by Eddie Thompson | Nov 25, 2013 | Charitable Estate Planning, Donor Communications
Charles Schultz and I go back a long way. I remember my first training event with Charles, Artie, and Carol in a very small room in Camarillo, CA. Many years have passed, but I remember being impressed with Charles and his vision for planned giving software. He had...
by Eddie Thompson | Oct 14, 2013 | Charitable Estate Planning, Development Management
There’s a correlation between the depth of relationship with a donor and the size of an appropriate appeal. When a fundraiser makes an appeal that a donor could not, or would not, seriously consider, the lack of understanding and the lack of relationship becomes a...
by Eddie Thompson | Aug 5, 2013 | Charitable Estate Planning, Donor Communications
In a previous blog I wrote about a process to help donors work their way through their three big gift planning questions: how much will they need for the remainder of their lives; how much should they give to their children; and, how much should they give to...
by Eddie Thompson | Jun 19, 2013 | Charitable Estate Planning
I talk with hundreds of families each year about generous giving and wise estate planning. I can’t tell you how many times affluent parents or grandparents have said to me, “We want to set up a family foundation.” Notwithstanding the worthy causes listed in the...
by Eddie Thompson | Apr 9, 2013 | Charitable Estate Planning
Each estate planning professional at our company, Thompson & Associates, walks clients through a process that helps them clarify their thinking on several important issues: what they would still like to accomplish in their lifetime, the values that have guided...
by Eddie Thompson | Sep 30, 2012 | Charitable Estate Planning
In 1785 a French mathematician named Charles Joseph Mathon de la Cour wrote a parody of Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac in which he mocked the unbearable spirit of American optimism represented by Franklin. The Frenchman fictionalized about “Fortunate...
