about : president's letter

by Johnne Syverson
May 2007

The 2007 Conference on Philanthropy held in Chicago April 26-28 is now history. I have heard nothing but positive comments from many of the 125 conference attendees. About 40% of the attendees were first timers! And the Exhibit Hall was sold out of space for our great sponsors who helped to underwrite the conference costs. Please thank our sponsors for supporting our association whenever you do business with them. They are all listed with links on the AiP web site.

It was great to see Elton Brooks receive AiP’s Scott Fithian Memorial Leadership Award. Many conference attendees credit Elton with motivating them to enter the wonderful world of philanthropic planning.

Congratulations to Alan Pratt and the Conference Committee for a job well done! Rumor has it that they are already working on the 2008 Conference on Philanthropy to be held in Chicago April 24-26, 2008. Please mark your calendars now so you can plan to attend next year. For those of you who were unable to attend this year’s Conference, audio CDs of each presentation are available for order by going to the AiP web site at www.advisorsinphilanthropy.org.

One of the highlights of the Conference for me was being elected to serve as your AiP president for the coming year. I humbly accept that responsibility, knowing I am backed up by a hard working Board who loves the organization as much as I do.

Elected to the AiP Board were:

• Jerry Nuerge, Ft. Wayne, IN – Vice President
• Clare Price, Troy, MI – Sec’y/Treasurer
• Randy Fox, Naperville, IL – Past President
  (These three people and I make up your Executive Committee.)

• Don Gleichman, Harrisburg, PA – Membership Committee Chair
• Bob Thompson, Hartford, CT – Finance Committee Chair
• Les Winston , Miami, FL– AiP Foundation Subcommittee Chair
• Yale Levey, Roseland, NJ – Marketing Committee Chair
• Alan Pratt, Bellevue, WA – Conference Committee Chair
• Drake Zimmerman, Normal, IL – Education Committee Chair
• Joanne Grant, Chapel Hill, NC – At Large
• Jack Sullivan, Mountain Lakes, NJ – At Large

Another exciting result came out of the Dine-A-Rounds on the final night of the conference. In addition to having a great time networking together, many members spent the evening developing plans to help AiP fulfill its vision to become The #1 Association for Advisors in Philanthropy. They all agreed that AiP has a lot to offer the advisor community in expanding its philanthropic planning expertise, and offered many new ideas and plans to make that happen.

Rolled out at the Conference were two Strategic Alliances:

1. The first is AiP’s alliance with the American College in Bryn Mawr, PA to promote and sponsor events to encourage more advisors to achieve the Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP) designation. This is AiP’s approved designation of choice. An Intensive Learning program was conducted the day before the Conference opened, with eight students attending. The review program for GS839 was moderated by three AiP members who have previously attained their CAP designations. They were assisted by the new Chair of Philanthropy at the American College, Richard Fox, JD, who proctored the exam. At next year’s Conference, AiP will conduct the review program for two CAP courses, with a third review course being added in 2009. So, get an early start by taking steps now to matriculate with the American College to enter the CAP program of study.
2. The second strategic alliance is with the Starfish Television Network, which is producing a new non-profit TV channel devoted strictly to telling real life stories of donors and non-profits carrying out their philanthropic visions. AiP members will be offered a discounted rate to sponsor their donor/clients and charities for 30 minute programming on the Starfish channel. Currently, Starfish is airing on the Dish Satellite, and will be expanding to other satellite and cable networks as time goes on. In the meantime, you can view their programming on the Internet by going to www.vdc.com. Starfish broadcasts on channel #354. AiP will be hosting a live Webinar Teleconference about the Starfish Network for AiP members on Tuesday, May 22nd. Watch for an email announcement with the dial-in details coming your way soon.

The final major event to take place at the Conference in April was to say goodbye to our longtime faithful Director, Debbie Tinkler, whose AiP duties officially closed at the end of the Conference. We all wish Debbie well in her new endeavors. And we welcome Jaclyn Farnham and her staff at Association Alternatives (AA) in Rocky Hill, CT as AiP’s new Administrative Director. AA is an association management firm that manages several associations, and is prepared to grow AiP to help fulfill our Mission in the future.

If you have a problem case with a donor/client, or have a great new idea to share with the other members of AiP, please post it on the AiP listserve by sending an email to so we can all help one another serve our donor/clients more fully.

Yours for Inspired Giving,

Johnne Syverson, CFP®, AEP, CAP
AiP President