Program

View the previous 2018 program.

Agenda is subject to change. Session times to be determined.

8:00 - 8:30 am

REGISTRATION AND CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

8:30 - 9:30 am

WELCOME AND OPENING PLENARY

Recent Legal and Tax Developments in Charitable Planning
Martin Hall, Esq., Partner, Ropes & Gray LLP

The presentation will include discussion of the following topics:

  • The impact of rising interest rates on charitable planning techniques
  • The changes wrought by SECURE 1.0 and 2.0 on charitable planning with retirement accounts
  • Recent caselaw and IRS rulings concerning charitable giving
  • Appraisal requirements for gifts of digital assets and cryptocurrencies
  • The application of the Corporate Transparency Act to charitable planning
  • “Green Book” and legislative proposals in Washington

9:30 - 9:45 a.m.

BREAK

9:45 - 10:45 a.m.

BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Preparing Heirs: Helping Clients Through Generational Wealth Transfer
Amy Castoro, President & CEO, The Williams Group

We believe when families of great wealth stay together, their wealth can change the world. Sometimes however, families get stuck. They have trouble making decisions and working through conflict productively.

A great deal of effort is put into preparing assets for the family, and the governance structures to support them, however not as much of an investment is made in the family itself. Join me to learn what drives successful wealth transition (family stays intact, and in control of their assets). Learn how to spot the red flags, and what you can do about it, and know where the line is between advisor vs coach.

Charitable Gift Annuities – A Tool for Your Clients
Blake Grossman, Senior Associate Director of Planned Giving, Stanford University Office of Planned Giving
Jeff Underwood, Senior Associate Director of Planned Giving, Stanford University Office of Planned Giving

Find out how this deferred gift vehicle can benefit your clients and/or their loved ones depending on their current stage in life.

Starting with an elevated review of the basics of a charitable gift annuity to considering the best asset to use from a tax perspective or the timing on when the fixed income payments should begin.

We will work through various fact patterns to help you determine the type of charitable gift annuity that might be appropriate for your clients.

Life Income Gifts Funded with Real Estate
Bill Knox, Director, Planned Technical Consulting, TIAA Kaspick

An examination of the tax aspects of the three stages of the real estate gift process: Discovery and qualification, gift structuring, and gift execution.

And the tax issues that can arise in each. This presentation will feature a range of tax issues including encumbered property, self-dealing transactions, income taxes, estate taxes, state and local transfer taxes and property taxes.

10:45 - 11:00 a.m.

BREAK

11:00 - 12:00 p.m.

BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Charitable Planning with Retirement Assets
Jean Gorman, Associate VP of Gift Planning at Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health
Shadie Parivar, Director of Gift Planning at Lucile Packard Foundation Children's Health

Retirement funds represent about one-third of the assets owned by older individuals in the U.S. These funds can be used to create charitable gifts that will provide tax savings and funding for your favorite charity. The presentation will show ways an individual can use an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) to make outright distributions to qualified non-profits, to create income producing gifts with qualified charitable distributions from IRAs, and through estate planning to use retirement funds to create tax saving ways to benefit your family and your favorite non-profit.    

Advance Charitable Planning – A Conversation with the Experts
B. Howard Pearson, Development Legal Counsel, Stanford University
Martin Hall, Esq., Partner, Ropes & Gray
Neil Kawashima, Partner, McDermott Will & Emery

Three leading experts in the field of charitable giving will discuss some of their recent experiences and legal developments in charitable gift planning with a focus on complex issues related to naming rights and sunset clauses, privacy versus transparency in charitable giving, gifts of limited partnership interests and carried interest, and other sophisticated approaches to charitable giving in the context of a well-designed estate plan.  This session will provide an opportunity for attendees to ask the experts questions directly and share their own interesting situations and trends that they are seeing in their practices.

Donor Advised Funds v. Private Foundations
Shirley McLaughlin, Principal, Adler & Colvin

Private foundations and donor-advised funds are two common vehicles for managing and carrying out individual and family philanthropy. Both come with legal and practical restrictions and tradeoffs. This presentation will provide an overview of private foundations and donor-advised funds: what are they, how do they work, and what factors might lead someone to choose one or the other (or both!). A few simple case studies will illustrate the best uses for each vehicle, dispel some common misconceptions, and point out less well-known pain points.

12:00 - 12:45 p.m. LUNCH BREAK 

12:45 - 1:45 p.m.

LUNCH PLENARY

Ideaflow: how individuals, teams, and organizations achieve breakthrough results
Jeremy Daniel Utley, Director of Executive Education at the d.school, Stanford University

In this searching examination of the personal and interpersonal practices (rather than events) that fuel breakthrough thinking, Jeremy Utley will share insights from his bestselling book, Ideaflow: The Only Business Metric That Matters (co-written with Perry Klebahn). Having taught the subject of innovation for the last 13+ years at Stanford, he has seen the topic become over-hyped, yet remain an under-nourished capability. This is true not only on the personal level, but also on the team and organizational levels. This dynamic session will set the record straight on some foundational mindsets and practices that fuel not just repeatable innovation, but also drive satisfaction and engagement at work and in life as well.

1:45 - 2:00 p.m. BREAK

2:00 - 3:00 p.m.

BREAKOUT SESSIONS

But It’s for Charity! - Don’t Open the Door for IRS to Ruin Your Charitable Deductions
John Prokey, Partner, Ramsbacher Prokey Leonard LLP

Completing a planned or major gift can be exciting, but making the gift is just the first step in securing a charitable income tax deduction. The tax rules for substantiating charitable deductions are persnickety, and small foot faults can provide the IRS with a basis to deny large deductions. This program will cover the substantiation rules for charitable gifts, including qualified appraisal requirements, specific asset issues, estate tax value versus deduction value, and discuss some of the relevant cases one should consider.

Legacy & Estate Planning with Donor Advised Funds
Lisa Barr, Regional Director, West, National Philanthropic Trust
Kendra Onishi, Vice President of Development, Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Richelle Tucker, Vice President, Compliance Consulting, Fidelity Charitable

Donor advised funds are flexible charitable giving vehicles established at a public charity that allow donors to make a charitable contribution, receive an immediate tax deduction, and then recommend grants from the fund over time. While often viewed as a “giving while living” option, these charitable vehicles also afford ample opportunities to support the estate planning process, minimizing executor administrative burden, and reducing estate tax and income tax for heirs. They can also be utilized to help families cultivate shared values, engage the next generation of givers, and craft meaningful legacies. Join representatives from three of the largest DAF providers to learn about the options available for estate and legacy planning utilizing donor advised funds. Learn how these vehicles can be used to supplement other planning tools and vehicles, the benefits and limitations of utilizing DAFs, and how to partner with DAF providers to avoid pitfalls and ensure success.

From Salad Dressing to Puffy Jackets: How Business Owners are Taking Novel Approaches to Philanthropy and Social Causes
Tami Wallenstein, Sr. Vice President and Sr. Philanthropic Strategist, Wells Fargo Private Bank
Karl Mill, Founding Attorney, Mill Law

Many Business owners view their company as “purpose-driven,” and wish to transfer their entire company to charity so all profits go to charity and the company maintains its values in perpetuity. Regulatory issues often make these arrangements impossible or prohibitively limiting. Despite this, companies such as Patagonia, Newman’s Own, and others recently made headlines by transferring the company to nonprofit entities. This session will discuss these case studies and the use of Foundations and 501(c)(4) organizations, and how these strategies impact taxes and control of the company and the charity. We will also discuss some resulting policy considerations.

3:00 - 3:15 p.m.

BREAK

3:15 - 4:15 p.m.

AFTERNOON PLENARY

A Conversation with the California State Franchise Tax Board
Audrey Rowe, Program Specialist III, California Franchise Tax Board
Roman Johnston, Assistant Chief Counsel, Business Entity Tax Bureau, California Franchise Tax Board
Prachi Vardhe, Administrator III, California Franchise Tax Board
Julie Kwon, Partner, McDermott Will & Emery LLP

Join us for an engaging discussion with representatives from the audit, filing, and legal departments of the California State Franchise Tax Board. The discussion will cover pressing issues at the intersection of tax requirements and charitable giving. Representatives will join us to provide their unique perspectives and engage the audience in a Q&A moderated by Julie Kwon, Partner, McDermott Will & Emery LLP.

4:15 - 5:00 p.m.

RECEPTION