27 Years of Insurance. A Lifetime of Nonprofit Leadership.
One Practice That Bridges Both.
Nonprofit Professional Services exists because the people who run nonprofits deserve the same caliber of financial strategy as the people who run corporations. Most don’t get it — not because no one cares, but because very few advisors understand both worlds.
Tom Ligare does. He’s lived on both sides of the table — and most tables in between.
Tom Ligare, CLU®, CAP®
Tom spent 27 years as a Top 1% State Farm agent, serving approximately 4,000 clients. He built one of the most successful insurance practices in the country — and then expanded into something different, founded on what he’d seen clients struggle with most: the intersection of nonprofit leadership and personal financial strategy.
Before insurance, Tom served as Executive Director of the Ernest Brooks Foundation and Personnel Director at Park City Ski Resort. He’s chaired two Chambers of Commerce, co-founded an educational institution, presided over community boards on both coasts, and served as International Chair for the Rotary Club.
That dual perspective — deep insurance expertise combined with real nonprofit leadership experience — is what makes NPPSS different from every other advisor in this space. Tom doesn’t advise nonprofits from the outside. He’s built them, led them, and served on their boards.
Today, NPPSS operates as a national practice from Carpinteria, California, specializing in executive benefits, charitable giving strategies, and estate planning — all built around tax-efficient life insurance and annuity products.
Credentials & Education
A Career Built at the Intersection
of Insurance and Nonprofit Leadership.
Every chapter informs the work Tom does today. These aren’t line items on a resume — they’re the lived experience that makes this practice possible.
A Career of Service
Across Two Communities.
Tom has served on more than a dozen nonprofit and civic boards across Park City, Utah and Carpinteria, California — leading, founding, and supporting the organizations that build communities worth living in.
Chamber & Business Leadership
- Board Chair — Park City Chamber of Commerce
- Board Chair — Carpinteria Chamber of Commerce
- Board Member — Santa Barbara County Economic Development Board
- International Chair — Rotary Club of Park City & Carpinteria
Institutions Built & Led
- Co-Founder & Board President — Park City Winter School
- Board President — Park City Ski Education Foundation
- President — Bay Area Surf Club
- Executive Director — Ernest Brooks Foundation
Cause & Community Boards
- Board Member — Girls Inc. of Carpinteria
- Board Member — National Ability Center
- Board Member — Safewater International
- Planned Giving — Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara
Professional Affiliations
- Member — Society of Financial Service Professionals
- Member — Association of Fundraising Professionals
- Member — Charitable Gift Planners
- Volunteer — Special Olympics
Who You’ll Actually Work With.
Tom designs every strategy and leads every client relationship personally. Kasie makes sure none of it stalls. Between the two of them, you get a firm that thinks like a specialist and executes like an operator.
Tom Ligare
CLU®, CAP®. 27 years in insurance. Former nonprofit executive director. Designs every strategy and leads every client relationship personally.
Connect on LinkedIn
Kasie Bernal
Every great strategy lives or dies at execution. Kasie is why ours doesn’t die — running every case from design to funded policy with the attention to detail that’s become the firm’s quiet differentiator.
Connect on LinkedInThe Five Retirement Risks.
Every strategy we design is built around protecting against five risks that threaten retirement income and wealth transfer. This framework is the organizing spine of every client conversation.
Taxes
The largest single expense in retirement. Tax-efficient strategies can save $30K–$60K per year.
Market Volatility
Sequence-of-returns risk destroys portfolios in early retirement. Protected growth eliminates it.
Longevity
Living to 95 is a blessing — unless you planned for 85. Lifetime income strategies close the gap.
Inflation
A 3% annual rate cuts purchasing power in half over 24 years. Growth strategies must outpace it.
Healthcare & LTC
The average couple needs $315K+ for healthcare in retirement. Long-term care can add $100K/year.
Three Specialties.
One Integrated Practice.
Most advisors pick one lane. We built a practice where all three converge — because for nonprofit leaders and philanthropic families, they already do.
Executive Benefits
457(b)/(f) plans, SERPs, split-dollar arrangements, and Section 162 bonus plans that retain top nonprofit talent and close the retirement gap.
Learn More →Charitable Giving
CRT-IUL strategies, charitable gift annuities, QCDs, planned giving programs, and donor-advised fund strategies that reward the donor and the cause.
Learn More →Estate & Wealth Transfer
ILITs, wealth replacement, estate equalization, beneficiary optimization, and estate tax liquidity — the funding strategies that make the plan work.
Learn More →Three Principles That Guide
Every Engagement.
Specificity Over Generality
We don’t offer broad financial planning. We do three things — executive benefits, charitable giving, and estate planning — and we do them at a specialist level. If it doesn’t involve life insurance, annuities, or long-term care, we’ll refer you to someone who does.
Partner, Not Competitor
We work alongside your existing CPA, attorney, and financial advisor — never in place of them. Our role is to design and fund the insurance architecture that connects what they recommend with the products that execute the plan.
Education Before Transaction
Every client relationship starts with understanding. We teach first — through CE webinars, white papers, and one-on-one conversations — and only recommend a strategy when the client understands why it works and what it costs.
The Discipline Doesn’t Stop
at the Office.
Tom’s approach to work comes from the same place as his approach to life: show up, do the hard thing, and keep doing it. He’s a three-time marathon finisher, a lifelong athlete across multiple disciplines, and a long-standing volunteer with Special Olympics.
His sports — tennis, alpine and nordic skiing, surfing, windsurfing, mountain biking, long-distance running — reflect the same pattern you’ll find in his practice: a preference for the work over the glamour, an appetite for conditions that test you, and the patience to improve over decades instead of quarters.
He splits his time between Carpinteria’s coastline and Park City’s mountains. Clients who work with Tom long enough eventually hear a story about one or the other.
The Personal Ledger
Long-distance runner, trained for endurance
Tennis, skiing, surfing, windsurfing, mountain biking
Long-standing commitment
Park City, Utah & Carpinteria, California
Ready to Talk?
A 30-minute discovery call is enough to identify whether your current plan has gaps — and what it would take to close them. No pitch. No pressure. Just a conversation about your situation.