Donor do's and don'ts: Philanthropy advisor speaks at chamber luncheon

If there’s one thing that everybody can learn from the late superstar musician Prince, it’s the importance of leaving a will.

“He was 54 or 55. He wasn’t going to die — or not anytime soon — so he didn’t do a will,” Dennis McMillian told the Juneau Chamber of Commerce at its weekly luncheon Thursday afternoon.

Prince did die though, aged 57, without a will, a fact that’s particularly saddening to McMillian — especially given Prince’s record of philanthropy. For the past year, McMillian has been working as a philanthropy advisor for the Alaska Philanthropy Advisors. The organization is an initiative of the Rasmuson Foundation aimed at connecting aspiring donors “typically of means” with charities or nonprofits that match their values and goals.

0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%

00:00

“I’m not providing legal advice; I’m not an attorney. And I’m not providing financial advice either,” McMillian told the crowd gathered in the dining room of the Moose Lodge. “I’m taking my expertise with the nonprofit sector and working as a matchmaker.”

Before he began working with Alaska Philanthropy Advisors, McMillian helped found and run Foraker Group, a nonprofit dedicated to helping other Alaskan nonprofits and tribal organizations become more sustainable.

During his 15 years with Foraker Group, McMillian began to notice some troubling trends in the nonprofit sector. While doing research for Foraker, he learned that Alaskan nonprofits rely more heavily on government funding than similar businesses do down south.

Nationally, charitable nonprofits rely on the government for 32 percent of their funding, McMillian said. Prior to 2010, government funding accounted for about 60 percent of charitable nonprofit revenue in Alaska. That has since dropped off some, but not entirely by choice.

“Alaska’s nonprofits have been impacted significantly by the decrease of federal funds,” McMillian said.

This combined with the lack of state government funding, which took a dive with the price of oil, created a “double whammy” effect that has cause many nonprofits to start looking to private donors. That’s where McMillian says he comes in.

As a philanthropy advisor he has met with about 130 Alaskans “that are of high net worth and known to be philanthropic” during the past six months. So far, three families have followed through with McMillian’s charity advice, he told the Empire. Though he’s not at liberty to discuss who the donors are or where they plan to donate, McMillian said that combined, they will likely donate millions of dollars in the next few years.

“I can safely say that there’s been at least $4 million to $5 million guaranteed over the next few years because of Alaska Philanthropy Advisors,” he said.

It’s tricky to nail that number down though because all of those donations will be written into wills. These donations — or legacy gifts as they’re also called — are typically written as percentages of the donor’s total estate at his or her time of death, which leaves some room for fluctuation. It’s hard to predict the exact worth of an estate years down the road.

Years ago, while working at Foraker Group, McMillian helped to create the “Pick. Click. Give.” campaign, which allows Alaskans who apply for the Permanent Fund Dividend online a chance to donate a portion of their checks to a charity of their choosing.

McMillian described his work with Alaska Philanthropy Advisors as “kind of like ‘Pick. Click. Give.’ for rich people,” but he made sure to explain that it’s not just for rich people. Though he’s after legacy gifts, some of which can be in the millions of dollars, the average legacy gift is $35,000, and every little bit helps.

McMillian will be offering his philanthropy advice to interested donors for free through the end of the year. But before the luncheon ended Thursday, he gave a little bit of advice to everybody in the room: Make sure to write a will and consider giving money to charity.

“What I’m trying to do is help Alaskans relearn giving,” he said. “We have to get to a place where it’s a societal norm that everybody is going to give a little bit.”

• Contact reporter Sam DeGrave at 523-2279 or sam.degrave@juneauempire.com.