Join me at CGP Conference 2026

Wednesday Workshops

Wednesday Workshops offer additional opportunities for attendees to gain new strategies and insights from experts.

Each workshop requires an additional fee, which can be added during the registration process. Already registered attendees may add a program by modifying their registration with their confirmation number.

Workshops will be held on the morning of October 14. We recommend arriving on Tuesday evening to ensure that you arrive on time and are settled by the start of the workshop.

Gift planning professionals are high-stakes communicators. You build trust with donors over years, translate complex financial and legal concepts into human terms, and represent your organization in some of the most consequential conversations in philanthropy. And yet, even the most accomplished professionals can find themselves held back by self-doubt, internal narratives, and the quiet weight of imposter syndrome.

This three-hour pre-conference workshop, led by executive coach and facilitator Vicki Clark, goes beyond awareness to real skill development. You will leave with frameworks, language, and tools you can use the moment you return to work. Whether you are early in your career or decades in, this session will help you show up with more confidence, speak with more authority, and lead with more intention.

Vicki Clark has spent more than four decades helping professionals in the nonprofit, association, and corporate sectors do the one thing that changes everything: show up with confidence in the work they were meant to do.

She is a sought-after executive coach, facilitator, and keynote speaker known for her direct, no-nonsense style and her rare ability to make a room feel simultaneously challenged and deeply supported. Her work on imposter syndrome, leadership voice, and professional presence has resonated with audiences from emerging professionals to senior executives across nearly all 50 states and internationally.

Vicki understands the world gift planning professionals inhabit. She has worked directly with the American Council on Gift Annuities (ACGA) and brings deep fluency in the philanthropic sector through engagements with organizations including the National Audubon Society, United Way, the Association of Junior Leagues International, Church World Service, the American Bar Association, and numerous state and local bar associations. She does not come to this work as an outsider; she comes as someone who has spent her career inside organizations like yours, coaching the people who carry them forward.

A BoardSource Certified Trainer and four-time Servant Leadership Institute keynote speaker, Vicki brings the same rigor to a three-hour workshop that she brings to a one-on-one coaching engagement: real frameworks, honest conversation, and outcomes that stick.

She meets people where they are, never gives up, and after 40-plus years, she will tell you she is still a work in progress.

Gift planning is a process that builds consensus between a donor and the staff of a charitable organization about the best way to achieve the greatest philanthropic benefit. Tax rules, charitable gift assets and planned gift vehicles are all in play to produce an impact that can be much more remarkable than a current gift. In this session, you will develop a conversational understanding of these technical topics so that you can speak with confidence to donors and prospects. If you are new to gift planning, need a refresher, or are a development generalist, this course provides an overview of gift planning and the tools you need to make the most of it. The session covers National Standards for Gift Planning Success 3, 13 and 16 (many other standards will be mentioned).

Topics to be covered:

Tax fundamentals, including how to understand the after-tax cost of a gift
Assets used for charitable contributions with emphasis on the most common non-cash assets that donors own.
Basic gift planning tools including bequests, beneficiary designations and retirement plan gifts.
Advanced gift planning tools, including gift annuities and charitable trusts of all kinds.

Registration includes the latest edition of the book Planned Giving in a Nutshell by Craig C. Wruck.

Craig Wruck’s experience in charitable gift planning spans more than 40 years in both nonprofit and for-profit organizations including Humboldt State University (CA), Minnesota State University, University of Minnesota, and The Saint Paul Community Foundation as well as U.S. Trust Company, US Bank, and Kaspick & Company. Craig currently serves as Senior Advisor for PG Calc and is the author of Planned Giving in a Nutshell, a practical guide to planned giving for development generalists.

Craig was among the early leaders of the National Committee on Planned Giving, serving as President in 1997, Conference Chair in 1993, and Chair of Government Relations from 1998 through 2010. He was a member of the Board of Directors from 1991 through 1997 and again from 2007 through 2010. The association recognized him with a Distinguished Service Award in 2010.

Craig earned his MBA from the University of St. Thomas and his bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Utah.

Your gift planning program is officially launched. You have a legacy society. Realized bequests are coming in. Non‑cash and asset‑based gifts are emerging. Your Board has reviewed and reconfirmed updated gift acceptance policies.

Now what?

This workshop provides a practical roadmap for moving beyond having policies “on paper” and into building sustainable, consistent organizational practices. Participants will learn how to operationalize their gift planning programs—improving internal clarity, donor stewardship, and long‑term revenue reliability.

This program is expected to be approved for CFRE and CSPG credit.

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