Managing Director's Report
Taking stock

Tribute to Two Members of the Planned Giving Community
Jim Potter and Leo Hodges will long be remembered

Consulting News
New clients and new contact information

Your Feedback
I’m interested in your opinion

“We would not be expanding—indeed, we would not be in business—were it not for you.”

I've dedicated this issue of The Martignetti Report to the theme of taking stock—looking back over the company's first three years and looking to our future. Having started Martignetti Planned Giving Advisors in June 2003, I feel this is a fitting time.

Milestones
Not long after starting the company, we enjoyed early success with the closing of a $25 million planned gift for Baruch College, one of our first clients. Our clients at the time were exclusively in education, and included St. Joseph's College in Brooklyn, for whom we secured licensing for Charitable Gift Annuities, and The Waldorf School of Garden City, where we inaugurated the Planned Giving program.

Slowly, the number of our clients increased and the range of missions broadened. Clients such as the Association for Preservation Technology and the International Center for Medieval Art saw the value of Planned Giving. Through our effective collaboration with fundraising consultants The Jenks Group, these two organizations remain clients.

A recent focus on healthcare providers has brought our services to St. Francis Hospital, The Heart Center®; and Englewood Hospital and Medical Center. Today, I can announce a new client in the social services arena (see below) and I expect another to be with us shortly.

I am gratified by the successes we have celebrated with our clients. We have traveled far together—and the road ahead looks promising.

Further Expansion
I have enjoyed working closely with Steve Imperato and Laurie Kovens as we have expanded fundraising for many of our clients and had some terrific successes.

Now I am pleased to announce an additional colleague as well as our expansion into New England. Sylvette diMartino is a seasoned planned giving professional and consultant. She will be based in Boston and will be working with us in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Sylvette's considerable experience in healthcare and social services will add to our strengths and serve our clients well. You can see her complete credentials here. I am excited to have her as part of our team as we broaden our reach to Boston.

If you are in the New England area, or have clients or contacts in the New England area please come to us with your Planned Giving needs.

New Location
We have also moved our headquarters to Manhattan, so our address, phone and fax have changed. Please take a moment to update the contact information, which includes a new, shorter domain name and a new e-mail address for me. No longer will you feel like putting me on hold while I spell out M A R T I G N E T T I P G A D V I S O R S dot C O M. Our new domain is mpgadv.com.

Thank You
The sentiment that I feel as I look back is gratitude. Generous referrals three years ago led to our first clients. The senior leadership at those organizations trusted us to help them build Planned Giving programs and donor relationships. Through the years, we have been fortunate to serve many other non-profits.

Thank you so much for your support over our first three years. We would not be expanding—indeed, we would not be in business—were it not for you. Thank you.

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“These men influenced thousands of gift planners.”

Recently, the nonprofit community lost two notable leaders. Both were innovators in their areas of expertise, dedicated to their life's work and committed to the belief that individuals can bring about change by working for causes and institutions dear to them.

James Benton Potter was known to many as an enthusiastic, thoughtful man, generous with his knowledge and his time. In more than four decades of professional life, he wrote and spoke extensively on Charitable Gift Annuities. His work as chair of the American Council on Gift Annuities State Regulations Committee brought about changes in state regulations all around the country. His consulting business, Planned Giving Resources, was a valued resource for the Planned Giving community. There is a wealth of information to be found on the company's website. The numerous tributes posted to his site are testament to his impact on a generation of Planned Giving professionals.

Leo C. Hodges, J.D., CFP, worked in the tax, insurance and financial markets for more than thirty years. He was a prolific author, having written more than twenty books as well as the Endowment Development Services's Techniques newsletter series. He was also editor-in-chief of technical information in Planned Giving Answers Online. He encouraged the use of newsletters and other means of innovative, straightforward communication to educate donors to the many benefits of giving.

These men influenced thousands of gift planners. Sadly, I did not have the privilege of knowing them personally. My early mentors in Planned Giving were Robert Sharpe, Sr. and Gordon Gordon. Bob Sharpe's reputation as a pioneer of what was then called “deferred giving” is widely known and I count myself among the fortunate for having attended seminars he led. Gordon, the Planned Giving officer at Carnegie Mellon University, gave me valuable insights into donor relationships as well as technical matters. His counsel when I started in Planned Giving has stayed with me through today.

We all have people who have influenced our careers. Who are yours? Please share with us. Send a memo to me and I will select some to print in a future issue of The Martignetti Report.

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• St. Francis Hospital, The Heart Center® and Association for the Help of Retarded Children (AHRC), Suffolk Chapter
  I am very pleased that we will be providing Planned Giving consulting to these fine Long Island non-profits. Welcome aboard!



• New contact information
  We have moved to Manhattan and our domain name has changed. Here are the details:
  
  212-567-5680 (phone)
  212-937-2376 (fax)
  
  www.mpgadv.com
  
  90 Park Terrace East
  4th floor
  New York, NY 10034

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I am always interested in your opinion of The Martignetti Report. You can send me a message from here with your comments. Or, you can always reach me through the company website

Best regards,

Tony Martignetti, Esq.
Managing Director
Martignetti Planned Giving Advisors

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