjoyed the food and the validated parking. Come check out a meeting and let us know what you think.

You will not want to miss the 2018 Western Regional Planned Giving Conference, May 30th – June 1st! This perennially popular annual conference will be held at the Westin South Coast Plaza Hotel in Costa Mesa. From the pre-conference session to the final keynote, our conference co-chairs have put together a lineup of presenters who won’t disappoint! We invite you to join us and be ready to learn, inquire, discuss and debate all facets of charitable gift planning with your colleagues at what is widely considered to be the best planned giving conference in the country.

On behalf of the LACGP Board, thank you for being part of an exceptional group of professionals.  If you are not already a member, consider joining us and becoming part of the group for yourself.  Please do not hesitate to contact me by email or phone [email protected], (626) 795-4343, if you have suggestions for making your membership experience the best it can be!

Sincerely,
Allyson

Allyson Simpson
President, Los Angeles Council of Charitable Gift Planners