As funders, you are looking at your applications differently than you were a few years ago. You are walking the fine line between a comprehensive application that helps you make quality decisions and one that takes your grantees tens of hours to complete. At Blackbaud, we knew it was time to take a hard look at our applicant portal as well.  
 
As we modernized our applicant and grantee experience, it was imperative to us to reach out directly with those writing and completing grant applications to understand their day-to-day, and gain insight into their needs and their challenges. That initial discovery was only the beginning. We'll share what we learned, how it's affecting development, and how it's inspired us to be a better partner for funders and applicants.

In the tech sector, there's a term you hear during integrations: “Garbage in. Garbage out.” While bringing a new database on line always involves some integration of pre-existing data and process, success hinges on careful attention to clearing out the old data to make way for a "clean" or fresh start. Even so, many dread the time it takes—especially considering the long, slow march from discovery to implementation—to dig into years of data and workstreams to get rid of the junk.

Well, on the road toward becoming a next-level nonprofit, PEAK Grantmaking President and CEO Satonya Fair knows that not only do we need to learn new competencies, both individuals and organizations need to take time to shed old ways of thinking and operating that no longer serve leaders or our sector. Join us for our annual conversation with Satonya to hear what she, along with the PEAK's staff and board, are learning and unlearning in order to help the organization and the philanthropic sector fully embrace equitable and inclusive practices as essential to operational excellence.

As women wield greater economic power and harness their influence to lead change, their generosity is rapidly transforming the philanthropic landscape. What is possible when women are active participants in philanthropic work, engaging all the levers available to advance the public good?

The Women’s Philanthropy Institute, part of the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI, increases understanding of women’s philanthropy through rigorous research and education with the vision of empowering women to use their wealth and power to uplift others. Following WPI's sixth national symposium All In, All Rise, WPI Associate Director Jacquie Ackerman sits down with Symposium participants to discuss how women’s involvement in philanthropy influences and strengthens communities, encourages greater strategic giving and builds a more diverse community of engaged citizens.

Many funders have made a real effort to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in their grantmaking practices and are looking to one another to share effective practices and case studies. We are joined by leading grantmaking organizations sharing their work, learnings and findings with you, fellow grantmakers and fundraisers, for your comments and questions. Join us to:

• Gain greater insight into the impact of your work and
  promote equitable grantmaking practices at your
  organization
• Learn from the experiences of highly influential
  grantmakers as they share their top tips and challenges
• Receive practical advice on the collection and use of
  Diversity, Equity and Inclusion data from our experts

If you’re a nonprofit or local government agency or work alongside them, there is a good chance you have seen an uptick in funding possibilities within your field. COVID-19 took the world by surprise, and along with it came a government response with unprecedented spending and a massive increase in grant funding. The pandemic was terrible and nothing like anyone has experienced. But the new funding is good news for both traditional and aspiring grant recipients.

Like many grantmaking organizations in recent years, the Two-Ten Footwear and Dater Foundations needed to address community needs outside of their usual missions during crisis.  And, like many of you, they were concerned about the long-term impact that stepping outside their lane might have on their core mission. Join us as Blackbaud's own Melissa Furr, manager of Global Social Responsibility for Blackbaud, hosts a panel with Lisa Tacker, vice president of Relief Program and Information Services at Two Ten Footwear Foundation, and Beth Broomall, grants coordinator at Charles H. Dater Foundation.  These two veteran grantmakers will discuss how they leaned into their experience and technology to inform organizational best practices for their foundations moving forward, and how you can too.

Your grantees understand the needs of their communities, but providing unrestricted, multi-year support can be a different way of thinking for many nonprofit organizations. You want the additional funding flexibility to be a benefit, not a burden.
 
Whether you are already incorporating the principles of trust-based philanthropy into your grantmaking or are looking for ways to get started, join us for a webinar where we discuss the steps you can take to help your practitioners achieve long-term financial success through trust-based philanthropy.

This webinar will explore the important role that grantmaking foundations can play in empowering communities and leading positive change. Participants will learn about best practices for building strong partnerships with communities and facilitating community-led initiatives, and will leave with practical tools and strategies for effective community leadership. This webinar will help attendees understand the role of grantmaking foundations as community leaders, learn strategies for building strong partnerships with communities, identify opportunities for empowering community-led initiatives, and develop a plan for incorporating community leadership into grantmaking strategies. This webinar is designed for grantmakers, foundation leaders, and other philanthropic professionals looking to deepen their understanding of community leadership.

Funders are increasingly interested in participatory practices to shift power to communities, even beyond grantmaking. But, what does that look like across the functional areas of a foundation, including governance, grantmaking, communications, monitoring, learning and evaluation, and more? Two longtime practitioners of participation in philanthropy, Diana Samarasan and Katy Love, have developed a self-assessment tool that can help funders see where they are and identify opportunities to expand participation by people with lived experience in their work. Join us to learn about this tool and how it can support you to know if you’re doing it!

Are you a grantmaker driven by a mission to make a positive difference, but find it challenging to balance your own well-being with the demands of your work? Do you want to create a healthier workplace for your team and grantees but are unsure where to begin?

This interactive webinar will delve into the workplace well-being challenges faced by grantmakers and their grantees. You will learn practical steps you can take right away to shift from a burnout culture to a culture that prioritizes well-being, empowering you and your organization to achieve more sustainable impact.

Tech overwhelm, anyone? In what ways does your current technology boost your team's efficiency and grantmaking outcomes--and in what ways does it hold you back? Join Elaine Gast Fawcett along with featured IT and grants management leaders to talk about ways to boost efficiencies within your technology and grantmaking processes. We'll discuss ways to take inventory of your current tech stack and reduce redundancies, develop a clear criteria and process for choosing/onboarding new tech, and put the right solutions in place to support your teams and your grantee partners. Whether you work at a large or small-staffed grantmaking organization, you'll leave the webinar with actionable guidance on how to streamline tech solutions, create clear processes, and drive more internal and external impact.

As a grantmaker you have a tremendous power to influence local and larger nonprofit ecosystems and the ways in which community members experience care and support. What if you could learn how to not only more deeply embed empathy into your work, but also reduce wasted time and resources, all while creating deeper impact? Join Heather Hiscox to learn how diving into uncertainty by asking new questions and taking small bites of big problems, can transform your giving and results.