If I told you there was a permanent solution to your organization’s financial challenges and that this solution would take 25 years to implement, would you want to know more? What if a previous leader in your organization had chosen to start on the path 15 years ago or better yet, 25 years ago? How would you feel about the 25 year solution then? Planned giving refers to the process of making a charitable gift of estate assets to nonprofit organizations, a gift that requires consideration and planning in light of the donor's overall estate plan.
Annual appeals have traditionally been the target of all effort and energy in a non-profit at an organizational level There have been times, however, when a leader has drawn a line in the sand and made the commitment to a more dependable, longer term solution to the challenge of funding social ministry. Consider Harvard, the envy of the development world. A leader at Harvard chose to make a commitment many years ago to intentionally talk with people about perpetual giving, giving beyond their lifetime. This has culminated in an endowment that exceeds what most organizations even believe is possible. That commitment created a reality where scholarships can be provided indefinitely, programs can be developed based on quality and buildings can be built without the weight and stress of carrying debt.
The question then becomes why don’t we pursue planned giving with all of our energy and effort? It is not that it is complicated or overwhelming. A person can make a change to a will, a beneficiary; buy a life insurance policy or a purchase gift annuity along with an enormous amount of additional simple techniques. The reason cannot be that people don’t know what to do. The reason also cannot be that they have no interest in doing it. There has got to be a reason that is explicable since some organizations have figured this out and some have not. The reason is simply discipline or more specifically, a commitment to a simple daily action plan to embed Planned Giving into your organization.
Let me take a minute to describe the process that would need to take place over a 25 year period to make ‘Planned Giving’ a reality. First, it all starts with the leadership of the organization, not just the CEO but the entire leadership team along with the Board of Directors. If they not only understand why this is important but they have personally taken the initiative to make their planned gift a reality, then the critical mass will be present to carry the momentum throughout the entire organization and constituency. The next step is a plan to reach out to this population, 1 person at a time. Simply to hold a conversation about the possibilities that can be created by their personal bequest.
That plan would include one question that would need to be asked of 1 person each day that cares about the organization. That question is, “Mr. Jones, you obviously care about our organization as exhibited by all of your efforts on our behalf, would you consider intentionally having a conversation with us about how to perpetuate your giving forever?” Once you have a yes, simply make the appointment. Make sure the spouse will be there if appropriate, which would be true in most if not all cases. Also, make sure you have an advisor who understands charitable giving to assist with the process. Once you have the appointment, the rest of the process will fall into place since the hardest part is over. When an organization makes the commitment to developing Planned Gifts, it will make an enormous difference to any ministry's long term ability to make a difference.
Luxury Photography Services: Hammond Editions produces highly personalized books that succinctly capture forever moments in time with the utmost intimacy and detail. Imagine having a book that stems directly from the heart of all that matters from a loved one, and a better understanding of what Hammond Editions does for its clients begins to comes into focus. It could be a person. It could be a group gathering. It could be an event. It could be a place. It could be a person or a group at a place or an event. But what matters most is that it is beautiful in the eyes of the beholder and to those who wish to share in its significance.
Hammond Editions publishes more than personalized, leather-bounded photographic coffee-table books for individuals. The organization generates perpetual keepsakes that forever preserve an essence, a presence, an aura, or an era. Each project is treated reverently and diligently as compilations of compassion. The finished product is a hand-sewn book that is printed on archival paper that should last up to 200 years.
Hazel Hammond, formerly the photography director of American Express' Travel & Leisure magazine, coordinates each project with Alen MacWeeney, an acclaimed photographer whose work has appeared in museums and art galleries, and Yolanda Cuomo, an award-winning graphics designer with numerous recognized works. The company also lends its unique expertise to landscape and portrait photography by Mr. MacWeeney.
The minimum cost of an intimately personalized book of photography by Hammond Editions is $25,000.
Artwork & Collectibles: Visiting European World Gallery's website is a very mindful experience. The online gallery has a vast collection of artwork and collectibles by some of the most touted and acclaimed artists and designers of the world. The 30-year-old company specializes in securing originals and limited-edition productions for clients, such as paintings, hand-signed serigraphs, lithographs, and original woodblock engravings. While many galleries promote and specialize in presenting pieces of emerging artists, which is vital cog to the overall continued prosperity of the creative community, EWG focuses on procuring historically referenced items, and conveying those to impassioned and sophisticated collectors.
Picasso, Dali, Matisse, Miro, Ferjo, and Tarkay are just a few of the notable artists' renderings for sale by European World Gallery. Numerous hand-signed lithographs are available from original artists from $1,000 to $15,000. For example, a hand-signed serigraph of The Girl In Divan of the Arthur Rothman Edition of 1952 is $7,400. Of course, prices for original paintings are not listed. Specially priced pieces include hand-signed lithographs by Miro, Dali and Chagall for under $1,000. Framing services also are offered.
Designer collectibles available include pieces from Louis XV and Louis XVI, and Dore bronze and rogue marble-covered urns just to name a few. These collectibles are early 19th and early 20th century furnishings and collectibles. There are various furnishings, such as chests, dining sets, pedestals, bronze statues and bibelots. Certificates of authenticity are available for most items, and returns made within 14 days after purchase are 100-percent refundable, unconditionally.
European World Gallery is having an artfully smashing Christmas sale! Take 15 percent off any item purchased, or buy any two pieces and receive a 50-percent reduction on the second item. Patrons can receive free framing too. See EWG's website for complete details.
Arts and Culture:PicassoMio.com and PicassoMio Galleries offer approximately 20,000 pieces of art by both acclaimed and emerging artists. Original paintings, drawings, photographs, and sculptures are available. Works by Warhol, Picasso, Hirst, and Christo are part of the numerous one-of-a-kind pieces presented in figurative, abstract, cubist, expressionist, and abstract formats from more than 2,000 artists. The organization sells to private parties and corporate accounts. Art prints, posters, books, and decorative art are offered too.
Sold original artwork is authenticated either by the artist signing and numbering it (if it is an edition or part of a collection) or a statement of
authenticity is issued by the artist. An
independent-party-authenticity endorsement also can be provided. PicassoMio also has a seven-day-unconditional return policy.
PicassoMio can assist clients in securing art through its directory of artists or via the numerous art galleries with which it has working relationships. In order to ensure that PicassoMio.com or PicassoMio Galleries is the best way to acquire art for pleasure or investment, the firm allows its clients to resell their artworks through PicassoMío.com.
The company's e-gallery is viewed a million times monthly. The New York Times the Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal are endorsers of the
organization's service. Artworks by various PicassoMio's artists are part of permanent collections of the New York Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim's museums, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the Tate Gallery of London, and the Reina Sofia Museo de Arte Contentemporaneo of Madrid.
PicassoMio.com and PicassoMio Galleries are excellent sources for premier works of art.
Luxury Photography: If every picture is truly worth a thousand words, then doing a write-up on the photography of acclaimed photographer Derry Moore should be a fairly breezy assignment. Since 1990, Mr. Moore has been known as Derry Moore, the 12th Earl of Drogheda, a hereditary title passed to him by his late father that stems from the 17th century. Mr. Moore has appeared and addressed England's House of Lords.
Mr. Derry Moore's collection of photographs consists of houses, gardens, and intimate portraits of prominent personalities of the world. Mr. Moore's photographs have been published in numerous books, such as Inside the House of Lords; The Gardens of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother; The Dream Come True, Great Houses of Los Angeles; The Englishman's Room; and Evening Ragas. Additionally, his photographs have been published in Architectural Digest; Town and Country; Country Life; The World of Interiors; and Vogue. The National Portrait Gallery of London currently features 37 portraits by Mr. Moore.
Queen Elizabeth, Princess Diana, Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan, David Bowie, and Indira Gandhi are just a few of the famous personalities who have posed for Mr. Moore. His photographs of Buckingham Palace are on the royal family's official website. A tribute to Moore is in the offing for fall 2006. Rizzoli, which is a prominent New York-based publishing house, is bringing out a retrospective of Moore's interiors photographs entitled Rooms. The book is going to feature an array of spectacular interiors that range from Charleston, the famed haunt of the Bloomsbury group, to India's Falaknuma Palace to Pauline de Rothschild's London
residence to Chatsworth Hall, Derbyshire, which is purported to be the grandest of grandiose English
country houses.
Mr. Derry Moore is available for commission to do portrait work. His picturesque website contains complete info on how to obtain prints, books and
syndicate photos.
Arts & Culture: The Walters Art Museum exhibits artwork and objects that go back 5,500 years. Building a vacation around this diverse museum, would offer travelers an unparalleled education of the history of art. This amazing museum, which is located in the
Mount Vernon Cultural District of Baltimore, Maryland, has over 22,000 works of art and approximately 28,000
displayed objects.
Its Ancient Americas collection has gold and jewelry that was removed from tombs of royalty. The Ancient Asia collection shows the oldest Buddha ever
recovered, going back to 6th century AD of the Sui and T'ang dynasties. This is one of the only museums worldwide with such a thorough and comprehensive history of art with pieces ranging from the third millennium BC to the early 20th century. The museum offers vast works from Egyptian, Greek, Byzantine,
Ethiopian, Roman and western medieval art collections.
Some of the 19th century exhibits offer a historical perspective of the growth of the United States and its formation as a nation, such as the exhibit of Alfred Jacob Miller and the Western Indians. In 1837 Captain William Drummond Stewart, a Scottish adventurer,
commissioned Mr. Miller to capture the journey of a group of animal-fur traders traveling through the Green River Valley, which is now western Wyoming. Over 200 of Miller's trial sketches were commissioned. Tribes of Sioux, Bannock, Mandan, Crow, Snake, Pend Oreilles, Nez Percé, Cheyenne, and Delaware were some of the Native Americans represented in these 19th
century works. Miller subsequently turned his sketches into both oil and watercolor paintings.
The Himalayan Art collection of John and Berthe Ford contains pieces that are among the most important private holdings of Indian and Himalayan art in the world. Other collections of great historical value include manuscripts from Germany, India, Ethiopia, Persia, and England. The Walters Art Museum holds the finest collection of ivories, jewelry, enamels and bronzes in America. It also has a spectacular reserve of noteworthy manuscripts and very rare books.
The Peabody Court is the official hotel of the Walters Art Museum. The museum's website offers info on past, current, and future exhibits plus an online store. A cornucopia of stunning virtual-tour options is just a click away. Check it out.
Arts & Culture: The Guggenheim collection of artwork began humbly in the Plaza Hotel apartment of Solomon R. Guggenheim in the early 1930s. With the help of Ms. Hilla Rebay, an artist and theorist, Mr. Guggenheim amassed a collection of artwork from Vasily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, and Marc Chagall. The collection was known as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Collection of Non-Objective Paintings. Ms. Rebay, who became Mr. Guggenheim's assistant, arranged for the collection to be loaned out to various museums up and down the East Coast.
The collection grew into the Museum of Non-Objective Painting, which opened its doors in 1939. In 1950 the museum was relocated to Fifth Avenue into a building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright that many view as a three-dimensional tribute to geometry and the creativity of its ingenious builder. It is a vision to behold with its grandiose deployment of arcs, circles, ovals, spheres, and triangle. In 1952 the museum was renamed as a tribute to its founder, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. It is casually referred to as the Guggenheim Museum.
Today the Guggenheim Museum has locations in Venice, Berlin, Bilbao, and Las Vegas. True to its roots, the Guggenheims remain diverse galleries that are rich with modern and contemporary pieces. The venerable
institution offers various exhibitions and educational programs worldwide along with an online collection and its online store. The acclaimed Peggy Guggenheim Collection is an ongoing exhibition in Venice.
The Guggenheim offers ongoing exhibitions as well as special presentations, such as Jackson Pollock's
Painting on Paper and the artistry of world-renowned architect Ms Zaha Hadid. The NYC museum's First Fridays and Works and Progress programs are innovative modes of reaching out and introducing culturally upgrading events to newer, hipper audiences. First Fridays is an evening affair complete with music and an open cash bar. There is a $20 cover fee for non-members. Each of the Guggenheim's five locations uniquely recruits patrons of music, dance, opera, literature, and theater offers its own. Free admission to such events is available by purchasing a membership to the museum. Corporate affairs also can be held at the various sites. The New York location is currently being restored yet remains open to the public. The extensive project is expected to run through the end of 2007.
Luxury Collectibles: Maxton's Art Gallery offers unique, attractive, and puzzling desktop and coffee-table sculptures that are both decorative and thought provoking. It is rare when a piece of art is capable of evoking frustration and admiration simultaneously. Some "heavy" mettle is required to put a few of these masterfully crafted pieces together.
Maxton's Art Gallery is comprised of limited-edition sculptures that are made from brass, copper, aluminum,
steel and stainless steel by Mr. GarE Maxton. Gold was used in the making of the Conundrum II, which is a sold-out item.
The owner of a Maxton usually takes an active role with the piece, because the sculpture is an assemblage. Each piece is a geometric puzzle with an accompanying degree of difficulty as indicated on Maxton's website. Maxton's featured pieces are the Conundrum, the Labyrinth, the Symmetry, and the Pyramid. The Conundrum and the Symmetry have three variants. Maxton's sculptures are produced in runs of five or more units. When all the initially produced pieces of a title are sold, it is no longer available. All pieces are engraved and numbered to authenticate
originality. Artistically crafted storage cases, the Pen Chest and the Ring Chest, are also available from the gallery. Customized corporate sculptures are also made by request. A company logo can be inserted on a reversible piece of the sculpture, so that the sculpture can be displayed with or without the logo showing.
These limited-edition collectibles are both visually and mentally stimulating. Since many collectors enjoy building and viewing the sculptures, owners are
provided the option of return their original piece and trading up to a more expensive offering. Mr. Maxton's sculptures, which are artist's proofs only, are also on display at Maxton's Art Gallery.
Arts & Culture: The Noguchi Museum, located in Long Island, New York, is named after sculptor extraordinaire Isamu Noguchi. His diversified renderings span from 1924 to 1988. Noguchi's first exhibition occurred just three months subsequent to taking his first class in sculpting. He possessed expertise in working with stone, metals, wood, clay, and ceramics. In 1927 he was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, which took him to Paris, where he began his first studio.
Nogchi did models for public projects in the U.S., Tokyo, Italy, and Mexico. Fountains were one of his specialties as evidenced by the Chassis Fountain for the Ford Motor Company pavilion, at the 1939 New York World's Fair, and the nine exuberant fountains constructed at Expo 70 in Osaka, Japan. He also designed furniture and interior designs. In 1951 he created the first paper and bamboo Akari lamps.
The Noguchi Museum is quite large with its 13 galleries, as the complex is a converted factory. There is also the Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum Japan, which is located in Kita-gun, Kagaw. Experiencing the lifework of Isamu Noguchi is very a rewarding and relaxing way to stylishly spend a day. Visit the website for info on exhibitions.
Arts & Culture: No, it's not French for "dumb American." It's the name of a publishing house and, more recently, a string of luxury book/gift boutiques popping up in places like Bergdorf Goodman (New York), Christie's (New York), Holt Renfrew (Toronto) and Quartier 206 (Berlin). Leave it to the French to turn books into a high-end commodity. If we're honest, though, we wouldn't pay $700 for a limited edition book by anyone-even if it were laced with gold-if it didn't come from France. That being said, consumers are scrambling to get their hands on the limited edition "Putman Style" book printed on beautiful paper, covered in fabric and packaged in black and white mosaic tile.
If that's too rich for your blood, Assouline has other items, like the handcrafted Vintage Crates ($395) that hold memoirs by fashion icons Chanel, Roberto Cavalli, Dior and Dolce & Gabanna, among others. In addition to books, Assouline is trying its hand at luxury gifts, available in Assouline boutiques (including 11 now open in Saks Fifth Avenue), and online at www.Assouline.com.
Luxury Arts: The Peabody Essex Museum, located in historically rich Salem, Massachusetts, synthesizes the best of both worlds, with its masterpiece renderings and state-of-the-art facility. This place is a world apart that will replenish your heart and soul with a spirit of enlightenment that you will cherish forever.
Art imitating life was never so intriguingly fused together. The structure itself will move you as much as the artwork contained within it. Once inside, the galleries and tours will whelm you. The maritime art and history collection, which began in 1803, is the finest in America, holding approximately 30,000 paintings, drawings, and prints. The Peabody Essex Museum's collections are comprised of 2.4 million works of art, architecture, and culture, which are singular among American museums. The massive Phillips Library is also on the premises.
Romance and passion can intricately be intertwined, too, if you so desire. A wedding ceremony and reception can be held at the PEM. Wedding festivities can be held either indoors or outdoors, with accommodations for 100 guests indoors and up to 70 guests outdoors.
There literally is more to view than one can take in with just one visit, which makes this spectacular venue worth centering an entire vacation around. Succinctly stated, awesome, extraordinary and visually stimulating beyond words only scratch the surface in attempting to describe this multi-faceted, culturally uplifting institution.
It was tough getting back to the future today. My mind wondered when web traveling to a Cooper Owen's Auction being held April 19th at Madame Tussauds in London. Rock n Roll memorabilia so grand from a time that was defiantly simpler. The collection's catalog, ripe with details of psychedelic times, started slowly with Bowie in spandex on a 1971 poster and Bjork's Swan Dress worn at the Academy Awards.
Then the fabulous band promoter Bill Graham's name pop out with five posters featuring the likes of Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin, Grass Roots, Quicksilver, Country Joe and the Fish playing with Buffalo Springfield, my eyes started to water. I flashed back and remembered my older brother dragging me along to my first festival to see some of these legends.
The list continued to fall deeper into history with cutting edge marketing ideas promoting the Dead, Traffic, Sinatra, Sex Pistols, Canned Heat, Vanilla Fudge, Little Stevie, Tull, Elvis and Costello, Morrison, Hendrix, Temptations, Beach Boys, Sony & Cher & Elton's fashions. You can relieve moments with Zappa, Bruce and Cream. Did you know the Rolling Stones and The Beatles performed one night together in 1964 at the Empire Pool Wembley? Lyrics to cufflinks to photos to guitars to gold records, this is the rare moment one can capture a bit from the past.
The Beatles are well represented here too with the original Clayco's film tape of the boys playing at Shea Stadium in New York, The Hollywood Bowl's bowl, Ringo's 1st photos with the group, George's Yogi book, Paul's Wings, to a 12 year olds school book titled 'Anthology' by John, which contains personally illustrated hand written poems that includes one about a Walrus and is expected to fetch $250,000.
JustLuxe is a luxury Web publication providing objective analysis and information to affluent consumers to assist with their decision making, decisions such as charting a yacht, purchasing a jet membership card, booking a luxury hotel, traveling to a specific destination, or buying real estate. Our writers conduct interviews with industry executives and leaders in their fields, analyze product offerings and review the Web sites of leading companies to ensure our readers have up-to-date data to make informed decisions. Consumers can find purveyors of fine luxury goods, services and travel solutions throughout the pages of JustLuxe via content or with our advertising partners. See our Best of Luxury High end Brands and partners.
NewsletterSignUp
Sign up for regular updates on the latest
trends, ultimate destinations and hottest
deals on selective items.
rss | license content
| about | article archive | sitemap | search | newsletter | writers | recommended websites
Luxury Photography Services: Hammond Editions produces highly personalized books that succinctly capture forever moments in time with the utmost intimacy and detail. Imagine having a book that stems directly from the heart of all that matters from a loved one, and a better understanding of what Hammond Editions does for its clients begins to comes into focus. It could be a person. It could be a group gathering. It could be an event. It could be a place. It could be a person or a group at a place or an event. But what matters most is that it is beautiful in the eyes of the beholder and to those who wish to share in its significance. 
Artwork & Collectibles: Visiting European World Gallery's website is a very mindful experience. The online gallery has a vast collection of artwork and collectibles by some of the most touted and acclaimed artists and designers of the world. The 30-year-old company specializes in securing originals and limited-edition productions for clients, such as paintings, hand-signed serigraphs, lithographs, and original woodblock engravings. While many galleries promote and specialize in presenting pieces of emerging artists, which is vital cog to the overall continued prosperity of the creative community, EWG focuses on procuring historically referenced items, and conveying those to impassioned and sophisticated collectors.
Arts and Culture: PicassoMio.com and PicassoMio Galleries offer approximately 20,000 pieces of art by both acclaimed and emerging artists. Original paintings, drawings, photographs, and sculptures are available. Works by Warhol, Picasso, Hirst, and Christo are part of the numerous one-of-a-kind pieces presented in figurative, abstract, cubist, expressionist, and abstract formats from more than 2,000 artists. The organization sells to private parties and corporate accounts. Art prints, posters, books, and decorative art are offered too.
Luxury Photography: If every picture is truly worth a thousand words, then doing a write-up on the photography of acclaimed photographer Derry Moore should be a fairly breezy assignment. Since 1990, Mr. Moore has been known as Derry Moore, the 12th Earl of Drogheda, a hereditary title passed to him by his late father that stems from the 17th century. Mr. Moore has appeared and addressed England's House of Lords.
Arts & Culture: The Walters Art Museum exhibits artwork and objects that go back 5,500 years. Building a vacation around this diverse museum, would offer travelers an unparalleled education of the history of art. This amazing museum, which is located in the
Mount Vernon Cultural District of Baltimore, Maryland, has over 22,000 works of art and approximately 28,000
displayed objects.
Arts & Culture: The Guggenheim collection of artwork began humbly in the Plaza Hotel apartment of Solomon R. Guggenheim in the early 1930s. With the help of Ms. Hilla Rebay, an artist and theorist, Mr. Guggenheim amassed a collection of artwork from Vasily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, and Marc Chagall. The collection was known as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Collection of Non-Objective Paintings. Ms. Rebay, who became Mr. Guggenheim's assistant, arranged for the collection to be loaned out to various museums up and down the East Coast.
Luxury Collectibles: Maxton's Art Gallery offers unique, attractive, and puzzling desktop and coffee-table sculptures that are both decorative and thought provoking. It is rare when a piece of art is capable of evoking frustration and admiration simultaneously. Some "heavy" mettle is required to put a few of these masterfully crafted pieces together.
Maxton's Art Gallery is comprised of limited-edition sculptures that are made from brass, copper, aluminum,
steel and stainless steel by Mr. GarE Maxton. Gold was used in the making of the Conundrum II, which is a sold-out item.
Arts & Culture: The Noguchi Museum, located in Long Island, New York, is named after sculptor extraordinaire Isamu Noguchi. His diversified renderings span from 1924 to 1988. Noguchi's first exhibition occurred just three months subsequent to taking his first class in sculpting. He possessed expertise in working with stone, metals, wood, clay, and ceramics. In 1927 he was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, which took him to Paris, where he began his first studio.
Arts & Culture: No, it's not French for "dumb American." It's the name of a publishing house and, more recently, a string of luxury book/gift boutiques popping up in places like Bergdorf Goodman (New York), Christie's (New York), Holt Renfrew (Toronto) and Quartier 206 (Berlin). Leave it to the French to turn books into a high-end commodity. If we're honest, though, we wouldn't pay $700 for a limited edition book by anyone-even if it were laced with gold-if it didn't come from France. That being said, consumers are scrambling to get their hands on the limited edition "Putman Style" book printed on beautiful paper, covered in fabric and packaged in black and white mosaic tile. 
Luxury Arts: The Peabody Essex Museum, located in historically rich Salem, Massachusetts, synthesizes the best of both worlds, with its masterpiece renderings and state-of-the-art facility. This place is a world apart that will replenish your heart and soul with a spirit of enlightenment that you will cherish forever.
It was tough getting back to the future today. My mind wondered when web traveling to a Cooper Owen's Auction being held April 19th at Madame Tussauds in London. Rock n Roll memorabilia so grand from a time that was defiantly simpler. The collection's catalog, ripe with details of psychedelic times, started slowly with Bowie in spandex on a 1971 poster and Bjork's Swan Dress worn at the Academy Awards.
Best Home Furnishings 
Best Luxury Cars 
Best Luxury Hotel Suites 
Top Sexiest Beaches 
Best Womens Designer Shoes 
