Here’s what others say

Alice Bemand

I loved yesterday’s session! I am looking forward to Monday! I actually was disappointed when I realized it was Friday, and there isn’t a session! That rarely happens with a webinar—LOL!  Your handouts are terrific and you really speak in plain English!

 

Judy Oberlander

Thank you for this amazing opportunity to learn from your vast experience. I think your strategy of embedding planned giving into the larger context of philanthropy and its vital role in the non-profit sector is most inspiring.  

 

Jennifer W. Snyder

In the fullness of my grateful heart, a thousand thanks for making this finance knowledge accessible to the artists in the fundraiser family. 

This class is one of the best I have ever taken on fundraising. Lynda Sands makes being "down in the weeds" of the details fun and encouraging. Thanks for this wonderful class, Lynda!

 

Joanne Boeckman

I have been in the position of Gift Planning Facilitator for our non-profit organization for almost four years.  I was brand new to this field.  I have had many gaps in my education and understanding, even though I attended one Gift Planning course at IUPUI, occasional online webinars and worked with a consultant.  I have clearly known what the gaps were and what I needed and at what level of detail.  Regardless of source, the information I learned seemed to be too conceptual for me.  I couldn’t confidently wrap my mind around the information, which often focused on gift vehicles.  I felt so alone because no one else at my organization could really understand my situation.  I have searched and prayed that I would find someone who could fill those information voids and help to build my self-confidence.  Lynda Sands is that person.  She packs each lesson in this course with practical, helpful and usable information and handouts.  She is an excellent “on the grounds” instructor who speaks from years of “in the trenches” experience and uses real-life examples.  The 20-minutes/lesson format makes the course doable and includes enough repetition of terms and definitions to help me absorb the information.  After I attend the live session, re-listen to the replay, and write up my notes each day, I feel enriched and ever grateful for this wonderful opportunity.

I am ever so grateful for every effort you have put into making the 20-minute lessons.  It speaks of your mastery and love for serving others through asset-based philanthropy.  

I am so grateful for all the “in the trenches” information you are providing.

  

Todd Mandel

I’ve never encountered a teacher/mentor/guru quite like you before.  Thanks for your generosity of time and wisdom, and your gentle and articulate and off-the-cuff style.  To our next 7 glorious modules together!

Thanks again for your inspiration and invaluable instruction over our recent 16-week course.

Although it was nominally a course in planned giving or more accurately as you pointed out, asset-based philanthropy, for me as a 30-year development veteran with a focus on principal gifts, it was simply a means to extend my reach, hone my professional skill set, and in short, raise significantly more funds. My organization is a large one, but as with many similar organizations, it will benefit from the ideas you presented as to how better to integrate asset-based philanthropy into its major gifts efforts.  Through your course, anyone working in the Development world can easily overcome any hesitation about the difficulty or purported specialization of this area and enjoy access to a great many new and “improved” relationships and donors over the course of their career.  Thank you for your inspiration and, remarkably, fun!

 

Amberly Pahut

I wanted to take a minute to thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise with us through your complimentary Plain English, Planned Giving Course. I’ve tried to participate in real time but the video recordings have been wonderful to revisit.  I personally am so grateful for this learning opportunity and your generous spirit.

 

Anna Steinberg

I really enjoyed today's session. It is so refreshing to see someone be so precise with their words. I loved your descriptions of the use of policies vs. procedures vs. guidelines. In all of the training for "compliance" I've been in through the years, I've never heard a presenter (lawyers, etc) explain this with such ease and clarity. You are so refreshing!!!  I felt the same when you explained about deferred gifts not actually being deferred. It is very rare these days to see someone focus on their words actually meaning what they say. It is not only needed generally, but especially when you are trying to relay a topic to newcomers. Thank you for everything you are doing and HOW you are doing it. I should say also that I enjoy your sense of style :))) You are so fabulously put together! You are one of the best teachers I've ever had and a role model in many ways! THANK YOU!!!

Your content is SOOOOO substantive and helpful.  I know you will help me so much! I feel much more confident in this area having "met" you through your training!

 

Lisa Breitsprecker

Thank you so much Lynda. This course is so valuable and I am enjoying you and the content so much. I look forward to joining in every day.

 

Kelly Mitchell

I am loving this class.  You are totally taking the intimidation out of this process.

I found this course to be so helpful and bringing a perspective I just couldn't find anywhere else. I signed up for Lynda's course because I want to be a great resource for my donors.  Her process helped me to understand the "why" as much as the "how".   It's just what I needed as a major gifts fundraiser."  

 

Kevin Miller

Long ago I read, "It’s easy to sell something to someone – once.

But….You want to be able to sell to that someone – over and over again.”

You’ve been saying that same thing – only in different terms. 

GOOD JOB!  I’m really enjoying this “educational journey”.

 

Hilary Kruchowy

I can’t thank you enough for the incredible webinar series!  This gave me a chance to learn new skills, tackle donor thank you calls and inspired me to read about sales, marketing and moves management. Thank you very much again for the gift of your knowledge and expertise.

 

Lynne Shampain

You are an amazing teacher!

I am so grateful to you for your fabulous course on Asset-Based Philanthropy!  

These 16 weeks have gone so fast and I have learned so much!

 

Teresa Farrel-Becker

I am new to the field as a Development Associate.  At first, I was afraid your course was way over my head but as we went on, I appreciated so much how you made it accessible to all of us no matter where we were coming from.  Some of it was still very in-depth but I learned a lot!  

 

Maria D. Solano

Thank you again for a fantastic class!  Plain English Planned Giving was just what I needed to help me grow professionally and take our legacy program to the next level.

 

Susan Mattei

When it began, I wondered how much could get covered in a half-hour a day, and whether I could stick with it.  I’ve enjoyed the course and have benefitted from your knowledge and great presentation skills!  This is the kind, of course, that real practitioners need—it has the theory as well as the practical information to help “students” become better fundraisers in all ways.”

 

 

Mary Hohensee

I just finished the last two weeks of recordings, as I was on vacation and then came back to a pile of work I didn’t think it could get better but your Module 8 was the best. You tied things together and referred back to other sessions. Your practical checklists are the best. I’m going to sign up for the enhanced membership in no small part due to how you have been so generous with your time and knowledge.

 

 

Thomas Olan

Thanks for offering this impactful training program.  I've been doing asset-based philanthropy full-time for 17 years but still learned lots from these sessions and you shared many wonderfully helpful resources.

  

Elizabeth Emmert

I have thoroughly enjoyed this course.  I have worked in small arts non-profit organizations since 1980, with time out for three years to get a law degree (!), which I wanted as a tool to help me in working with non-profit organizations.  Only one of the organizations I have worked with has had a "real" planned giving program, and I have only been involved with that organization as a volunteer.  The 21-year-old organization that I have been working with for the past 15 years knows that it needs to expand into planned giving, but the everyday struggle to provide general operating support and to manage periodic capital expansion campaigns with a very small staff (I am technically a freelance consultant) has been a real roadblock.  Now armed with this wealth of information, I may be able to get the organization to take the plunge, which should ultimately provide a more financially secure future!

Thank you so much for providing this course and sharing your experience and wisdom! 

  

Ada Swanson

Thank you. I’m really enjoying your classes. They are very practical. 

 

Marianne DeCristo

Please receive my sincere gratitude for accepting me into your PEPG course, for you have opened my eyes and my mind to so much new material.  I really appreciate it, and I am learning so much from you.  

Thank you for all you do and are doing!  The Plain English Planned Giving class is eye-opening for me. 

 

Jen-L Lyman

Mahalo Lynda.  Love your course . . . it’s certainly a shift in mindset.  However, because I’ve only been in the “non-profit” field for 2 ½ years the shift is easy for me to make because it’s very similar to the “for-profit” world of asset-based development and relationships.     

I just wanted to let you know that I love your course!!  It’s so easy to learn and digestible in 30 minutes sessions 

Your course is amazing and it’s been such a great learning experience for me as I’m new to the non-profit sector coming from law and trust administration for a bank (similar to your background).  The class has truly helped to develop and evolve me in my role 

 

Judi Jahn

Thank you so much for the gift of this class.  I love you already.  You are such an encourager and have so much knowledge to share.  Every day I go away encouraged and with much to contemplate.  You are making me a better me.  

thanks for the good knowledge you are pouring into my life every day.   YOU are so encouraging and make me believe I can accomplish anything.  You have been such an encouragement professionally and personally

 

Lois Drake

I very much appreciate the course and your fine work. Thank you very much for this creative and much-needed curriculum 

 

Tim Peterson

It was wonderful to be part of your class for that last several months.

Thank you for the amazing gift you have given us.

I enjoyed hearing your instruction and got lots of good information from you.

 

Carol Serrone

This has been an exceptional course and I am so very grateful for the time and expertise you have invested in creating the course.  I plan to continue learning as part of your membership program.

Thanks so much for the wonderful course Lynda!  I am looking forward to continuing the journey with the enhanced membership program.

 

Debra Einstein

Your course has been instructional, well thought out, resources were outstanding, ideas to implement an asset-based philanthropy program at the Y is top of mind for 2020-2021.  I look forward to continuing these conversations through your new membership program. 

Thank you for ALL your patience and time to share with all of us these past few months, it's been really informative and I've learned many valuable things about asset-based philanthropy! You are a rock star of asset-based philanthropy

 

Margot Weiner

thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and knowledge this whole time. It has been a great session for me in that it held me on a schedule and it provided me with so much practical advice. 

 

Michelle Tucker

I really enjoyed this course and looked forward to it each morning with our group.  It was a good experience.  I know you put in a lot of your time, expertise and skills into this program.  Your personal stories always help put real-life experience in a topic to better understand it.  As I said earlier, you teaching us and sharing your skills in this manner of philanthropic giving is your legacy to the world.

 

Larry Symonds

let me thank you for the wonderful course we just completed.  it was an amazing and timely course for me. I am charged with building a new PG program at a nonprofit I joined in January and this course will be a foundation for how I go about it.

 

Lorraine Collacchi

Thanks for offering this impactful training program

 

Shannon Foucault

I just finished the last recording and wanted to write and express my gratitude to you. 

During the course, I had both a farm donation and a mineral rights donation come up, along with several phone calls for including land in people's estate plans. I'm now building a marketing effort for gifts of land, using a lot of what I've learned during this course. I wouldn't have known where to start before! And as I build this ABP program from scratch (yes, both major and planned to give are new to my org!) this information is indispensable. I will pay it forward for my organization, our donors, and our field as much as I can. 

 

Allison Ohanian

just wanted to tell you how much I have appreciated this course.  What you are providing is invaluable to planned giving programs large and small.  The course you put together is obviously a labor of love