We’re thrilled to kick off The View From the C-Suite, a new conversation series exploring planned giving through the eyes of senior leaders. For our first installment, I sat down with Scott Lumpkin, whose 30-plus years’ experience, including five as vice chancellor at the University of Denver, gives him a unique view of planned giving from the leadership table. Today, Scott is a gift planning expert, author, speaker and philanthropic advisor.
Want to be part of the conversation? Join me and other C-suite leaders at the CGP Conference to explore what senior leaders value, what earns their investment and what nonprofits should rethink about planned giving.
If you know a C-suite leader I should talk to, reach out to me at nathan.stelter@stelter.com to recommend them.
From Transactions to Transformation
N: Hi, Scott! Great to have you here today. Let’s get started by learning more about you.
S: Well, I suppose I’ve had a unique career path. I started out in annual giving, moved to planned giving, and eventually, into senior advancement leadership. At the University of Denver (DU), where I was for over 30 years, I was able to grow the planned giving program before moving into larger roles, ultimately serving as vice chancellor for University Advancement in my final five years.
That experience gave me a broader view of advancement and a perspective that wasn’t especially common at the time: coming to senior leadership through planned giving.
N: You’ve noted that many VPs of Advancement come from major gifts, where success is often measured in shorter-term, transactional goals. How did you prove to leadership the value of planned giving?
S: As planned giving professionals, we always want to be thinking about the future, about how to advance and expand our programs. I wanted to push the envelope and find out how we could move to a much more transformational program.
That’s still how I see planned giving today. It’s not isolated. It’s not in a corner. It’s very much integrated, and it really has the potential to drive and transform an entire advancement program, not just this little isolated piece.
N: How did you build buy-in for that strategic approach to planned giving?
S: Not giving up and doing the best I could to help executive leadership understand its potential. Thankfully, I was at an institution that already had a history of planned giving, so we had a stream of gifts coming in.
But it was sometimes two steps forward, one step back. When leadership changed and the principal gift program was shut down, I had to retool and double down on planned giving. I was able to show, “You’re interested in campaign commitments and putting dollars on the board? I can help you do that.”
N: What does leadership gain by viewing planned giving as a long-term investment?
S: You can’t look at planned giving simply as a program that produces gifts years down the road. You have to look at how it strengthens the entire advancement program, expands the ways donors can give, strengthens those donor relationships and creates opportunities you might otherwise miss.
N: From your experience, what’s been the value for DU to have such a thriving planned giving program?
S: It definitely diversified our revenue streams. Planned giving encourages gifts of assets, and that’s important because so much of major gift fundraising is focused on cash.
It’s subtle, but major gift colleagues who go on to become VPs are often used to transactional gifts of cash. They don’t realize they’re missing 90% of donors’ philanthropic potential.
In my current role as a philanthropic advisor, I’ll ask my university clients about their 10 largest gifts, and inevitably, eight or nine of those 10 were gifts of cash… If we’re only talking about gifts of cash, we’re missing a huge part of the picture.
If you really want to capture your donor’s full philanthropic potential, you need to be investing in planned giving. Planned giving opens the door to gifts of assets and to a much fuller picture of what donors may be able to give.
Opening the Door to Bigger Conversations
N: Are planned giving officers seeing more value in asset-based giving?
S: Absolutely. When I’m coaching clients, I’ll say, “If a donor can satisfy their dream simply with a gift of cash, they’re probably not dreaming big enough.”
That’s where gifts of assets can really come into play and help donors think bigger about what’s possible.
N: Great point. That reminds me of when Russell James made the case for planned giving to the Texas Tech Board by reframing it as major gifts of assets. The board understood major gifts of assets, so it clicked. Simplifying the concept of planned giving makes the conversation more relatable.
S: Exactly. I’ll ask my clients, “How are you receiving IRA QCDs? DAF grants? Has the number grown each year over the last five years?” Inevitably, the answer is yes.
I’ll ask them what they’re doing with those people. A lot of the time, they’re just treating them as part of the annual fund. But if someone is making a gift from their IRA, there may be more assets there.
That’s someone you ought to be having a deeper conversation about why they care about your organization and what their dream is for making a difference. That’s where planned giving can open a much bigger conversation.
N: How do you measure relationship building, not just dollars raised?
S: You have to look at the activity that leads to the gift, not just the gift itself. I like an activity-based dashboard that tracks whether you have the right people in your portfolio, whether you’re having meaningful conversations with them, and whether you’re moving them to a deeper relationship.
If someone has moved forward in the relationship, even if the gift hasn’t happened yet, that’s a win in my book.
N: How can organizations move from transactional fundraising to relationship-driven giving?
S: Start with the donor, not the transaction. Build trust, understand their dreams and then connect those dreams to your priorities. Each step should make it easier for the donor to say yes.
And that’s where planned giving can really help. Gift planners aren’t just experts in tools; they’re experts in conversations and relationships.
N: Thanks so much, Scott. Your perspective is a great reminder of the transformational power of planned giving and the bigger dreams it can make possible.
S: Always a pleasure, Nathan.
Remember, if you’re at the CGP Conference, let’s talk more about this topic. I’d love to hear your thoughts. And if you know a C-suite leader who’d bring a valuable perspective to the conversation, please contact me at nathan.stelter@stelter.com.