Workshops

Giving Big: Lessons Learned From a Radical Approach to Philanthropy

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 …

Fort Worth’s Fund to Advance Racial Equity: Perspectives From Two Grantees

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 …

Shifting Power in Tribal Communities To Advance Economic Mobility

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 …

I Just Want To Help: Understanding the Problematic Roots of Volunteerism and Moving Forward With Compassion

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 …

Neighborhood Self-Defense Against Environmental Racism

Black, Brown, and low-income neighborhoods have been racially zoned to disproportionately host toxic polluters along floodplains, highways, and switchyards. Downwinders at Risk, a local 30-year-old grassroots clean air and environmental justice nonprofit, is working with neighborhoods to reverse this racist zoning practice in Dallas. This session will provide an overview …

Better Language: A New Voice for Philanthropy

The past few years have been pivotal for philanthropy. In the midst of simultaneous health, economic, and racial justice crises, foundations and philanthropists have shown how flexible they can be to support the immediate needs of communities across the U.S. Despite this, there is still uncertainty about what philanthropy as …

Making Demographic Data Work for Nonprofits

There is heightened interest in nonprofit demographic data — to gain visibility into equity in the sector, uplift the work of BIPOC-led organizations, and direct resources to the communities they serve. But duplicate and disparate requests for this information have created a significant burden on the same nonprofits we pledged …

Shifting Power to Community Leaders: A Case Study in Participatory Action Research

To advance racial equity in the nonprofit sector, we must shift the power at all levels — including in research and evaluation. Research in nonprofits has historically been grounded in white supremacist mindsets and ideologies that view impoverished neighborhoods and communities of color as passive recipients of services. In an …

Elevating Diverse Voices Through New Models of Civic Engagement

Points of Light’s Civic Circle® is a framework that helps the social sector advance a cause or social issue based on the idea that a diversified engagement strategy, intentionally expanded beyond volunteering, can create pathways for increased and deeper engagement. For those not yet involved, it provides an onramp where …

Can We Abolish Dying Wages for Early Childhood Educators?

How can innovative budgeting solutions unlock a true living wage for our early childhood educators while expanding access and quality? The field of early childhood education struggles to provide living wages to educators, many of whom can now make more working at Walmart or Amazon warehouses. It’s time to unlock …

Continuous Becoming: Artistic Practice and Community Building In Response to Racism, Ableism, and Shame

Black and Disabled   individuals living in the United States consistently contend with institutional and compounding systemic racism, ableism, heterosexism, ageism, sexism, and classism. In recent years, these systemic challenges have compelled artists and leaders within Black and Disability communities to rely on art and protest as a way to find …

Leveraging Racial Equity Assessments to Spark Change in Communities of Practice

As the nonprofit sector doubles down on its commitment to advance workplace equity, we must collectively cultivate spaces for peer learning and offer accessible tools to assess diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts across the industry. Join the Building Movement Project (BMP) and ProInspire for an interactive workshop exploring how …

What Everyone Can Learn From Leaders of Color

“How do we make sure things at an organization meaningfully change besides just the faces around a table?” “Does the diversity of leadership really matter if an organization already factors race into its strategy?” We have heard a variety of questions like these in response to the calls to elevate …

How Today’s Scholarships Create Tomorrow’s Leaders

Investing in young people is vital to increase economic mobility and build an economy centered on equity, justice, inclusion, and impact. By helping to fund the education of today’s under-resourced students, philanthropic organizations and corporations can champion visibility and increase representation in the workforce, paving the way for a diverse …

Public Dollars for Public Good

Public investments transcend what philanthropy generates in a lifetime. Our federal government spends trillions of dollars on everything from improving the conditions of roads and subsidizing food for poor families to providing healthcare to the elderly and education for our children. But, over the past 60 years, our government has …

Black Joy in Green Spaces: Exploring Nature’s Positive Influence on the Health of Black Women

What is Black Joy? It is an everyday aspect of the Black experience, and a response to the flawed Strong Black Woman stereotype that promotes hyper-productivity, rather than holistic pause. Black women often prioritize productivity over our personal peace of mind. And, sadly, the efforts we pour into achieving personal …

Philanthropic Equity in Action: A Case Study of Place and Race

In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and a nationwide racial justice reckoning, many foundations and corporations made commitments to advance racial equity. The question isn’t why this work is critical, but rather: How can we do it effectively, equitably, and impactfully? Come learn about Community Progress Makers …

Southern Dallas Thrives: Co-Creating Community With Intentional Investment

Created in partnership with the PepsiCo Foundation and Frito-Lay North America, the Southern Dallas Thrives initiative provides vital investment opportunities to the Southern Dallas community to create lasting change and measurable impact. In this session, you’ll learn about the role of philanthropic investment and community partnerships that advance the lives …

Breaking Down Barriers: Reimagining Equitable Access to Data, Tools, and Funding

Roughly 10% of the nation’s nonprofits are led by individuals from Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color, but they only receive about 4% of grant dollars annually. There are many reasons for this, but it is no coincidence that over 90% of foundation CEOs are white, while organizations led …

Reimagining Reparations: Building a Culture of Repair

The issue of reparations has recently gained considerable momentum. However, many define reparations narrowly — as cash payments, relegated to the public sector, and only benefitting Black people. Liberation Ventures thinks differently. Reparations for slavery and its legacy are not just about money or policy; reparations are comprehensive repair and …

Avoiding the Glass Cliff: Lessons Learned From Leaders in the Field

In 1978, consultant Marilyn Loden coined the term “glass ceiling” to describe the barriers women face moving up the corporate ladder. The “glass cliff” is an evolution of that phenomenon that further examines these barriers through a racial lens. It has broadened to describe the unenviable position many BIPOC leaders …

Practices that Support Racial Equity and Systems Change: A Decade of Learning from Collective Impact

What does it take to create systems change that centers racial equity in the process, participation, and outcomes of a coalition? This interactive session will share lessons and practical tools created with and inspired by the work of hundreds of coalitions across the U.S. We  will ground the session in …