Carí Jackson Lewis, J.D., LL.M., TEP, C.S.P.G., A.E.P., CAP

Founder and Principal Advisor

Carí is a nonprofit, tax and philanthropy strategist and a seasoned trusts and estates lawyer with over three decades of experience in nonprofit management and estate, tax and charitable gift planning across diverse, international and domestic settings.

Philanthropy Services

Throughout her philanthropic and legal career in the United States, Australia and London, Carí has facilitated charitable contributions of five- and six-figure major gifts and complex assets totaling over $50 million dollars.

As Principal Advisor at CPC, Carí works with individuals and families, private foundations, businesses and allied advisors to facilitate income, estate, and capital gains tax minimization and business exit/succession planning goals through the establishment of donor advised funds, charitable lead and remainder trusts and other sophisticated charitable giving vehicles.

For nonprofit organizations, Carí assists staff in establishing and administering planned giving and legacy society programs, donor prospecting and stewardship programs, and special events. 

Finally, Carí works with small to mid-sized business owners during the exit planning process to assist them in selling all or part of their businesses using charitable gift vehicles. 

Public Speaking

An experienced legal writer, researcher, editor, moderator and public speaker, Carí has lectured and published articles on estate and tax planning, special needs and elder law, charitable trusts and planned giving, retirement assets and qualified charitable distributions, nonprofit gift acceptance policies, and legislation affecting donors, donor advised funds and nonprofit organizations. 

Recent speaking engagements include the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners, the International Advisors in Philanthropy, the Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy Advisors of Color program established by the American College of Financial Services, the Women of Color in Fundraising and Philanthropy Symposium, the Community Foundation of South Central Florida, and the HBCU Philanthropy Symposium. (For speaking requests, click here to access the Virtual Speaking Topics and Sliding-Scale Fee Structure form.)

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Carí has a special interest in historical and contemporary African-American philanthropy, African-American philanthropic behaviors, and the engagement and stewardship of high net worth African-American donors.

Passionate about justice, equity, diversity, access, inclusion and belonging, Carí uses racial and social justice lenses to create connections and build relationships between nonprofits - including and especially BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color)-led and BIPOC-serving nonprofit organizations - and donors in the private, public and philanthropic sectors.  She also uses her voice and her "levers" to promote DEI initiatives within all the areas in which she lives, works and plays.

Memberships

A member of the New York State Bar in good standing, Carí is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, Ventura County Alumnae Chapter, the Conejo Valley Estate Planning Council, the Society of Trusts and Estates Practitioners Los Angeles, the Black Alumni of Dartmouth Association, the African American Development Officers Network, Women of Color in Fundraising and Philanthropy and the Association of Black Estate Planning Professionals.

Education and Professional Development

Carí earned her undergraduate degree at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, her Juris Doctor at Fordham University School of Law in New York, her Masters of Laws in Taxation (with distinction) from Loyola Law School of Los Angeles, and the Certified Specialist in Planned Giving designation from the American Institute of Philanthropic Services.

Carí is an Accredited Estate Planner®, a Certified Specialist in Planned Giving (cm) and a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy®. A summer law clerk for the late Federal District Court Judge Robert P. Patterson, Jr. (S.D.N.Y.), Carí was the Graduate Tax Program President of the Tax Law Society of Loyola Law School, and a former President of the Black Alumni of Dartmouth Association of New York. 

Carí is the Chair of the Inclusion Committee of the Los Angeles Council of Charitable Gift Planners and a former Board Member and Governance Committee Chair of Haven Hills, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit supporting survivors of domestic violence, and the Fund Development Committee of Many Mansions, Carí has served on numerous nonprofit, church, and university boards and committees in the United States and Australia, and has performed pro bono work for nonprofits in New York and Los Angeles.

Carí, her husband Preston Kevin Lewis, their three children, Carson, Faith and Jackson, live in Los Angeles.