About the Institute

The Institute for Charitable Giving is considered one of the premier coaching centers in the country. Its Seminars have consistently been rated as some of the best offered.

The Institute owes its creation to a small group of leading development people who were committed to providing a unique training experience and opportunity. They were seeking something very special not offered anywhere else.

From its very beginning, there was a dedication to fill a special niche. Its objective was to provide an effective and exciting faculty— the very finest in the country. Being on the staff for the Institute becomes a matter of great pride and distinction— a position which must be won anew each year.

From the very beginning, the response to the Seminars was overwhelming. The alumni of the Institute constitute a remarkable group of fervent men and women— representing institutions of all types, from the small one-person shop to some of the most prestigious institutions in the country.

It isn't just the premier faculty or the content that makes the Institute a standout. That alone would be special enough. But there's something else. Something more difficult to describe. There's almost a spiritual quality to these Seminars, an exchange of values, that somehow pervades the sessions. Some call it, “a magic.”

The Institute's New Identity

THE TRIUMPH. In 1996 the Institute commissioned M.K. Shannon, world renowned sculptor, to design a bronze to commemorate the triumph of giving. The result is a perfect blending and bonding of what we requested.The bronze portrays three figures— the volunteer, the donor and the professional fundraiser. Each is independent, but all are enduringly linked and merged in a common great effort.Philanthropy is a continuum if vision and growth, sustained by women and men coming together in support, comfort, and love. In the bronze, there are two figures close to one another— searching, seeking, striving. They are focused on a shared objective.The third figure pursues even greater heights but is still unalterably united to the others. We think of the third figure as being the professional fundraiser.We wanted a piece that would be a celebration of the act of philanthropy and a tribute to those who give and those who understand and support the action. We feel the artist achieved a great triumph.