PGTS Certification
After putting in all the time to earn the North American Division Planned Giving & Trust Services Certification, most people want to maintain an Active status. Some people had to spend three full weeks sitting in a classroom (myself included), studying about CGAs and CRTs, the four tiers of trust income, and the perils of serving as a fiduciary, only to follow it up with a grueling 200-question exam. Nowadays, the certification course is a little more convenient (some would argue) because you don’t have to leave your home for a long time since the first thirteen weeks are completed online. Now there are only three days spent in a classroom role-playing, analyzing case studies, and reviewing course material before taking the still grueling 200-question exam (some things don’t change). Whichever way you became PGTS Certified, having your certification revoked is something you most likely want to avoid. This article gives you a few key reminders of how you can keep an Active status.
Authority On CPE
The PGTS Manual Chapter 2 thoroughly describes how much CPE is required, what qualifies, who approves it, and what to do if you ever get behind. The PGTS Manual is a good resource for anyone with questions about CPE. You are also welcome to contact your Union PGTS Director or the GC/NAD PGTS Department with questions. They are always willing to help and will usually quote the manual in their response.
Annual CPE Requirement
One essential requirement for maintaining an Active Certification is to complete 16 Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credit hours each year. If you earn more than 16 CPE in a year, up to 8 CPE will carry forward to the following year. If you do not earn enough CPE in a year, whatever amount you are short will show up as a deficiency the next year. To make up a deficiency of CPE, you must first complete the 16 CPE due in the current year, then make up the deficiency from the previous year. You cannot be continually behind on your CPE year after year. You must be caught up on your CPE no later than the year after it is due.
The PGTS Portal
You must report your CPE through https://portal.willplan.org/. There is no other way to report your CPE other than through the Portal. A link to the Portal can always be found at https://staff.willplan.org, so if you bookmark either of these links, you should have no problem navigating to the web page. As an aside, your username and password are the same for both the PGTS Portal and the PGTS Staff Page.
The General Conference recently went to a two-factor authentication login process for all its websites, including the PGTS Portal and Staff Page. As a result, now you must choose from the following options to receive a code for logging in
• Google Authenticator or Something Similar
• Recovery Code
• Biometrics
Follow the instructions for whichever option is your default setting.
If you wish to change your method for logging in, click on “Choose Another Method.”
If none of these methods work for you, please contact the GC/NAD Office at [email protected] for help.
Once logged in, click on “Enter (Year) Hours” in the left-hand menu. This will take you to another screen where you can enter your CPE hours. It is best to give a good description of the CPE so the approver, typically your Union PGTS Director, will know what the CPE is. Also, enter the date the CPE was completed and the total number of hours reported.
Updating Information
If your demographic information changes, such as your email address, the organization you work for, your phone number, or you retire, please update your information by clicking on “Edit My Details” on the Portal home screen. Remember that your username is your email address, so if your email changes, you will need to log in using your old email address and then change it in the system. If you typically use the email option to receive a login code for the two-factor authentication, and you no longer have access to your old email address, please contact [email protected] for help in updating your email address.
Problems Logging In
If you have any problems gaining access to the Portal, please email [email protected], which is the general email address for the GC/NAD PGTS Department. Please include a description of your problem and a screenshot if possible. If the email is sent during regular business hours, Monday – Thursday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern, someone from the department will reach out to you shortly to help you gain access to the Portal.
Reporting Deadline
You can report your CPE hours at any time and see a running total of all your reported CPE throughout the year. All CPE for the year must be reported by December 31. This reporting deadline is a recent change, so please be aware you can not report your CPE from a previous year.
Who Can See Your CPE
Organizational PGTS Directors can see the CPE of everyone in their organization. This way, they can monitor their staff and make sure all are completing and reporting their CPE. Union PGTS Directors can see the CPE of everyone in their Union. And the GC/NAD PGTS Director and Associate Director, along with their administrative assistants, can see the CPE for everyone in the Division. GCAS Auditors who are PGTS Certified and conduct Trust Reviews can also see everyone’s reported CPE (even the GC Directors!) to ensure they comply with NADWP and PGTS Standards.
CPE Approval
The PGTS Manual tasks union PGTS Directors with approving all PGTS CPE, and they are the first person you should check with if you have questions about whether something qualifies. The PGTS Manual Chapter 2 gives guidelines and examples of subject matters eligible as PGTS CPE, such as stewardship, financial and estate planning, marketing planned giving, and donor development. Still, it is ultimately up to the Union PGTS Directors to make the final decision.
Union Directors approve CPE in the Portal and have the option of not approving any entries they feel do not qualify as PGTS CPE. This, again, is a good reason why you will want to give an apt description of what the CPE is so they will be more inclined to approve it. It is often best, and it is required by the PGTS Manual, to get any non-GC/NAD or Union Sponsored CPE approved by the Union PGTS Director in advance.
CPE Opportunities
There is no shortage of opportunities to complete your required PGTS CPE. Every other year, in the odd years, one can fulfill all their annual CPE requirement by attending the NAD PGTS Conference, which is mandatory for all PGTS Certified personnel. Unions will often hold a PGTS Conference in the even years where attendees can earn all, or most, of their annual CPE requirement. The GC/NAD PGTS has also made available CPE courses through the Adventist Learning Community, with topics including Donor Stewardship, Trust Reviews, Marketing Planned Giving, and Advanced Planned Gifts, to name a few. And the GC/NAD PGTS Department has held many webinars on various topics, all of which have been recorded and made available for viewing in the PGTS Webinar Archive.
It is also recommended that PGTS Personnel get involved with their local Planned Giving Council, such as the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners in the United States and the Canadian Association of Gift Planners. These local planned giving conferences frequently hold excellent in-person and online presentations on planned giving topics. Attending these meetings is a good way to connect with attorneys, accountants, and financial advisors who may be helpful to you and your donors. There are also national conferences hosted by a variety of organizations that can be a valuable source of PGTS CPE. The GC/NAD PGTS Department keeps an updated list of National PGTS Conferences, with information updated usually quarterly.
Certification Status
Lets talk about the various certification statuses, and we’ll start with Active Certification, which is an easy one. If you have an Active Certification, this means you are working for an Accredited PGTS Organization, you are up to date on your CPE, and you can engage in all fiduciary and discretionary PGTS duties.
Inactive Certification means you are keeping up with your CPE but are no longer working for an Accredited PGTS Organization, or you are no longer actively engaging in any PGTS activities. You can maintain an Inactive Certification if you continue to earn enough CPE each year. If you ever go back to working for an Accredited PGTS Organization, your status can automatically be upgraded to Active again.
An Active With Deficiency status means you did not earn enough CPE last year. So now you have to earn this year’s 16 CPE plus the number of CPE credits you missed from the previous year. If you have an Active With Deficiency status, you can still engage in PGTS duties.
The following status is Lapsed Certification, which means you did not complete enough CPE for the previous year and any deficiencies from earlier years. You can no longer engage in any PGTS duties with a Lapsed status. To get back to an Active status, you must make up all the CPE hours for which you are currently short, including the current year’s 16 CPE. You can carry a Lapsed status for up to three years.
The final and most dreaded status is Revoked Certification. This means you have gone at least five years without completing the required CPE. If your certification is revoked, you will have to retake the certification course and complete eight hours of orientation at an Accredited organization to get back to Active status.
Conclusion
The purpose of PGTS CPE is to help all PGTS personnel be prepared to provide the best possible service to the donors supporting our organization’s mission and the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Systems have been established to make it as easy as possible for everyone in the field to complete the required CPE and report it. The PGTS Staff Page has many resources describing what constitutes CPE and where to find opportunities to complete it. The PGTS Portal is available at any time to report CPE and see your PGTS Certification History. If you have any problems accessing these pages or have questions regarding PGTS Certification, don’t hesitate to contact [email protected]. They are always willing to help you so you can get back to serving your donors and helping them Experience the Joy of Giving.