210 Science Drive
Room 3041, Durham
NC 27708
Spring Council Meeting
March 10, 2020
Morning session: Best Practices for Documenting Donor Intentions presented by Phil Purcell.
Afternoon session: Panel presentation – Smart Solutions for Small Shops. Moderated by Linda Carter, Panelists: Sherry Aikman, Jean Gordon Carter, Brandon Wright
Phil Purcell currently serves as Senior Counsel for Philanthropy on behalf of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students where he assists 15 major gift officers engaged in a $250 million campaign including a $100 million goal for planned giving. He is an attorney and Senior Consultant and the lead planning attorney for the Heaton Smith Group, a national charitable and estate planning consulting firm. Phil teaches courses on law and philanthropy, nonprofit organization law and planned giving.
Linda Carter served as Director of Leadership Giving for Meredith College from 2015-2018 when she became Director of Gift Planning in July 2018. She currently serves as a trustee for the Penland School of Craft in Penland, NC. Linda has served in advancement roles at the MIT Sloan School of Management, Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Sheryl Aikman is VP of Development at The Community Foundation of Western NC, a $327 million foundation serving an 18-county region. She has served in national volunteer leadership roles for the community foundation field and as a peer reviewer for the National Standards for US Community Foundations. She is a member and former board officer of the NC Planned Giving Council and past president of the Land of Sky estate Planning Council.
Jean Gordon Carter is a certified public accountant and Board Certified Specialist in Estate Planning and Probate Law. She works with families and nonprofit organizations to create workable plans necessary to advance their economic and tax goals. She is former co-chair of the McGuire Woods’s private wealth services group and focuses on estate planning and administration, tax-exempt organizations and charitable giving.
Brandon Wright is the Director of Gift Planning at Saint Mary’s School where he assists donors and their financial and legal advisors structure both current and deferred gifts to benefit Saint Mary’s. He was formerly a member of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s gift planning team. In his role as both Associate Director and Director, Brandon assisted donors seeking to make current and future gifts to nine of Carolina’s schools and units. He also directed stewardship efforts for the University’s planned giving society.