Workshops – Thursday 9:30am

Housing Forward is the lead agency in addressing homelessness in Dallas and Collin Counties. Through a unique philanthropic partnership with the Homeless Funders Collaborative led by The Meadows Foundation, they have combined the power of private and public funding to make an immense impact on the homeless response system. This new model has played an integral role in significantly reducing unsheltered chronic homelessness and transformed our system to allow placement of more neighbors in stable housing faster than ever before. They will dive into the story behind this visionary collaboration and discover how philanthropy is turning the tide on addressing homelessness in our community. Join us for an inspiring journey of change, innovation, and a shared vision for a brighter, more hopeful Dallas.

Hear from March to the Polls and Community Frontline, two Fort Worth-area nonprofits that have received grants and capacity-building support under the Fund to Advance Racial Equity at the North Texas Community Foundation. Nonprofit leaders will share about their programming, as well as their experience participating in a cohort-based grant program. You’ll learn about strategies to increase civic engagement, improve policy-community relations, and advance racial justice. Furthermore, presenters will share an approach to grantmaking that includes diverse community input for decision-making and capacity-building resources that extend beyond financial support.

MacKenzie Scott’s massive unrestricted gifts to nonprofits, including many seeking to advance equity, represented a radical departure from the proscriptive approach of many of her peers —which is often characterized by much smaller, frequently restricted grants. What can funders and nonprofits alike learn from the experience of the recipients of Scott’s grants? What have been the effects — intended or unintended — of her gifts on organizations, fields, communities, and equity efforts? This session will offer a sneak preview of new, not-yet-released findings from year two of a multiyear study by the Center for Effective Philanthropy to track the uses, effects, and consequences of Scott’s gifts. The session will both share findings and, in an interactive process, invite you to reflect on relevant lessons for your own work — whether as funders or operating nonprofits.

The desire to help others can be a powerful motivation to volunteer, but when that desire is rooted in pity and paternalism, or a need to save someone seen as less fortunate, it can do more harm than good. Too often, organizations use language based in saviorism to recruit and motivate volunteers, especially volunteers coming from outside the community being served. Jennifer Bennett, CVA from VolunteerMatch, along with Faiza Venzant, CVA from the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration, will lead a dynamic conversation exploring how the principles of white supremacy culture show up in our work leading volunteers and how we can disrupt them in order to ensure more equitable access to volunteerism. Attendees will be encouraged to reflect on how they and their organizations currently recruit, motivate and deploy volunteers, and they will be introduced to the principles and characteristics of white supremacy culture and how they show up in volunteerism. They will also have the opportunity to investigate how volunteer engagement is currently limiting who is invited to volunteer, and how the intent to “do good” does not always create a positive impact. Attendees will leave with tools and language to move forward with compassion.

Have you heard about “impact investing” but you’re not sure what the term includes or how it relates to you and your organization? Have you wondered how mission-driven investing can benefit the communities you serve? Come to this session prepared for a discussion directly with workshop leaders. Together you will unpack the terms and map out on paper how each ecosystem actor can take a role in advancing impact by using or attracting a variety of investment types and tools that complement grant funding. This session is intended to be relevant not just to foundations and not-for-profit organizations, but to interested individuals from across sectors.

To achieve our shared goals of healthier, thriving, and equitable communities, our voters must reflect our communities. As funders, conveners, collaborators, and catalyzers, foundations can inspire and support voter engagement work that builds a more inclusive and equitable democracy and ensures local communities are heard in our democratic process. Whether your mission is healthier environments, improving social determinants of health, or increased investment in arts education, foundations have a role to play in prioritizing voter engagement in your work. This fall, Nonprofit VOTE will unveil its latest resource — the Philanthropy for Voter Engagement Toolkit — to help foundations foster a philanthropic system that consistently supports and resources voter engagement among their grantees and broader community. Toolkit topics include: how foundations can leverage capacity and skills building for their grantees on nonpartisan voter engagement; communications campaigns by foundations to elevate voting in their communities shifts toward trust-based philanthropy that provide direct funding to grantees to focus on voter engagement; how to support ecosystem building for collaborative voter engagement programs; and funder collaboratives that align and maximize funder engagement. Learn about updated tools and resources to support your foundation as you explore or expand your voter engagement work, including common strategies and specific case studies, and FAQs to help your foundation support voter engagement to deliver more effectively on your mission and strengthen the communities you serve.

To support Indigenous youth and family success while honoring tribal sovereignty, communities must focus on shifting power. Power-shifting practices should empower community members to lead, and national intermediaries should be working directly with place-based partnerships. Session participants will learn key lessons from national, community, and Indigenous perspectives — from best practices that school districts and CBOs have taken to respect tribal sovereignty, to creating environments that are more welcoming and respectful of Indigenous culture and tradition. You’ll also learn about grantmaking that explores ideas leading to the common goal of advancing economic mobility. And, you’ll better understand how to create actionable and respectful land acknowledgements and build a shared community vision.

Independent Sector’s 33 Principles for Good Governance and Ethical Practice offer standards for nonprofits and foundations to self-regulate – which is essential to maintaining public trust. As distrust in nonprofits and philanthropy grows, we know that the general public continues to demand transparency and accountability from our institutions in return for their trust. Join Independent Sector in this interactive workshop as we assess how the 33 principles, last updated a decade ago, might best be contemporized to meet not only public expectations, but also a dramatically shifting environment in which nonprofits and philanthropy are operating. Join us to discuss legal compliance and public disclosure, financial oversight, diversity, equity, and inclusion, artificial intelligence and data privacy concerns, responsible fundraising, and whatever else might be keeping you, as a charitable sector leader, up at night.