January 10, 2002 | Read Time: 2 minutes
The National Committee on Planned Giving has decided to restrict participation on its popular e-mail discussion list, GIFT-PL, to the organization’s members. The Indianapolis organization announced the decision in an e-mail message to list subscribers on December 17.
“NCPG has operated the list since 1995 as a service to the entire gift-planning profession. However, NCPG is a professional association and our primary job is to serve our members,” said the statement. “We regret the loss of many voices that have made the list a haven and hotbed during the past years.”
According to the message, the organization planned to remove all subscribers from GIFT-PL on January 2 or shortly thereafter. Members of the organization could then re-subscribe to the list by going to http://www.listserv.iupui.edu/archives/gift-pl.html or by sending an e-mail message to listserv@iupui.edu with the message “subscribe gift-pl Your Name.”
The decision generated spirited debate on the list, with many participants arguing that excluding nonmembers from GIFT-PL would make it less useful, rather than more, because fewer viewpoints would be expressed.
“We will lose the voices of many people who are not NCPG members — and have legitimate reasons not to become NCPG members — but who do sit down and provide us with insight and a lot of times technical knowledge,” says Douglas E. White, a Washington planned-giving consultant and writer who is a member of the organization.
Jonathan D. Ackerman, president of the planned-giving group’s board, describes the decision as an effort to enhance the package of benefits the organization offers its members.
Says Mr. Ackerman, “We’re hoping to promote individual membership.”
In response to the concerns expressed after the organization announced the decision, Mr. Ackerman has asked the board’s communications committee, which originally proposed the change, to consider the issues that were raised and report back to the full board in February. In the meantime, though, the policy stands.
Kurt L. Simpson, executive director of the Catholic Foundation of Utah, in Salt Lake City, and a member of the planned-giving group, has set up an alternative discussion forum that is open to all at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Gift-pl.
