Someone is Googling you right now.
Not your organization—you. The development director deciding whether to recruit you. The board member wondering if you’re the right person to lead their campaign. The donor evaluating whether you’re sophisticated enough to handle their major gift.
What they see in the next ten seconds determines your next move … and possibly your entire career arc.
The Stuart Sullivan Lesson
Stuart Sullivan understood this long before most. He didn’t just climb the Philadelphia philanthropy ladder—he dominated it. Temple to Penn to CHOP to Shriners as Chief Philanthropy Officer.
Each move bigger. Each title heavier. Each institution more selective.
His advantage was simple: Sullivan never treated planned giving as a side project or technical add-on. He understood planned giving is the proof that you think institutionally, not transactionally. It signals that you build systems, not just close gifts. It’s the mark of someone who shapes their organization—not someone who waits for instructions. For fundraisers, it’s a type of career insurance.
Search committees didn’t just see a closer. They saw a strategist.
The Silent Career Killer
Most fundraisers don’t realize this: the absence of planned giving isn’t neutral. It’s negative.
High blood pressure is called the “silent killer” because it quietly destroys you while you insist you’re fine. The absence of planned giving works the same way for careers.
When executives search your program and find no planned giving presence, the diagnosis is immediate:
• Short-term thinker
• Tactical, not strategic
• Focused on revenue, not longevity
• Not ready for institutional leadership
You could be brilliant at annual giving, exceptional at campaigns, and a donor-relations wizard. It doesn’t matter. Without legacy giving, you look incomplete—like a CFO who’s great at expense reports but clueless about investments.
The worst part? There are no symptoms. Everything seems fine … until it isn’t.
The absence of planned giving isn’t neutral. It’s negative.
Why Planned Giving Accelerates Careers
You speak the language of wealth.
Estate planning, tax strategy, deferred gifts—this is the vocabulary of people who manage intergenerational money and the language of philanthropy. It signals you belong in the room where eight-figure decisions are made. It’s career insurance.
You build while you raise.
Anyone can chase this year’s dollars. It takes strategic intelligence to build next decade’s pipeline. Boards notice who plants trees.
You attract a different donor tier.
Legacy giving donors are wealthier, wiser, and more deeply committed. Bringing them in elevates your entire portfolio—and your reputation with it.
The Multiplier Effect on Your Career
Add planned giving and watch what happens: major gift conversations become more sophisticated, boards start viewing you as strategic talent, peer institutions take notice, and recruiters move you from “interesting” to shortlist.
It’s not about the planned gifts you close. It’s about the leader you become.
The Harsh Truth About Mobility
Without planned giving, you don’t move up—you move sideways.
Another major gifts job. Another campaign assignment. Another lateral step disguised as a promotion.
Look at the chief development officers at top institutions, the hospital foundation CEOs, the university advancement VPs. Almost all built their credibility on comprehensive programs—and planned giving was their strategic foundation. It was their career insurance.
Building Your Insurance Policy
You don’t need a decade to build planned giving credibility. You need visibility, infrastructure, and momentum.
First, build infrastructure.
If your organization lacks professional planned giving materials or a microsite, create them. Leadership notices initiative.
Second, launch something real.
A legacy society, a bequest challenge, or a planned giving website—something that shows up when stakeholders Google you.
Third, document your wins.
Record every legacy gift, every legacy inquiry, every society member. These become your career calling cards.
Fourth, get trained.
Programs like Major Gifts Boot Camp and Planned Giving Boot Camp don’t just teach techniques—they credential you as someone who invests in strategic development.
Fifth, get a mentor.
Find someone who already operates at the strategic level—a seasoned CDO, a successful planned giving director, or a consultant who has built institutional programs. Ask questions, seek feedback, and let their perspective stretch the way you think about your own role.
The Quiet Filter
Search committees won’t tell you why they passed. You’ll hear, “Not quite the right fit.”
But the real reason is often simpler: your résumé showed tactical fundraising, not strategic philanthropy.
Leaders backed by PlannedGiving.com and Philanthropy.org understand this distinction—and move upward accordingly. They have the advantage of planned giving career insurance.
Your Next Six Months Matter
The fundraisers being promoted next year are building their planned giving credentials now. They aren’t waiting for permission. They aren’t waiting for training budgets. They aren’t waiting for leadership to “prioritize legacy giving.”
They’re taking control of their careers by demonstrating institutional thinking.
Every day you delay, someone else adds legacy giving to their LinkedIn profile. Someone else becomes the obvious choice for the job you want.
Planned Giving Is Career Acceleration.
In a profession where perception drives opportunity, strategy drives leadership—and leadership drives compensation.
Planned giving signals all three.
And in this field, that’s not just an advantage. It’s career insurance.
It’s everything. In fact, it’s even fundraising insurance.
