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The Shadow Over The Banquet Hall Western Regional Planned Giving Conference
June 2, 2017
Presented By: Frank Minton Frank Minton, LLC 16538 Beach Dr. N.E. Lake Forest Park, WA 98155 Phone: 206-365-5154 E-mail: FDMinton@gmail.com
The Shadow Over the Banquet Hall
“The prospect of death haunts the human animal like nothing else. It is the mainspring of human activity – activity designed largely to avoid the finality of death.” Consider some examples
From The Denial of Death
By Ernest Becker
A pyramids of Giza, constructed more than 4,000 years ago
Mummy of King Tut, over 3,300 years old
Modern preservation - cryonics
Tomb in Petra, Jordan, built in 3rd century B.C.
Built by Emperor Shah Johan as a mausoleum for his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died in 1632. Located in Agra, India.
One of 2,509 libraries built with donations by Andrew Carnegie
One of the many buildings bearing the Trump name
Microsoft, founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, April 4, 1975
Autobiography of President Clinton
South Dakota was the first unlimited duration trust state. Now there are others, making the dynasty trust possible in a number of places.
Projected Value of a Dynasty Trust that Appeared in an Advertisement
Dynasty Trust Funded With $1,000,000
Think of the great, great, great, great grandchildren.
How many might there be? And would you like them?
After Tax Growth Value of Dynasty Trust After 120 Years
6% 1,088,187,748
7% 3,357,788,383
8% 10,252,992,943
9% 30,987,015,749
10% 92,709,068,818
Extending Life Through Science
Imagine a world where aging has been abolished, where you can run a marathon at age 94, and start a new career at age 110, where replacing a heart, liver, or kidney grown from your own body cells is as common as a knee or hip replacement is today.
Religious Answers to the Problem of Death
´ Resurrection to an imperishable body
´ Immortality of the soul, which is our unique immortal essence
´ Reincarnation. An aspect of a living being starts a new life in a different body after each biological death.
Premises for Gift and Estate Planning
1. There is no escaping the tragedy of life, which is that our time on earth is limited. While most of us most of the time are preoccupied with the tasks of daily living, we are never fully successful, and awareness of mortality is like a shadow hovering over the banquet of life.
2. The desire to overcome the finality of death drives human activity not only in religion but also in science, the arts, business, politics, and philanthropy.
Premises continued
3. When awareness of mortality moves to the forefront of consciousness, individuals are receptive to engaging in estate and gift planning.
4. Those of us in gift and estate planning stimulate individuals to confront their mortality and engage with us. Planned giving, more than any other fundraising specialty plans for death.
5. When engaging with our donors, we must remember that for them death is more than an economic event. We are homo sapiens, not just homo economicus.
What Planned Giving Can Offer
An Extension of Life Through a Charitable Legacy
“The capital shall be invested…the interest shall be annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind.”
From the will of Alfred Nobel
Why do stressed trees often produce an abnormally heavy crop of seeds?
They shift resources away from their own growth and focus on transmitting their genes to a new generation of trees – their biological legacy.
Humans, like these trees, as they approach the end of life also focus on legacy.
Biological Legacy – through provisions for heirs.
Cultural Legacy – through creations and
charitable gifts that perpetuate one’s name,
values, and influence.
Some people have a bucket list
´ Hike the Himalayas
´ See Machu Picchu
´ Parachute
´ Swim on the Riviera
´ Go on a safari
This list is backward looking
Other people have a fountain list
This list is forward looking, as it refers to what will flow from
our life.
An endowment is like a fountain
Example of a person who created 20 Fountain Legacies
Floyd and his late wife, Delores
Cotton Picker – Stock Picker – Philanthropist
How do you talk to donors about issues that remind them of mortality?
Which of the following would you normally choose?
a. Would you consider including our organization in your estate
plan?
b. Would you consider including our organization in your will?
c. Have you ever thought about arranging a legacy gift to our
organization?
d. Have you ever thought about leaving a bequest to our
organization?
Questions continued
a. How long has it been since your husband died?
b. How long has it been since your husband passed away?
c. Have you executed all of the necessary documents that
should be completed before the end of your life?
d. Have you executed all of the necessary documents that
should be completed if something should happen to you?
Questions continued
a. If you should predecease your spouse, payments would continue
to (her/him).
b. If you die before your spouse, payments would continue to (her/
him).
c. Payments from the annuity will continue to you for as long as you
live.
d. Payments from the annuity will continue to you until your death.
Guidelines
´ Use sensitivity in language.
´ Take your cue from the donor and use the terminology which that person prefers.
´ However, even if you use softer language, be candid. Only then, will the donor be willing to talk to you about what is uppermost in mind.
Many donors will be at various stages of letting go
´ Of a place of importance in society
´ Of independent living
´ Driving
´ Of lifelong friends
´ Of hearing or eyesight
´ Of physical activities
They are keenly aware of mortality because impending death keeps taking little bits of
them. .
The Tithonus Dilemma
Mortality by Increments
´ Life expectancy increased by two years, but only six months were healthy.
´ Escape cancer and heart attack only to get Alzheimer's.
´ 40% of individuals over age 85 have some degree of dementia.
Guidelines for Talking to the Aging
´ Exercise patience in listening to repetitive stories.
´ Remember that the donor was once young and vigorous like you.
´ Do not be patronizing.
´ Be sensitive to competency issues if a gift is to be arranged.
´ Talk about what they most value and how they would like to be remembered.
´ Respect their religious beliefs whether of not you agree with them.
´ If they have made or will be making a legacy gift, help them visualize how they live on through that gift.
What do you do in a situation where the donor is terminally ill?
Kübler-Ross’s Five Stages Through Which a Dying Person May Pass
´ Denial
´ Anger
´ Bargaining
´ Depression
´ Acceptance
The Story of Hal
Who did ten types of blended gifts.
What We Can Learn from Tolstoy’s Death of Ivan Ilyich
Questions
1. Should you visit a terminally-ill donor who may be under
hospice care?
2. What do you say?
3. What would you do if the person wants to make will
changes?
4. How might you bring comfort?
What do you do and say when a donor dies?
Questions
1. Should you attend the funeral (memorial) service?
2. Would you be willing to speak, if asked?
3. Should you send a condolence card to the family whether or not you attend?
Guidelines for the Condolence Letter
1. No platitudes like “He’s in a better place,” or “At least he died doing what he loved.”
2. Refer to a positive memory of an actual event.
3. Don’t compare the family’s loss with a loss of your own. This is not about you.
Guidelines continued
4. Don’t be afraid to use “d” words – die, death, dying. Pass on words like “expired” or “passed on.”
5. Be real and don’t sugarcoat the loss.
6. Use a handwritten note, not an email or a store-bought card. “A letter of condolence is one of the obligations of friendship.”
Closing Word
“I expect flowers next spring.”
“Why?”
“Because I intend to plant them.”
Help your donor plant flowers.
It will not eliminate all of the pain, fear, and mystery of death, but it will help with the passage we all face.
Books Every Planned Giving Officer and Estate Planner Should Read
ü Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich
ü Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death
ü Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, On Death and Dying
ü Stephen Cave, Immortality, The Quest to Live Forever and How it Drives Civilization
ü Sherwin Nuland, How We Die
ü Atul Gawande, Being Mortal
ü Leonard Hayflick, How and Why We Age
Recommended