The Ties That Bind (TTB) Planning Committee announced that is next Southern California Japanese American Leaders Forum (SCJALF) workshop will be held on Saturday, March 29, beginning at 9 a.m. at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center, 244 S. San Pedro St. in Little Tokyo.
The topic will be “Planned Giving Strategies for Nikkei Nonprofits” and the workshop will be led by John Kobara, executive vice president and COO of the California Community Foundation, which has assets of over $1.4 billion and will be celebrating its centennial in 2015.
According to TTB Chair Bryan Takeda, “The Ties That Bind Committee has organized timely and important gatherings since its breakout conference in 1998 with a focus on the future of the Nikkei community. More recently, the committee established the Southern California Japanese American Leadership Forum as a means to gather important leaders in the community to discuss the most pressing issues that we face each day.
“Philanthropy in the Nikkei community has been changing along with significant generational and multi-ethnic shifts. The need to lay a strong financial foundation for our institutions that will preserve our culture and heritage as well as provide critical community services is as important as ever. John Kobara is an important leader in our community and is an expert in the field of philanthropy, planned giving and charitable contributions. We have a great opportunity to learn how we can help ourselves and strengthen our organizations.”
Leslie Ito, JACCC president and CEO and a former staffperson who worked for Kobara, added, “All of our community nonprofits can benefit from knowing more about trusts, wills, and estate planning as these programs can benefit our donors as well as the charities. Nonprofit staff, board members and volunteers are all invited to attend, and each will receive a planned giving toolkit and valuable information that can help their organizations for the long haul.”
The CCF Planned Giving Workshop is specifically designed for the nonprofit board members, executive directors and development officers to educate them about planned giving, to motivate nonprofit board members and staff to incorporate planned giving into their fundraising program, and to encourage everyone to give charitably to their community nonprofits. Planned giving also helps ensure the long-term success of organizations, and gifts can often be unrestricted in how they are used. Planned gifts can be transformative.
As a result of a recent TTB gathering of Japanese American community leaders in November of last year, the idea of a Nikkei community-wide pledge or giving campaign was suggested. This idea and others will also be discussed on March 29.
There is no cost for this event, and everyone is welcome. For questions, call or email Takeda at (626) 396-9927 or affinity2000@earthlink.net.