8:15 a.m.
Frances C. Arrillaga Alumni Center

REGISTRATION AND CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

WELCOME AND OPEN PLENARY

The first 118 days: What we know so far about charitable tax and estate planning in the Trump years
Martin Hall, Esq., Partner, Ropes & Gray LLP

• A leading expert in the area of charitable tax and estate planning will open the conference with an update on the latest developments in this area of the law and the outlook for major tax legislation this year, including proposals to repeal the estate tax and limit charitable income tax deductions. This annual update will cover pending legislation and cases impacting estate and gift taxes, private foundations, donor advised funds, supporting organizations, retirement plans, and other issues of importance to practitioners and advisors to individual donors and foundations.  

10:00 - 10:15 a.m.

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MORNING BREAKOUT SESSION I

Learning Lab for Giving: Fostering key life skills through family philanthropy
Stacy Allred, Managing Director, Merrill Lynch’s Center for Family Wealth Dynamics and Governance®

• This session will be an interactive discussion about using philanthropy as an effective tool to engage families, particularly the rising generation, and to foster key life skills.  The speaker will highlight core practices based on research and direct experience with hundreds of multi-generational families.  She will also share case study vignettes and practical tools and ideas you can use to help families leverage the power of philanthropy to nurture a culture of learning.

Advanced Planning and Drafting: What we are seeing now and how to plan for uncertainty
Martin Hall, Esq., Partner, Ropes & Gray LLP
B. Howard Pearson, Development Legal Counsel, Stanford University

• Two leading experts in the field of charitable giving will discuss legal developments in the field of charitable gift planning with a focus on complex issues related to CRTs, CLTs, and other sophisticated approaches to charitable giving in the context of a well-designed estate plan.  The speakers will present a few scenarios based on their recent experience and address the implications of recent tax law changes and the strategies they recommend in response to these changes.  This session will also include time for attendees to share interesting situations and trends that they are seeing in their practices.

Who, What, When, Where and Why: How to help your clients make life income gifts to charity
Fred Hartwick, Philanthropic Advisor, Stanford University

• This session will focus on charitable remainder unitrusts and charitable gift annuities.  What are the general characteristics of each gift? Which of your clients might benefit from considering such a gift?  What special issues can arise when you start discussing the details?

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MORNING BREAKOUT SESSION II

A CPA’s Guide for Advisors: Understanding the tax, accounting and valuation considerations of non-cash gifts
Daniel Figueredo, CPA, CGMA, Burr, Pilger & Mayer
Shannon Silverman, CPA, Burr, Pilger & Mayer
Meredith Johnson, CPA, Burr, Pilger & Mayer

• This presentation will help you understand the tax considerations for donors making noncash gifts and the accounting by public charities, private foundations and other exempt organizations receiving noncash gifts. We will discuss valuation considerations for tax and accounting purposes. In addition we will review nontraditional gifts such as land and real estate, conservation easements, privately held stock, free use of space, services from affiliated entities, art collections, capital campaign donations, and donated inventory and auction items. 

Divorce – Family Philanthropy Feuds: What happens to the philanthropy when a family splits up
Brigit M. Kavanagh, Esq., Kavanagh Rhomberg, LLP
Cecilia Chung, Esq., Hanson Crawford Crum Family Law Group LLP
Mari Ellen Reynolds Loijens, Chief Business, Development and Brand Officer, Silicon Valley Community Foundation

• What happens to a couple’s philanthropy on dissolution of marriage? This program will provide an overview of some common types of philanthropy in which couples engage during marriage. During the presentation, we will meet some couples with fictional divorces to illustrate some of the ways philanthropy is divided on divorce. The speakers will review matters of federal tax and state charitable trust laws applicable to charitable giving vehicles, describe disclosure obligations arising under the Family Code, identify discovery issues that may emerge in the Family Law case, and explain the issues that must be considered in resolving the parties’ rights with respect to the control of their philanthropic interests in connection with the dissolution of marriage.

Capacity and the Aging Brain: Medical and legal perspectives
Stacie Nelson, Esq., Holland & Knight
Laura Bodin Dunn, MD, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine

• Cognitive disorders (from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, and a range of other forms of dementia) are prevalent in the aging population. However, these conditions may go undetected for years. Numerous cognitive domains are relevant to financial decision making, and these are affected to different degrees, at different stages, in different cognitive disorders.  Impaired decision making can impact the legal viability of any donative transfer. This intermediate level session will provide an overview of cognitive disorders, focusing particularly on domains relevant to financial decision making, as well as the interplay between the cognitive domains and the legal standards for capacity and a donor’s susceptibility to undue influence.

LUNCH and KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Virtual Reality and Philanthropy
Jeremy Bailenson, founding director of Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, Thomas More Storke Professor in the Department of Communication 

• Virtual reality provides a unique ability to walk a mile in the shoes  of another. Professor Bailenson will share his research showing that virtual experiences can inspire real empathy, and the implications for philanthropy.

BREAKOUT SESSION III

Legal Structures for Philanthropy: What works when
Erik Dryburgh, Esq., Adler & Colvin

• Donors wishing to create a philanthropic entity now have a wide range of gift vehicles from which to choose. In addition to the more “standard” options such as private foundations, donor-advised funds and supporting organizations, planners are now discussing the use of LLCs, section 501(c)(4) entities, and section 4947 trusts. This session will review these different vehicles with an eye towards which vehicles are most appropriate based on the donor profile.

Assignment of Income: When is it too late to make a gift?
Philip Golden, Associate Director, Planned Giving, Stanford University

• One of the principal reasons many donors create a CRUT is to convert an appreciated capital asset into an income stream without immediate recognition of capital gain. If the donor has gone too far in procuring a buyer for the asset prior to the gift, the plan can backfire because of the assignment of income doctrine. Attendees of this intermediate level session will leave with a better understanding of when it is too late for the donor to make the gift and when it is not.

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CLOSING PLENARY SESSION

The Current State of Philanthropy on a Local and National Level: What gives you hope and what keeps you up at night?
B. Howard Pearson, Development Legal Counsel, Stanford University (moderator)
Christopher C. Pegg, Senior Director of Planning, Wells Fargo Private Bank
Jill Dodd, Esq., Manatt
Erik Dryburgh, Esq., Adler & Colvin
Martin Hall, Esq., Partner, Ropes & Gray LLP

• Our panel will share observations regarding recent trends in philanthropy including publicity around new entities and "next gen" philanthropy, current and anticipated developments in estate and tax law, and the effect of an environment of uncertainty on their clients charitable giving.Topics and examples may include interest among their clients in impact investing and new entities; trends with private foundations; use of donor advised funds to solve tax and non-tax issues; and privacy vs. recognition.

RECEPTION