Rebecca Locke
Vice President, Gift Planning
American Red Cross
Memphis, TN
www.redcross.org
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Rebecca L. Locke is the Vice President, Gift Planning for the American Red Cross, a role she assumed in late 1999. With more than 40 Gift Planning team members, the Gift Planning unit leads all planned gift work for the American Red Cross working with donors interested in bequests, charitable gift annuities, charitable trusts, gifts of property, and other complex assets. Previously Rebecca had served as the Regional Development Manager, Southeast Region as one of the first two R.D.M.’s in the new Chapter Advancement Unit formed at Red Cross National Headquarters in 1996. In that role, she established the first American Red Cross field-based Gift Planning program in Florida, and directed the organization’s first three Gift Planning Officers in that state.

Prior to joining the NHQ Development team, Rebecca had served in chapters for more than fifteen years with roles in annual giving, major gifts, disaster fund raising, direct mail, and planned giving. She served in the Metropolitan Atlanta Chapter for four years as the Director of Annual Giving. She began her career with the Red Cross as a youth volunteer, and served in multiple positions including Assistant Chapter Manager with the Mid-South Chapter in Memphis, TN. Outside the Red Cross, Rebecca served as the Executive Director of a health-related nonprofit, and in the profit world with a data management firm. She served as President of the Board of the American Council on Gift Annuities, chaired ACGA’s 2014 Conference on Planned Giving, and currently serves as Vice President, Governance. Rebecca is a graduate of the National Planned Giving Institute at the College of William & Mary as well as Tennessee Technological University.

Fun Facts About Rebecca

Tell us about your favorite charitable gift annuity you worked on.

My favorite has to be the last charitable gift annuity created by a donor who loved the process of doing CGAs and the back and forth of the experience. Mr. H had dozens of CGAs with our organization and I know he had done CGAs with at least 3 other organizations. He certainly didn’t need the income, but he loved working through the numbers to determine what his payout and the best asset to fund the gift. The last time I was in his kitchen he decided to do another CGA. We all knew he wasn’t well, and still he was excited about another CGA. He was due to get a check the next day (Thursday) from his broker to fund the gift. I told him we would come by on Friday to pick up the check and bring the contract. He was insistent that we come late on Thursday and I at first tried to explain that we would be closer to his house on Friday so it would be convenient. Mr. H was not having it. It had to be Thursday. I asked what was so special about Thursday, he explained that he had worked out the numbers and by us picking up the check on Thursday, his payment would be 3 cents higher. We both burst out laughing. It was classically Mr. H; he knew the math backward and forward and he loved making the deal almost as much as he loved knowing that his significant wealth would be used for good when he no longer needed it. And he got his 3 cents, and I think of him every time we write another CGA.

What album could you listen to on repeat?

I love all kinds of music, but the throughline of music for me since college has been the Eagles, and “Hotel California” is the album that’s at the top of my list.

When did you first learn about charitable gift annuities?

Robert Sharpe Sr. was speaking at a planned giving roundtable (or the forerunner of that group) in the late 1980s, and he talked about CGAs as a vehicle that was being used to help donors who wanted to make a significant contribution, but still needed income. It would be impossible to overstate the impact of his words in general and his discussion of the various vehicles like a CGA has had on my career. I walked out of that room with no questions about what I wanted to do professionally. Bob, along with the company he built, and his son’s Tim and the late Bob Jr, have been such contributors to our profession and we owe them a great debt for their foundational work. I owe Bob Sr. for a career that has allowed me to serve our donors and our mission in ways I couldn’t have imagined.

What is your favorite way to get in some exercise?

To say that I’m not athletic would be an understatement. I was never the first chosen for the basketball team or the playground tug of war, and understandably so. I was pretty dreadful at most of it. However, the only place I’ve ever demonstrated any aptitude would be the sport that I love: scuba diving. I get to see these amazing creatures and a fascinating underwater world while swimming in salt water (I don’t love freshwater diving), and the only real requirements are that I get back on the boat alive, don’t harm my fellow divers or the underwater environment including creatures, and have a good time. That’s my kind of exercise.