"Dan Shephard is Principal of The Shephard Group, which provides training, coaching, and consulting services focused on the skillsets most valuable to frontline fundraisers. Dan knows from personal experience the value to the charitable gift planner of being equipped with both the competence and the confidence to engage a potential donor in a discussion that will result in a significant gift commitment. He is the creator of The Four Decisions – How to Lead Your Donor to Each, which serves as the foundation of his training programs on conversational gift planning. He has taught hundreds of fundraising professionals at such nonprofits as Columbia University, Cornell University, Florida International University, the Smithsonian Institution, and the World Wildlife Fund."