Join funder colleagues in Cleveland this September for a fall convening of TFN’s GREEN and Inclusive Economies working groups in partnership with funders from our Philanthropic Preparedness and Emergency Response Partnership (PPREP).
The convening will bring together funders working at the intersection of climate and environmental justice, community resilience and economic opportunity to exchange ideas, strengthen collaboration and move our work forward during these challenging times. We’ll explore how philanthropy can work together to drive climate adaptation, economic development and community-led solutions.
Our Agenda
6:30-8:30 p.m. — Optional No Host Dinner for Funders
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8 a.m. — Breakfast and Networking
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8:30 a.m. — Welcome, Agenda Review, and Getting to Know Each Other
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9 a.m. — Opening Speaker: An Introduction to Cleveland and Northeast Ohio
Chris Ronayne, Cuyahoga County Executive
Our opening speaker is the County Executive of Cuyahoga County. Trained as an equity planner, Chris Ronayne has held a variety of important positions in the region that provide a unique perspective on the city and Northeast Ohio, among them planning director for the City of Cleveland and executive director of University Circle, Inc. He is also a three-time attendee at the United Nations Climate Conferences (the COP) as part of a Gund Foundation-led delegation from Northeast Ohio. Chris will ground attendees in some of the key issues and dynamics of the region.
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9:45 a.m. — Multi-Issue Approaches to Tackle Climate, Disaster Preparedness and Inclusive Economic Development in Ohio and the Great Lakes
This panel of NGO partners represents important networks and collaborations tackling energy, environmental justice, resilience and economic opportunity in Ohio and the larger Great Lakes Region. We will ask speakers to share what is motivating and mobilizing their groups to work together and how collaboration is building people power and leading to stronger outcomes.
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11 a.m. — Break
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11:30 a.m. — Funder Fishbowl Conversation: Pushing Beyond the Chaos: Strategies to Advance Resilient and Prosperous Places
Our funder moderator will set the context for the conversation and invite three funder discussion starters to describe some of their work and strategies advancing resilient, sustainable and prosperous places to meet this moment. The fishbowl will give attendees a sense of who is in the room and the varied strategies that funders are pursuing. We’ll use prompting questions to ask funders to touch on some key issues identified by our planning committee. The moderator will invite other funders to join the circle and share their work or react to what they have heard, as the initial group rotates out. We will encourage those new to philanthropy or to our working groups to share what is top of mind for them coming into this meeting and to dive into the fishbowl.
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12 p.m. — Networking Lunch
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12: 45 p.m. — Community Leaders Panel: Grounding for our Site Visits
Community leaders on this panel will share their work and tee up the context for the afternoon site visits. We’ll hear what issues are motivating and mobilizing grassroots organizing, movement building, community leadership right now. How are groups pivoting/adjusting in face of major federal budget cuts and policy retrenchment?
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1:30 p.m. — Depart for Cleveland Site Visits
TFN will offer two site visit options that speak to the diverse interests represented by our sponsoring groups and the range of work underway in Cleveland.
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4:30 p.m. — Return to Hotel for Free Time
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6:30 p.m. — Reception and Dinner
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8 a.m. — Breakfast and Networking
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8:45 a.m. — Welcome and Introductions
Reflections on Monday’s program and site visits.
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9:15 a.m. — Opening Panel: Working in Tandem, Not in Silos
We will invite funders from each of our sponsoring groups to share how they are working in tandem, across sectors, busting silos. Speakers will share how their work benefits from connecting with and learning from peers, where they see biggest opportunities in face of policy/funding setbacks, how they work across sectors and value of doing so.
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10:30 a.m. — Break
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10:45 a.m. — Panel Two: Harnessing Energy and Momentum
This panel will examine funder strategies, initiatives and investments related to three key areas of work: investing in narrative and storytelling, mobilizing around AI and data center developments, and new financing and ownership models in face of public funding reversals.We will offer deep dive small group conversations on these topics following lunch and provide an opportunity for funders to pitch 1-2 other topics for small group conversation. We will ask panel speakers to help facilitate the small group conversations.
- Narrative and Storytelling Approaches and Success Stories
- Mobilizing Around AI and Data Centers
- Grim fiscal realities and hostile political landscape breed invention and innovation in financing and ownership models.
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12 p.m. — Networking Lunch
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1:15 p.m. — Funder Proposed Small Group Deep Dive Topics
- Narrative/storytelling co-laboratory
- Mobilizing around AI and data centers
- New financing/ownership models
- Funder-proposed other ideas
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2:30 p.m. — Debrief, Reflections, where to go from here…
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3 p.m. — Farewells and Adjourn
The Fall Convening will be followed by a post-meeting gathering of funders working in conservative places followed by a group dinner.
Registration is open to donors, staff, directors and trustees of all grantmaking institutions.
We are seeking to create an intimate gathering of funders with the goal of learning, sharing and facilitating strategic conversations about where philanthropic resources can have the greatest impact.
Newcomers welcome! Join us if you are already engaged with TFN’s GREEN, Inclusive Economies, or PPREP working groups — or are looking to learn more about us.
Registration is open to donors, staff, directors and trustees of all grantmaking institutions.
- $300 for members
- $500 for non-members
TFN is committed to making our events accessible to all participants. Please let us know what accommodations you require.
If you have any questions about accessibility accommodations please reach out to Hazel Paguaga at hazel@fundersnetwork.org or 786-309-9029.
THANK YOU
Thank you to our funder planning committee for their ideas, guidance and assistance in planning this meeting:
- Alejandra Hernandez, The Kresge Foundation
- Dominique Mack, CommunityRx
- Joe Heitz, Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation
- John Mitterholzer, The George Gund Foundation
- Paula Sammons, The W.K. Kellogg Foundation
- Treye Johnson, The George Gund Foundation
Our Working Groups
TFN’s GREEN working group — which stands for Green, Renewable, Efficient, Equitable, Now — brings together funders committed to supporting community-led climate solutions and addressing environmental and climate injustice.
GREEN provides shared learning, alignment and action spaces for funders to more effectively support communities and regions that are sustainable, prosperous, healthy and just for all people
TFN’s Inclusive Economies working group brings place-based funders and related partners from across the sector together to build working relationships, advancing understanding of practices and policies that lead to inclusive prosperity and taking joint action that drives the field forward.
We apply a three-part focus — race, place and prosperity — to economic growth and development. A particular goal is connecting people and neighborhoods of color to employment and wealth-building opportunities through investment, systems change and policy reform.
PPREP, which stands for Philanthropic Preparedness, Resiliency and Emergency Partnership, was created to provide resources for community foundations to build their skills and leadership capacity in order to be better informed and prepared should a natural disaster strike their community.
PPREP is about strengthening the relationships between community members and organizations to maximize their impact in preparing for and recovering from disasters. Given the disproportionate health, economic and social impacts of disasters on low-income communities and other vulnerable populations, PPREP works to embed an equity lens into the cohort’s learning about preparedness, response and recovery practices and policies.