Senior Philanthropy Advisor
Nelson is a Senior Philanthropy Advisor assisting multiple individuals and organizations in the creation and administration of complex personal and philanthropic gift structures. He was formerly the Vice Chair in the Philanthropy Institute at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. There he was responsible for relationship building with major donors and for the strategizing and implementation of principal gifts, heritage gifts, and gift planning, which included Cleveland Clinic’s PYRAMID Legacy Society. Nelson also served as liaison to the General Counsel, Finance, and Real Estate divisions.
Nelson has gained vast experience when utilizing various gift strategy options and trust vehicles while creating personal philanthropy planning for individuals and families across the Cleveland Clinic Enterprise which included Ohio, Florida, Las Vegas, Canada, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. During his time with Cleveland Clinic, Nelson participated in several capital campaigns and was directly or indirectly responsible for the closing of over a billion dollars of philanthropic support.
Before joining the Cleveland Clinic in 1997, Nelson practiced law in the executive compensation and pension sections at the Cleveland offices of both Jones Day, and Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff. Nelson has served as an adjunct professor in the Master of Taxation program at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Law and at the University of Akron’s School of Business.
As an advocate within his profession, Nelson has served on the Board of Directors of the National Committee on Planned Giving and as President of the Northern Ohio Planned Giving Council, as well as consultant to numerous non-profit development departments throughout the Great Lakes region. Nelson has participated on the faculty of the Charitable Gift Planning track as well as a guest lecturer for several other tracks of the Association of Healthcare Philanthropy’s National Conference.
Nelson received his B.A. in Accounting from the University of Akron, and J.D. and LL.M. in Taxation degrees from Case Western Reserve University. Professionally, Nelson has served as a trustee for or an advisor to multiple non profit boards and, personally, has served for 30 years as the head volleyball coach and/or associate head coach of the varsity volleyball program at Case Western Reserve University.
