NO 104: Planned Giving and the Expert Professional

And the reality is that we've seen

this really

interesting trend in the sector over the course of the previous decade or more.

And the trend is that we are seeing fewer and fewer real full-time dedicated plan giving professionals in the country.

This is something I talked to some of our leads like Grant Monk and Peggy Killeen on an ongoing basis.

The question is, why is it that we don't have those dedicated individuals who really, truly understand plan giving and are experts in it? And I've got a couple of thoughts about why in a minute.

But let's just talk about what it means to be an expert.

And I was at a dinner recently and started talking about Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000-hour rule.

And for those that don't know about that, Malcolm Gladwell from Elmira, Ontario, not far from where I am today, wrote a book called The Outliers in 2008.

And within it, he postulated, frankly, that to become... a world-class expert in something to complete the skill acquisition and knowledge acquisition.

Research shows that it's about 10,000 hours of deliberate direct practice in that area.

And so when we thought about that and defined it, we went around the table and said, what are you an expert in? What can you actually say that you have 10,000 hours of working in that would make you an expert.

And of course I said a lot of things because I think I'm an expert in a couple of things, but, but one of them of course was planned giving and over the 30 years, you know, planned giving is like those other, uh, pursuits that Malcolm Gladwell was talking about, whether it's sports, whether it's entertainment, musicians, medical practice, things of that nature, being a true plan giving expert, being truly engaged and understanding that how to run both a plan giving program and being a gift planner, which are two different things, but wrapped up in the same expertise.

It does take a long time.

It takes dedication.

So let's start with that.

And the reality is that we've seen

this really

interesting trend in the sector over the course of the previous decade or more.

And the trend is that we are seeing fewer and fewer real full-time dedicated plan giving professionals in the country.

This is something I talked to some of our leads like Grant Monk and Peggy Killeen on an ongoing basis.

The question is, why is it that we don't have those dedicated individuals who really, truly understand plan giving and are experts in it? And I've got a couple of thoughts about why in a minute.

But let's just talk about what it means to be an expert.

And I was at a dinner recently and started talking about Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000-hour rule.

And for those that don't know about that, Malcolm Gladwell from Elmira, Ontario, not far from where I am today, wrote a book called The Outliers in 2008.

And within it, he postulated, frankly, that to become... a world-class expert in something to complete the skill acquisition and knowledge acquisition.

Research shows that it's about 10,000 hours of deliberate direct practice in that area.

And so when we thought about that and defined it, we went around the table and said, what are you an expert in? What can you actually say that you have 10,000 hours of working in that would make you an expert.

And of course I said a lot of things because I think I'm an expert in a couple of things, but, but one of them of course was planned giving and over the 30 years, you know, planned giving is like those other, uh, pursuits that Malcolm Gladwell was talking about, whether it's sports, whether it's entertainment, musicians, medical practice, things of that nature, being a true plan giving expert, being truly engaged and understanding that how to run both a plan giving program and being a gift planner, which are two different things, but wrapped up in the same expertise.

It does take a long time.

It takes dedication.

So let's start with that.