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Don Gottesman

Director of Gift Planning

Don Gottesman is director of gift planning at The Chicago Community Trust.

In this role, he partners with donors and their advisors who would like to support their favorite charities now or in the future. He works with a broad range of assets – liquid and illiquid – and various charitable vehicles such as donor advised funds, wills, trusts, charitable gift annuities and charitable trusts.

With over 25 years of experience in charitable giving and tax, Gottesman joined the Trust in 2019 after serving as the Director of Planned Giving at Silicon Valley Community Foundation and as a Senior Development Officer at California Community Foundation. He also served as Senior Consultant Gift Planning and Tax at TIAA-Kaspick.

Previously, Gottesman practiced law for over 10 years in Chicago specializing in estate planning and business law. He was an adjunct faculty member at The UIC John Marshall Law School’s Graduate Center for Tax Law where he taught Taxation of Closely-Held Businesses. Gottesman has made a longstanding commitment to raising awareness of LGBTQ issues. He has established pride committees at workplaces, presented at national estate planning conferences, and served on various boards. He recently served as the co-chair of The Diversity Committee of the Chicago Estate Planning Council.

Gottesman received his J.D. and L.L.M. in Tax from Chicago-Kent College of Law and his Bachelor of Arts in Humanities from Northwestern University.

Strategy Area

Connecting Philanthropy to Impact

Catalyzing the generosity of our partners to advance equity, opportunity, and prosperity for all.

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