Their results were quite comparable to the Endowment s experience in Indiana. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, groups of professionals involved in gift planning began to have think tank meetings to discuss the feasibility of a national organization to act as a coordinator and facilitator for networking the various professionals and organizations involved in planned giving. Those in attendance agreed that there was a need for a significant number of services for planned giving officers that might be provided by some type of national organization. In late January of 1988, NCPG opened its office in Indianapolis, Indiana. The National Committee on Planned Giving was formed as a federation of planned giving councils to facilitate, coordinate, and encourage the education and training of the planned giving community, and to facilitate effective communication among the many different professionals in this community.
Individual professionals join their local council.
Together, the individual, the council, and the national organization work to improve the quality and quantity of planned gifts and to ensure a continued favorable climate for charitable activity of all kinds. Since its inception, NCPG has experienced rapid growth. It now has 111 councils nationwide whose membership includes approximately 11,000 gift planning professionals. Since 1988, NCPG has averaged six new councils per year and has added 1,000 new council members each and every year. NCPG is organized as a federation of local planned giving councils which offer the benefits of a national professional association on a personal scale.