A Matter of Degree
(Added 2/15/2010)
I'm an attorney with many years of experience practicing estate tax law. Recently I took a job as a planned giving officer at a prestigious, national charity. In correspondence and in my email signature I write J.D. after my name. I'm an attorney after all and, more to the point, I feel it makes me better at my job and it helps establish my credentials with prospective donors. I mean, if they know that I know what I'm talking about, they should feel more comfortable making a gift. My boss has no problem with it, but the reason I'm asking is that one of my donors said that my degree has no relevance, and that it could be seen as offering a legal service that I cannot provide. Should I remove the J.D. after my name?
I can't tell you what to do, but your donor's concern has merit.
My lawyer friends assure me that you are not technically in trouble you've earned your degree and, like many planned giving officers, you display that fact when you sign your name in formal correspondence. The question is whether you are violating a trust with your prospects and donors by implying that your law degree will enable you to assist them with the legal aspects of making a gift decision. Alas, it will not, and you should do whatever you can to make sure they don't get that idea. To that end, at first blush, it would seem that listing this particular credential after your name is not a good idea.
But that isn't the entire consideration here. I don't think that the designation has to send the message that you're signing up to be the donor's attorney. It merely says that you have an educational credential. More than with non-attorney planned gift solicitors (itself a word with legal undertones), you need to make sure prospects realize that not only can you not act as an attorney for them, but that no one compensated by the organization where you work can act in that capacity. Not even your chief legal counsel. Demonstrating your brilliance on all the relevant legal matters may be impressive when you solicit a gift, but you must also make clear that your brilliance is owned by the charity you work for, that it's not for sale to donors. That is, the designation is far more important to the charity than to the donor.
Why that is, by the way, I don't know. Whether, as you allege, your legal background makes you a better gift solicitor is another issue altogether. Many of the best planned giving officers in the United States have never seen the inside of a law school - and many of them would contend that they are the better for it. And the evidence I've seen over the decades doesn't dispute that. While it may be comforting for a donor to know that you understand the difference between a remainder trust and a lead trust - although many attorneys don't - the key to success in this field has a lot less to do with your technical expertise than your ability to connect your donor's passions with your charit'xs mission. And they don't teach that at law school.