Events

Annual Learning & Action Forum:

We look forward to seeing you at our 9th Annual Learning & Action Forum on May 21-22, 2025 in Milwaukee, WI! Registration is now open, using this link.  Attendance is free for CFON members and we invite up to 3 participants from each foundation to join.  Please contact Amy Daly-Donovan for more information.

Webinars:

Contact Amy Daly-Donovan for more information or to register.

Thursday June 19 – 2-3pm ET

Network Leadership & Impact

Join network leadership expert Dr. Jane Wei-Skillern for a session that will spark entirely new ways of thinking about and leading in collaborations.  Using a framework of four straightforward but counterintuitive principles, leaders can form and sustain vibrant and impactful networks.  The model Jane will present grew out of more than two decades of field research. This interactive session will offer participants an opportunity to examine their collaborative experiences from a new perspective, and will equip them with the network mindsets, tools, and strategies that can greatly increase the social impact of their work.

Thursday April 3, 2025 – 2-3pm ET

Examining Your Foundation’s Internal Systems with an Equity Lens

Please join as we share the Racial Equity Systems Self-Assessment (RESSA).  CFON’s NEON (Nexus for Equity + Opportunity Nationwide) cohort created this tool to examine and gain a deeper understanding of the internal systems changes needed to authentically engage in external systems change and equity work.  Co-leading the session is Pamela Ross, former VP at the Indianapolis Foundation and NEON cohort member, who says “It is often challenging to engage in the necessary conversations to ensure our institutional structures and systems do not hinder the impact we aim to achieve in our communities. For me and my team, this tool provided a helpful framework for candidly discussing organizational change, focusing on building desired outcomes without judgment.”

We’ll talk about how the RESSA came to be and some considerations for using it in your Foundation.  You’ll also have a chance to dip into the tool to assess your own foundation’s journey towards anti-racist, equitable systems and discuss your thoughts in breakout groups.

Wednesday December 12, 2024 – 2-3pm ET

Examining Your Foundation’s Internal Systems with an Equity Lens

Please join as we introduce the Racial Equity Systems Self-Assessment (RESSA) to the CFON membership before a field-wide rollout in 2025!

CFON’s NEON (Nexus for Equity + Opportunity Nationwide) cohort created this tool to examine and gain a deeper understanding of the internal systems changes needed to authentically engage in external systems change and equity work.  Co-leading the session is Pamela Ross, former VP at the Indianapolis Foundation and NEON cohort member, who says “It is often challenging to engage in the necessary conversations to ensure our institutional structures and systems do not hinder the impact we aim to achieve in our communities. For me and my team, this tool provided a helpful framework for candidly discussing organizational change, focusing on building desired outcomes without judgment.”

We’ll talk about how the RESSA came to be and some considerations for using it in your Foundation.  You’ll also have a chance to dip into the tool to assess your own foundation’s journey towards anti-racist, equitable systems and discuss your thoughts in breakout groups.

Tuesday November 19, 2024 – 2-3pm ET

Trust-Based Philanthropy – A Conversation

As a follow-on to the popular session on Trust-Based Philanthropy at the May Learning & Action Forum, join us for a participatory session with Shaady Salehi, Executive Director of Trust Based Philanthropy on:

• Where and how community foundations are leaning into TBP – what are the gaps or barriers for implementation of the principles and practices?
• Engaging and moving donors to strategic vs. traditional philanthropy with a focus on equity – what’s working and what’s not? What’s needed to increase capacity in this area, to direct more funds to equity-focused work.

Thursday September 26, 2024 – 2-3pm ET

Supporting Community-Based Projects: Social Impact Commons

Please join us for a conversation with Josh Sattely, Social Impact Commons, and Simon Delekta, New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, on how to support community-based projects that aren’t 501c3s, don’t particularly want to be, but need capacity and back office infrastructure to carry out their important work.

Social Impact Commons has been instrumental in helping NHCF think about options and what supporting these types of organizations means. We welcome your experiences, questions, and active participation in this event!

Tuesday, June 18, 2024 – 1-2pm ET

Equitable Evaluation Framework

We are pleased to invite you to a session to learn more about the Equitable Evaluation Initiative.  The Equitable Evaluation Framework (EEF) offers guidance, context, and underpinnings to explore, question, learn, and unlearn in ways that help inform actions and decisions. The EEF invites alignment of purpose, process, and policies in philanthropy. It offers multiple entry points to shift the ways in which we practice our work.

A conversation led by Marcia Coné, PhD, Lead Consultant: EEF Practice, Engagement, and Evolution will be enhanced by experiences from fellow CFON members:

• Kate Szczerbacki, Director of Learning, Evaluation, and Capacity Building, Hartford Foundation for Public Giving
• Andrea Cummings, Vice President, Philanthropic Services, The Minneapolis Foundation
• Marissa Jackson, Community Programs Learning & Evaluation, The Seattle Foundation

This session invites participants to understand how the practice of the EEF can align and advance their stated aims toward equity through intimate conversation with their community foundation peers. Participants will hear how understanding and leveraging one’s agency and influence informs, intersects, and initiates organizational culture alignment. This session is for all members of foundation staff.

Wednesday April 3, 2024 – 2-3pm ET

All Our Kin is national nonprofit that trains, supports, and sustains family child care professionals – the vast majority of whom are women – in their roles as early childhood educators and entrepreneurs. Jessica Sager, Co-founder and CEO, will share their mission: to transform the nation’s child care system results in a triple win: home-based child care educators succeed as business owners; working parents find stable, high-quality care for their children; and children gain an educational foundation that lays the groundwork for achievement. Over the last two decades, All Our Kin has developed a highly successful, data-driven model to respond to the national child care crisis.

Our CFON colleague Lutonya Russell-Humes (VP Grants & Programs, Fairfield County’s Community Foundation) will set the stage and the discussion will include:

• The intersection of child care with economic development, women-led movements, climate, and more
• All Our Kin’s unique approach to sustainable, place-based partnership
• Ways in which local Community Foundations and other partners engage with our work

Thursday September 28, 2023 – 4:30-5:30pm ET

Equity Communications & Ethical Storytelling – learn from fellow community foundations about their experience developing helpful resources/guides for ensuring foundation communications, narrative, and outreach are aligned with principles of equity.  Featuring the San Diego Foundation and NEON cohort member foundations.

Tuesday February 28, 2023 – 12-1:15pm ET

Accelerator for America finds and develops solutions to economic insecurity and shares them with cities to create national change from the ground up. They are led by an advisory council comprising mayors, labor leaders, corporate CEOs and non-profit executives from across the country.  Please join us as we engage in conversation with CEO Mary Ellen Wiederwohl, Chattanooga TN Mayor Tim Kelly, and colleagues to learn about their work and impact.

Monday December 5, 2022 – 2-3pm ET

Strategic CaseMaking with Dr. Tiffany Manuel. This is a powerful moment to be doing community building work in the United States, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the health inequities exacerbated by coronavirus, recent events related to racial tensions and subsequent protests nationwide, and significant economic hardships facing Americans. As powerful as this moment is, if we are not careful in how we make the case for our work, we can miss the opportunity to mobilize new supporters and catalyze much needed resources or worse, have our efforts to engage people backfire. In particular, as community foundations, we are uniquely positioned to help make the case for the community building we know is necessary to the future of our nation. In this session, join Dr. Tiffany Manuel as she helps us understand the leadership strategies necessary to leverage this moment to build the broader political will our communities need to move closer to the equitable future we know is possible.

Activities

Strategy Action Labs & Topic Area Cohorts:

Housing Cohort:  A cohort of 10 community foundations, committed to housing solutions and strategies that align with equity and economic & social mobility goals, will convene for learning, sharing, and support in May 2025 for a 12-month experience.  The cohort will be facilitated by AJ Herrmann, Accelerator for America & National Housing Crisis Task Force.  Participating foundations include Chicago Community Trust, Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, Community Foundation for Greater Chattanooga, New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, Rhode Island Foundation, San Diego Foundation, St. Louis Community Foundation, The Pittsburgh Foundation, and Yellowstone Club Community Foundation.

Strategy Action Lab #3 (Housing) ran from April 2022-March 2023 and was facilitated by Allison Albee, Ground Works Consulting.  Participating foundations included Fremont Area Community Foundation, Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, Hawaii Community Foundation, Lincoln Community Foundation, The Pittsburgh Foundation, and Oregon Community Foundation.

Strategy Action Lab #2 (Early Childhood Development) ran from  February 2020 to February 2022 and was facilitated by Amanda Szekely, Zero-To-Three.  Participating foundations include Innovia Foundation, Lincoln Community Foundation, Fremont Area Community Foundation and Southwest Initiative.

Strategy Action Lab #1 (Access to Good Jobs) concluded its two-year commitment in November 2020 and was facilitated by Lisa McGill. Participating foundations included New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, Seattle Foundation, Adirondack Foundation, Community Foundation for Greater Chattanooga and Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta.

Networking Groups:

Community Impact/Investment leaders regularly gather virtually to explore topics of interest including measuring impact, equitable grantmaking strategies, challenging “orthodoxies”, strategic planning, systems change, etc.

For more information and to join this group, contact Amy Daly-Donovan.