Conversation & Coffee - Wednesday, August 19, 2026
Giving Up the Ranch: Examining the Intersection of Charitable and Estate Planning
August 19th, 2026, 8:30 am - 10:00 am
Greater Cincinnati Foundation Directions
Register by August 18th, 2026
FREE
TOPIC – Giving Up the Ranch: Examining the Intersection of Charitable and Estate Planning
Does anyone agree with us that the popular streaming show Yellowstone should actually be called John Dutton’s Estate Plan (or Lack of Same)? Spoilers ahead! Dutton, the patriarch of a ranching family, has a very strong sense of his legacy, but a very weak approach to securing it. When he dies unexpectedly, his children have to scramble to salvage his plans and their own futures. With better advice and planning along the way, everyone—including local charities—might have come out ahead. In this session, we’ll follow the case through five seasons in search of missed opportunities. Even if you aren’t a cow baron’s consigliere, you’ll leave with a grounding in estate planning basics and some asset-specific strategies to use when you meet donors who consider themselves to be land rich and cash poor.
Learning Objectives
- Review basic planning strategies that owners of appreciated assets can use during life to manage their tax burden and protect the value of their estates.
- Identify and understand charitable strategies that could be used in this case to achieve the donor’s legacy goals while providing for his children.
- Practice collaborative problem-solving in a low-stakes environment to enhance your confidence in your next high-stakes donor encounter.
PRESENTERS:
Joe Bull is known as an effective leader, a savvy charitable gift planner, and a nationally recognized speaker and author on philanthropic issues. He founded Philanthropy Advisory Counsel, LLC in 2020 and has held senior advancement leadership positions at Carnegie Mellon University, The Nature Conservancy, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, and Wilmington College. Joe provided 16 years of service to his alma mater, The Ohio State University, primarily as Director of Planned Giving and has also held positions in planned gift development at Duke and North Carolina State Universities. He is the Immediate President of the American Council on Gift Annuities and was the 2005 Board Chair of the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners (CGP). As such, he is only the second person to have held the top leadership position at both of charitable gift planning’s professional organizations. He was inducted into the CGP Hall of Fame in 2025 and is admitted to the Ohio and North Carolina bars.
Barbara Yeager is Evaluation, Education and Administration Counsel for Philanthropy Advisory Counsel. She also serves as Director of Publications and Research for Charitable Solutions LLC and as CAP® Program Coordinator for The American College of Financial Services. As Director of Operations and Director of Education and Programs for the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners, Babs spent more than 30 years studying the professional development needs of charitable gift planners and empowering them through formal training, peer learning and organizational assessment and support. Her favorite National Standard for Gift Planning Success is number 16 since it encompasses the previous 15. In all her work, she focuses on giving philanthropic planners the tools, knowledge and skills they need to be truly donor-centered.
WHEN: Wednesday, August 19, 2026
TIME:8:30 AM Coffee & Conversation; 9:00 AM Presentation, followed by Q&A
LOCATION: Greater Cincinnati Foundation, 720 E. Pete Rose Way, Suite 120, Cincinnati, OH 45202
WHO: GCPGC members and guests
Cost: Free for all attendees, thanks to our sponsor, The Fifth Third Foundation.
Bring a colleague or board member to learn what the GCPGC is about…
If you do not receive an email confirmation of RSVP, please call 513-554-3071 to confirm your RSVP and report that the automatic response mechanism did not work for your e-mail.
Members of the 2026 Conversation & Coffee Committee are Amy Cheney of Crayons and Beyond – Retired, Sarah Dods, Easterseals Redwood, Jeff Lydenberg of PG Calc, Retired, Whitney O’Neal, 4C for Children, Todd Simmons, Phi Delta Theta Foundation, Conrad Thiede of Cincinnati Public Radio and Tammy Wernke, University of Cincinnati Foundation. For more information on upcoming Conversations and Coffee programs, please visit the Greater Cincinnati Planned Giving Council website at http://www.gcpgc.org.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR: Conversation and Coffee is hosted, typically, the 3rd Wednesday of each month.