The Complete Guide to Planned Giving
Everything You Need To Know To Compete
Successfully For Major Gifts
Revised Third Edition

“I consider this the greatest contribution of any planned giving book in the field. From technical and legal matters to the art of the business—it is without parallel the most understandable step-by-step guide to planned giving that has ever been written.”

- Jerold Panas, author and consultant

About the Book

Running a planned giving program is a daunting task. It is even more difficult for those new to the field or who don’t do planned giving full time. Do not despair. The book nicknamed “The Blue Bible” by its readers is back.

With this one volume of 568 information-packed pages, you can:

• Run a successful planned giving program
• Hit the ground running without prior experience in tax law or fund raising
• Work more effectively with boards, or know how to work around them
• Recruit and utilize volunteers to increase gift totals without going into therapy
• Plan your next 12 months with confidence
• Offer gift vehicles that generate results
• Maximize capital campaigns with creative planned gifts
• Quit wasting your money and market smarter
• Start a bequest program in 60 days
• Run planned giving in a one-person shop
• Get more larger gifts
• Understand complicated tax concepts on nearly every kind of gift scenario
• Know when you’re in over your head
• And, much, much more!

Who Will Benefit From This Book?

• Planned giving officers who need to get results and anyone else who doesn’t want to leave gifts on the table
• Executive directors or directors of development doing planned giving themselves
• Trust officers, brokers, and others who manage deferred giving assets
• Attorneys, accountants, advisors, financial professionals and donor advocates.

About the Author

Debra Ashton has had a stellar career in planned giving since 1975. If you know the words “planned giving,” you know her name and her book, “The Blue Bible” of planned giving, first published in 1988. Generations of new and experienced planned giving officers have relied on her wise advice and keen insight on creating and running a planned giving program that really works!

Debra runs one of the top three, exclusively planned giving consulting firms in the nation. She has consulted to every type of nonprofit—educational, health, environmental, social service, religious, you name it. They all come to her to learn not only WHAT to do, but HOW TO DO IT.

She knows how to take a planned giving office from the doldrums at the very bottom to the heights of success with millions of dollars in closed and matured gifts. She accomplished that for Boston College, Boston University, Wheaton College, and WGBH in Boston.

And she has painstakingly put that wealth of expertise into her book, not once, not twice, but three times with this Revised Third Edition. As she has gained insight through the years from her own professional positions and in her consulting role with clients, she has shared the depths of her secrets to success, no holds barred. She doesn’t just tantalize the reader with highlights or half-information. She gives you all the goods….every single thing you need to know to start, operate, and succeed in planned giving.

The most valuable thing about Debra’s wealth of information is that it is EASY TO READ, and, if you will do the simple things she suggests, it will GUARANTEE YOUR SUCCESS. Don’t pass up her knowledge and wisdom--in a format that is AFFORDABLE to every nonprofit and development officer. YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE EXPERIENCED TO LEARN FROM HER BOOK. She gives you her experience from her heart so that the very beginner can benefit from her, and the wizened old planned giving officer will glean more than just a little new knowledge. It’s the A to Z of planned giving.

Debra is a long-time friend of so many of us in planned giving. She is a sought-after speaker and consultant. Her writing style is crystal clear, her speeches engaging and her commitment to professionalism beyond compare.

Take it from me—you could have no better a mentor than Debra Ashton.

~~~~Lynda S. Moerschbaecher 2003