2018 Forum Annual Conference
2018 Forum Annual Conference - July 16-18 in Boston, MA
The Forum’s 2018 Annual Conference was the nation’s largest gathering of regional and national philanthropy-serving organizations.
#ForumCon18 was our best conference yet! While it was the largest Forum conference with more than 300 attendees and a record-breaking $146,000 in sponsorships, the real success of the conference may be measured in the conversations, community and courage that it generated.
The creation of the REAL lounge and studio helped support a continued and deep focus on the theme of racial equity, diversity and inclusion. REAL stands for racial equity and love and it elevated the difficult conversations and work of racial equity based in philanthropy’s love for mankind but also the love of colleagues within the Forum network. We captured 37 conversations on video in the REAL studio that will be used to keep the conversation, learning and action around racial equity happening throughout the year and beyond.
Other conference themes included building and maintaining partnerships and collaboration as well as a focus on skill building. Powerful messages were delivered by many including a phenomenal opening keynote by artist Titus Kaphar; an annual meeting message of courageous philanthropy from Grant Oliphant; and a closing plenary about narratives we tell about immigrants, black people and native communities by Cristina Jimenez, Michael McAfee and Sarah Eagle Heart connected beautifully by composer and violinist Shaw Pong Liu. Our other plenaries featured the amazing thought leadership of Ibram Kendi, Elizabeth Hinton and Richard Rothstein followed by deeper conversations with each speaker and a session that elevated the voices of infrastructure leadership in the field with Dan Cardinali, Carly Hare, and Donna Murrary-Brown. We captured the majority of these on video and will release them in the coming month.
Pre-conference sessions supported the work of CEOs coming together as well as emerging practitioners and for the first-time mid-level practitioners. We also piloted a workshop for PSO board members focusing on their unique roles. Fifteen of the concurrent sessions focused on skills building for both professional and personal strengths and included the gathering of peer communities.
Planning Committee
This year's conference wouldn't be possible without the leadership and contributions of our planning committee:
- John Barnes, Funders Concerned About AIDS
- Kristen Cambell, Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE)
- Vanessa Castro, Philanthropy New York
- Deborah Ellwood, CFLeads
- Karla Fortunato, Connecticut Council for Philanthropy
- Biz Ghormley, Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy (EPIP)
- Paul Kim, Philanthropy Northwest
- Tuly Martinez, Southern California Grantmakers
- Grace Nicolette, The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP)
- Jennifer Olney, Funders Together to End Homelessness
- Kathy Sessions, Health and Environmental Funders Network
- Elizabeth Whittaker-Walker, Council of Michigan Foundations
Questions about the event?
Please contact Mishka Parkins (202-457-8784) with any questions about the conference program.
Sunday, July 15, 2018
Monday, July 16, 2018
Tuesday, July 17, 2018
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Post-Conference Sessions
Plenary Session Speakers
David Abel
Reporter for The Boston Globe and Filmmaker
Dan Cardinali
Independent Sector
Sarah Eagle Heart
Native Americans in Philanthropy
Carly Hare
CHANGE Philanthropy
Dr. Elizabeth Hinton
Harvard University
Cristina Jimenez
United We Dream
Titus Kaphar
Artist
Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
American University
Shaw Pong Liu
Violinist and Composer, Code Listen
Michael McAfee
PolicyLink
Donna Murray-Brown
Michigan Nonprofit Association
Grant Oliphant
The Heinz Endowments
Richard Rothstein
Economic Policy Institute
Vincent Stehle
Media Impact Funders
Concurrent Session Speakers
Amanda Andere
Funders Together to End Homelessness
Raney Aronson-Rath
Frontiline
Kalisha Bass
Arizona Grantmakers Forum
Kari McCann Boutell
Iowa Council of Foundations
Nadia C. Brigham
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Ronna Brown
Philanthropy New York
Dawn Chirwa
The Giving Practice
Tamara Lucas Copeland
Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers
Jara Dean-Coffey
Luminare Group
Dr. Susan Eaton
Sillerman Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy
Janet Firshein
Burness
Seyron Foo
Southern California Grantmakers
Biz Ghormley
Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy
Storme Gray
Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy
Serenity Greenfield
Exponent Philanthropy
Audrey Haberman
The Giving Practice
Claudia Y. W. Herrold
Philanthropy Ohio
Elisabeth Hyleck
Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers
Nancy Jamison
San Diego Grantmakers
Paul Kim
Philanthropy Northwest
Sindhu Knotz
The Giving Practice
Sophia Lee
Harder+Company
Linda Loranger
Burness
Dwayne Marshall
Southeastern Council of Foundations
David Maurrasse, Ph.D.
Marga Incorporated
Debbie McKeon
Council of Michigan Foundations
Inca A. Mohamed
Facilitator
Keely Monroe
Funders' Committee Civic Participation
Chris Murchison
Center for Positive Organizations, University of Michigan
Grace Nicolette
The Center for Effective Philanthropy
Tamir Novotny
Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy
Michael Pratt
Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University
Mark Sedway
The Giving Practice
Stephen Sherman
Southeastern Council of Foundations
Deborah Aubert Thomas
Philanthropy Ohio
Max von Abendroth
Donors and Foundations Networks in Europe (DAFNE)
Riki Wilchins
TrueChild
Learn more about our sponsorswebinars:
Exploring Trends in Funding Infrastructure
October 2, 2-3 pm ET
Keeping Wealth in Your Place: Using Transfer of Wealth and Local Investing to Promote Regional Prosperity
October 11, 2-3 pm ET
Presenting Sponsors
Silver Sponsor
Bronze Sponsors
CEO Dinner Sponsor
Partner Sponsors
Find out more about becoming a sponsor
To Follow is to Lead
In a guest post, Heather Jaconis of Gateway Center for Giving shares her reflection on ForumCon18, the lessons that she learned from attending, and how she has implemented the lessons in her daily work.
Going Back to School with the Drupal-Salesforce Users Group
Seeing all the back to school pictures earlier this month reminded me of when the users of our collaborative technology platform went “back to school” for our annual Drupal-Salesforce Users Group.
What Does Courageous Philanthropy Look Like?
Forum President and CEO David Biemesderfer reflects back on Grant Oliphant's remarks at the 2018 Forum Annual Conference and the inspiration he found for himself, the Forum and the field.
#ForumCon18: A Conference Like No Other
A guest post from our member, Hilaria Swisher, Program & Engagement Coordinator at Philanthropy West Virginia about her experience as a first-time attendee and how the Forum's Annual Conference was such a unique experience.
Lollipop Moments
A guest post from our member, Ellie Moore, Administrative and Communications Coordinator at Iowa Council of Foundations about how the conference was a "lollipop moment" for her around bringing racial equity to the forefront of thought and discussion in her life.
#FORUMCON18: Sharing and Collaboration at Every Level
A guest post from our member, Christina Marconi, Engagement Manager, Philanthropy Delaware about her experience at this year's Annual Conference.
Talk About Collaboration
A guest post from Lissa Silotto, Communications & Marketing Manager, Indiana Philanthropy Alliance about the collaboration of our Knowledge Management Collaborative.
#ForumCon18 Shows How to Lead Within Your Role
A guest post from Kalisha Bass of Arizona Grantmakers Forum on her leadership lessons from the 2018 Forum Annual Conference and she suggests two-thought-provoking leadershp exercises.
Dispatch from #ForumCon18: Building Common Ground
A guest post by Niamani Mutima, Executive Director of the Africa Grantmakers’ Affinity Group of her reflections on the 2018 Forum Annual Conference and how we need to build a common ground to move our field forward.
Dispatch from #ForumCon18: When Learning is Both Personal and Professional
A guest post by Grace Chiang Nicolette, Vice President, Programming and External Relations at the Center for Effective Philanthropy reflects back on the 2018 Forum Annual Conference and how we have both a professional and personal obligation in achieving racial equity and inclusion.
Dispatch from #ForumCon18: The Support Group That is Essential to Professional Growth. (Us.)
In a guest post, Jen Bokoff, Director of Stakeholder Engagement at Foundation Center, shares her key takeways from the 2018 Forum Annual Conference.
Dispatch from #ForumCon18: What is Most Needed?
A guest post by Leslie Pine, Managing Partner at The Philanthropic Initiative about her experience at the 2018 Forum Annual Conference and the role of philanthropy to create genuine social change.
Best Conference EVER!: #ForumCon18
Michael Hamill Remaley, Senior Vice President, Public Policy & Communications at Philanthropy New York reflects back on his experience at our annual conference last week.
Dispatch from #ForumCon18: Time to Inscape
In a guest post, Nina Sachdev of Media Impact Funders reflects on her journey to last week's Forum Annual Conference and the value a concurrent session on Inscaping can have to our work.
Dispatch from #ForumCon18: What is Philanthropy Bringing to the Table?
In a guest post from Sarah Brown-Campello, Programs and & Network Coordinator at WINGS looking back at our annual conference in Boston and its core them of racial equity, diversity and inclusion.
Dispatch from #ForumCon18: The Savior Complex in a Complex Society
In a guest post from Nikki Powell, Effective Practices Director at PEAK Grantmaking, she reflects on Grant Oliphant's presentation at our annual conference last week in Boston.
Dispatch from #ForumCon18: Deities & Demons
Sean Parnell, Vice President for Public Policy at Philanthropy Roundtable reflects back on the opening keynote with Titus Kaphar at the 2018 Forum Annual Conference.