Melissa comes to us from South Dakota and specializes in 1) trust, estate, and gift tax compliance and consulting, 2) tax matters during estate administration, 3) tax-exempt organization formation and compliance, 4) charitable and planned giving strategies, and 5) individual taxation.

With more than 20 years of public accounting experience, Melissa has worked with many nonprofit organizations, assisting them in achieving and maintaining their tax-exempt status, and as an auditor specializing in the nonprofit industry. She also currently serves as the Aberdeen office liaison for the Firm's exempt organization tax and wealth transition service teams.

Recent studies have shown that the majority of donors either have barriers that need to be overcome before charitable gifts are made or they have concerns about their prior charitable giving. As an adviser to both nonprofit organizations and individual clients, Melissa will share tips from a CPA’s perspective on ways your organization can do good better to strengthen relationships with your donors and help them overcome barriers to charitable giving.