Urban Water Funders 2026 Annual Meeting | Houston

Join us in Houston for TFN’s Urban Water Funders 2026 Annual Meeting, Feb. 9-11!

Water issues have a profound impact on civic life, public health, climate resilience and economic justice, especially for those in historically marginalized and vulnerable communities.

As the sector continues to navigate increasingly complex social, political and environmental challenges, we’ll examine philanthropy’s potential to strengthen communities and transform our shared water future through bold approaches that spark action and lasting impact.

Our gathering offers a chance to spark new ideas, forge stronger partnerships and explore collaborations beyond traditional funding silos.

The Urban Water Funders 2026 Annual Meeting is a chance to dive deep with your peers — and identify opportunities for continued work well after our gathering ends.

Join us in Houston Feb. 9-11 for an intimate, engaging and interactive convening designed to spark new ideas, build stronger partnerships and explore collaborations that meet the needs of the moment for water leaders across the country.

All funders are welcome, regardless of whether you’re currently engaged with TFN’s Urban Water Funders working group, or are just curious to know more about how water issues connect to your grantmaking work.

Together, we’ll explore where philanthropic resources can have the greatest impact and how funders can better work together to address the opportunities and challenges our communities face.

Read on for agenda highlights, registration and lodging info, and more!

REGISTRATION

Newcomers welcome! Join us if you are already engaged with TFN’s Urban Water Funders working group — or are looking to learn more about us. Registration is open to donors, staff, directors and trustees of all grantmaking institutions.

Registration rates:

- $300 for Members
- $500 for Non-members

LODGING

TFN has reserved a block of rooms for Monday and Tuesday (February 9-10) at the Magnolia Hotel Houston with a lodging rate of $224.

➡️ Be sure to book before our room block expires January 23!

Click here to make your reservation or please call the hotel at 888-915-1110 and reference The Funders Network.

The Magnolia Hotel Houston is located at 1100 Texas Ave, Houston, TX 77002

Please contact Ashley Quintana at ashley@fundersnetwork.org if you are having problems making a reservation.

AGENDA HIGHLIGHTS

➡️ Below are a few highlights for our Houston gathering. You can access our full draft agenda here.

The Urban Water Funders 2026 Annual Meeting will explore:

How funders are adapting strategies in an increasingly challenging federal landscape;
The ecosystem of national water campaigns and what gaps need filling to ensure alignment and community-driven impact;
Why and how to collectively provide the place-based and scalable support for movement building in the water sector;
How this moment fits into the broader history of environmental justice and water equity movements;
Community-driven OneWater and resilience efforts in Houston and across Texas;
What fellow funders are supporting — and how to find new partners in your work.

Feb. 9 | Day One kicks off with powerful insights from nationally-acclaimed environmental justice leader Dr. Robert Bullard, founding director of the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice and distinguished professor of urban planning and environmental policy at Texas Southern University. He’ll join us as we explore how we, as funders and partners, are meeting this moment of change — individually and collectively.

Feb. 10 | Day Two begins with welcoming remarks from Oluwole A. “OJ” McFoy, city engineer for the City of Houston and board chair of the US Water Alliance, who will share his vision for public utilities as drivers for community engagement and partnership. Later, we’ll hear from journalist and author Chris Tomlinson, who will unpack the political, social and organizing fabric that shapes the south — and therefore, the country.

We’ll then depart for site visits to learn from Houston water advocates, community members and funders about the community-centered resilience work happening in the flood-prone metropolis. We’ll be joined by leaders from Houston Water to share alongside advocates about their collective OneWater efforts.
The day will close with a lively “Fast Pitch” session, where funders share bold ideas and explore collaborative, fundable projects.

Feb. 11 | Day Three turns our lens outward, focusing on how to support movement-building across an ecosystem of diverse players, coalitions and interests.

Funders will process the many moving efforts to build power at local and state levels and how these efforts ladder up for bigger, future progress.
We’ll spend time diving deep into funder-led discussions focused on areas for activation, such as climate migration, data centers, implementation of federal infrastructure funding and the water workforce.
National water leader Radhika Fox will wrap up our gathering as our final featured speaker, helping us chart a path for foundations, nonprofits and other water stakeholders to meet what lies ahead.

WHY HOUSTON

Water is both a lifeline and a liability in Houston, shaping the city’s geography, infrastructure and civic identity. A major port city, Houston is connected to a network of nearly two dozen bayous and river systems that thread through the city’s landscape.

Like many communities, Houston is grappling with rapid growth and escalating climate pressures: Rising temperatures intensify the region’s already sweltering summers, stronger and more frequent storms threaten already flood-prone neighborhoods, and reliance on an oil-and-gas-driven economy fuel concerns about long-term sustainability and environmental justice.

But Houston is also becoming a proving ground for innovative and equitable approaches to infrastructure and climate adaptation, including a recent multi-year investment to build democracy through water infrastructure and organizing. Houston is the county seat of Harris County, which this spring became the only county in Texas to pass a community-wide climate justice plan.

From strong equity-centered community partners to the momentum of big statewide water wins, our time in Houston will offer a chance to deepen our understanding of the forces shaping our collective water future — and how those lessons can inform your own grantmaking work.

THANK YOU

Thank you to our funder planning committee for their ideas, guidance and assistance in planning this meeting:

Yeou-Rong Jih, Kresge Foundation (Co-Chair)
Elizabeth Love, Jacob and Terese Hershey Foundation
Sydney Garcia, Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation
Chloe Lieberknecht, Texas Wellspring Fund/ The Water Foundation