Unlocking Hidden Opportunities: A Team Approach to Charitable Planning
Date: Thursday, October 1, 2026
Time: 12:00 PM - 01:30 PM
Location: The Grand Event Center
Speaker: Delia Fernandez, Jennifer Sawday, Alina C. Mircea-Trotz
Unlocking Hidden Opportunities: A Team Approach to Charitable Planning
Every day, estate planning professionals help clients make important decisions about their assets, families, and legacy. Charitable planning is one of many strategies that can help clients achieve their financial, tax, and legacy goals, yet it is often not discussed simply because the opportunity isn't identified. Understanding when charitable planning may add value allows professionals to broaden planning conversations, uncover additional solutions, and better serve their clients.
Join us for an interactive panel discussion featuring an estate planning attorney, financial advisor, and nonprofit planned giving professional as they demonstrate how a collaborative approach can enhance the client experience. Through a practical client scenario, the panel will illustrate how to recognize opportunities for charitable planning, introduce the conversation in a client-centered way, evaluate planning options, and collaborate effectively to help clients achieve their personal, financial, and philanthropic goals.
Attendees will leave with practical ideas they can immediately apply in their practice, including how to recognize planning opportunities, ask thoughtful questions that uncover a client's values and goals, understand when to engage a nonprofit planned giving professional, and work collaboratively with fellow advisors to create comprehensive planning solutions.
This session will provide practical tools and real-world insights that you can immediately apply to strengthen client relationships, uncover new planning opportunities, and deliver greater value through a collaborative approach to estate planning.
Delia Fernandez, MBA, CFP®
Founder and President, Fernandez Financial Advisory, LLC
Founder and President, Fernandez Financial Advisory, LLC
Delia is founder and president of Fernandez Financial Advisory, LLC, an independent, fee-only financial planning and registered investment advisory firm in Los Alamitos. She helps individuals and small business owners plan and invest for their future.
Delia is a frequent speaker to employee groups and is often quoted in publications such as the Los Angeles Times and Nerd Wallet and appears as a guest on radio shows such as LAList’s Air Talk. She also has taught in the financial planning program at UC Irvine’s Department of Continuing Education.
Jennifer Sawday
Partner TLD Law, LLP
Partner TLD Law, LLP
Jennifer Sawday is a partner at TLD Law, LLP. She serves a wide range of clients in all matters related to probate, trusts, estate planning — and related litigation. She also handles pre- and post-death administration for clients who serve as personal representatives, executors, and trustees for trusts and estates. Ms. Sawday’s favorite clients are ordinary homeowners in Long Beach and surrounding communities looking to set up an estate for their loved ones to avoid probate.
Ms. Sawday has been selected as a prestigious SuperLawyer and Rising Star by SuperLawyers, as featured in the Los Angeles County Magazine for many years from 2019 to 2024. Ms. Sawday has been consistently rated a 10.0 “Superb” attorney by the respected attorney rating organization, AVVO. She is also AV-rated from Martindale Hubbel.
Alina C. Mircea-Trotz, M.P.H., CSPG
Assistant Vice President, Planned Giving & Stewardship
California State University, Long Beach
Alina C. Mircea-Trotz, M.P.H., CSPG, is a fundraising executive with more than 25 years of experience in nonprofit and higher education advancement, with a focus on building meaningful philanthropic relationships and creating strategies that connect donors with the causes they care about. Alina specializes in principal and executive-level fundraising, planned giving, stewardship, comprehensive campaign management, and board engagement. At the heart of her work is a simple belief: philanthropy is about more than giving. It is about helping people turn what they value into a lasting difference for others and for the causes they care about.
Thank you to our monthly speaker sponsor
