Global Giving Now: Meeting the Challenge, Seizing the Opportunity
CONFERENCE PROGRAM

Monday, June 8th - Tuesday, June 9th - Wednesday, June 10th
Special Pre-Conference Event: Gender and Global Grantmaking   Learn more…
Please visit this site regularly for updates, additions and modifications to the program.

MONDAY, JUNE 8TH

Regional Working Group Meetings on Meso-America and Africa
Africa: 9:00 am to 4:45 pm
Meso-America: 10:00 am to 4:45 pm
The Meso-America Grantmakers Group (MAGG) brings together some 50 Gw/oB members working in Central America and Southern Mexico. Gw/oB has recently launched a similar regional working group for members active in Africa. Each group will convene for a day of dialogue and strategizing on grantmaking in their respective region. First-time participants in these regional working groups are invited to attend these once-a-year convenings. There is a separate registration fee of $50 to attend a regional working group meeting.
Click HERE for the Africa meeting program
Click HERE for the Meso-America meeting program

Conference Orientation and Speed Networking
5:00 to 7:00 pm
Conference organizers will provide a brief run-through of the conference agenda to help participants navigate the program. Then, we'll have some fun with the first of several facilitated networking sessions: Speed Networking, like "speed dating" but for making professional connections. Make fast first contact with conference participants to discover the colleagues you'd most like to speak with later on during the conference.

Welcome Reception
7:00 to 9:00 pm
Relax after your arrival, catch up with old colleagues and meet new ones at a festive conference welcome reception. With refreshments, music and good cheer.

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TUESDAY, JUNE 9TH

Healthy Conference Center
A choice of times throughout the conference
Conference participants looking for an energy boost or a mental break can pay a visit to the Healthy Conference Center, featuring ongoing sessions of guided meditation, acupuncture, and qigong. Offered by Acupuncturists Without Borders.

Networking Breakfast: "My Journey"
8:00 to 9:00 am
In this facilitated networking session, conference participants will meet over breakfast to share stories of their journeys in philanthropy and in global social change.

Opening General Session:
More than Money: Value-Added Grantmaking
9:00 to 10:30 am
In these tough economic times, many funders are struggling to balance their commitment to supporting grantees with the reality of shrunken grantmaking budgets. Offering "value-added" services is one strategy that grantmakers have used to complement their grants. Gw/oB members have many stories to share on how they've used this strategy, from deploying experienced staff to provide management and technical support, to convening grantees for networking and peer-to-peer learning, to making gifts of stock that allow grantees to issue proxies to leverage corporate responsibility. This workshop will explore some of the ways that funders can support grantees beyond straightforward grantmaking. We'll also share stories from the field about what value-added services mean to grantees. With Betsy Brill, Strategic Philanthropy; Karen Ashmore, Lambi Fund of Haiti; Susanna Shapiro, Global Fund for Children; David Mattingly, Fund for Global Human Rights; and Stephen Viederman, Christopher Reynolds Foundation

Breakout Workshops
10:45 am 12:30 pm

My Boat is so Small and the Sea is so Big: Connecting Grassroots Groups with International Policy
Grassroots communities around the world, though profoundly affected by international policy, often feel that they have no way to influence global players like the World Trade Organization and World Bank. Experience shows, though, that they do, and strategic grantmakers can help. Through funding a holistic combination of grassroots organizations, national NGOs, people's organizations and international networks, funders can help people speak truth to power and get a seat at the rarified tables of the International Monetary Fund and other global players. This workshop will explore how social movements can successfully affect international policy decision-making, and how funders can best help. With Peter Kostishack, Global Greengrants Fund; Armstrong Wiggins, Indian Law Resource Center; and Sarojeni Rengam, Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (Malaysia)

Grantmaking Strategies to Promote Resource Rights and North-South Cooperation on Natural Resource Struggles
The rights of local and indigenous communities to the natural resources in their own territory—and their right to control the decisions regarding the use of these resources—lay at the heart of many human rights conflicts in the global South. Conflicts over natural resources are increasing in both number and intensity throughout the Americas and indeed the globe, giving resource rights a new prominence and visibility. Using as a case study the issue of mining in Guatemala, this workshop will explore a comprehensive grantmaking strategy designed to address complex resource rights conflicts through elements that include grassroots organizing, policy advocacy, and corporate campaigning. With Lael Parish, The Moriah Fund; Natalia Atz Sunuc, Association for Community Promotion and Development (Guatemala); and Maria Lya Ramos, Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala

All Grantmaking is Local: Empowering Local People to Make Grantmaking Decisions
At most foundations, grant decisions are made by foundation staff and boards. New models are emerging which put the responsibility for decision-making in the hands of local people. The results have been striking: a high level of local ownership and commitment to the work, increased capacity at the grassroots level, and greater collaboration between and among grantees, even with very small grants. This workshop will explore three successful models of local decision-making and, through a hands-on exercise, inspire participants to consider how they might allow local decisions on grants made by their own organizations. With Jennifer Holthaus and Deepa Joshi, John D. Rockefeller 3rd Scholars Program at Winrock International; and Nora Lester Murad, Dalia Association (Palestine)

The Agony and the Ecstasy of Funding Social Movements
This session will focus on funding social movements, especially those involved in creating socially and economically just alternatives. The workshop will provide an overview of the exciting work of building new worlds—mainly propelled by social movements—with powerful perspectives brought by both engaged movement activists as well as movement funders. In a dialogue with all those present, we will explore respectful, conscious, collaborative grantmaking and ways to resolve the challenges of supporting social movements. Come get inspired and then deepen your understanding of how to transform your funding to some of today's most innovative changemakers. With Angela Martinez, American Jewish World Service; Maria Aguilar, Grassroots International; Beverly Bell, Other Worlds; and Omoyele Sowore, SaharaReports.com

Measuring Success: Microfinance, Social Impacts and Listening to Borrowers
Donors interested in global development and poverty alleviation have invested significantly in microfinance, impressed by the repayment rates of low-income borrowers and the potential for financial sustainability of microfinance institutions (MFIs). Current metrics for success are largely defined by the MFIs themselves, but what has been the experience of borrowers and how can positive social impact be assessed to become part of the equation? In this workshop, funders will learn about current efforts to measure the social impact of microfinance programs and to elevate the voices of borrowers in the design and implementation of microfinance programs around the globe. With Susan Beaudry, Grantmakers Without Borders; Mary Jo Kochendorfer, Grameen Foundation; Kasia Paprocki, Goldin Institute; and Kushi Kabeer, Nijera Kori (Bangladesh)

Networking Lunch: Participant Roundtables
12:30 to 2:00 pm
Conference participants are invited to convene colleagues for networking discussions on grantmaking issues of shared interest.

Lunchtime Briefings:

Equivalency Determination: The Centralized NGO Repository Project
1:00 to 2:00 pm
If you make -- or would like to make -- cross-border grants but find the IRS equivalency determination process tedious, time-consuming and expensive, this session is for you. The Council on Foundations, Foundation Center, Independent Sector, and InterAction are working with TechSoup Global to create a centralized repository of NGO information that will rationalize the equivalency determination process and make it easier and less costly for all concerned. Come hear a presentation about the current status of the repository, how it will work, how it can help you, how the IRS views it and when it will be launched. Bring your interest, your questions and your lunch! With Rob Buchanan, Council on Foundations; and Marty Schneiderman, Information Age Associates

Replacing the Treasury Guidelines: Brainstorming Specifics of Reform Proposals
1:00 to 2:00 pm
Long-time criticisms of Treasury's Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines are being heard in the new political environment. That means we are being asked "what do you want" instead? This session will brainstorm issues involved in drafting specific reform proposals, such as:

• If humanitarian assistance is exempted from the definition of prohibited "material support" of terrorism, how should it be defined?
• Should Treasury have the power to order changes in operations instead of shutting down charities, and if so, how should an appeal process work?

Sponsored by the Charity and Security Network /OMB Watch

Breakout Workshops
2:15 to 4:00 pm

From Waste to Well-Being: Recycling for Enterprise, Empowerment and Environment
Throughout the world, waste management presents major health and environmental challenges at the local level, and it is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions that affects all of us. At the same time, waste management presents major opportunities for generating green jobs and economic enterprise. Some highly innovative partnerships are now emerging to meet the huge challenges of ensuring that waste management leads to decent and safe jobs, new wealth, and healthy environments among poor communities. This session will look at the experiences of Brazil's thriving movement of "catadores", the street collectors who are organizing to convert this traditionally exploitative, dangerous and polluting industry into a force for empowerment and well-being. With Becky Buell, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Athayde Motta, Oxfam (Brazil); Roberto Laureano, Movimento Nacional de Catadores de Materiais Reciclaveis (Brazil); and Joao Ruschel, Cata Sampa Network (Brazil)

Partnerships for Community Engagement
Interest in community engagement and participatory development has been growing among both donors and practitioners. Despite this trend, there are few working models of such engagements and a surprisingly limited dialogue over ways to transform this attention from an "ideal" to a reality. This workshop will explore innovative strategies for engaging communities in development debates and offer approaches that donors can use to build partnerships to promote and ensure participatory development. The workshop will investigate community engagement strategies that incorporate community voices into the planning, execution and evaluation of programs and empower communities to advocate for their own needs, rights, and aspirations. With Monower Mostafa and Jason Cons, Goldin Institute; and Kushi Kabeer, Nijera Kori (Bangladesh)

Women Redefining Peace: Building Truly Collaborative Initiatives to Promote Genuine Security
Scanning the globe one could easily draw the conclusion that our world teems with violence, war and civil conflict. Within and beyond these battle zones, we also observe the staggering amount of violence routinely experienced by women: at least one in three women will be beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime. This session will explore successful social justice movements that achieved real progress toward lasting peace and building genuine security. We will identify the salient aspects of these movements with the ultimate goal of informing future practices, especially among grantmakers, that will cultivate genuine security. With Leila Hessini, IPAS; Mariam Gagoshashvili, Women's Fund in Georgia (Georgia); Gael Murphy, CODEPINK; and Lorelei Kelly, American Progressive Caucus Policy Foundation

Criminalization of Social Movements and Protest: Latin American Movements Respond
Social movement activists worldwide report a sharp increase in official repression, arrests on trumped-up charges, and legal challenges to organizing work: In short, the criminalization of social protest. In some movements, the crippling effect is reaching crisis proportions. The problem cuts across issues—from resource rights, to labor, to indigenous and women's movements. This session will report on dynamic responses by human rights activists in Mexico, Colombia and the World Social Forum. It will also include a participatory discussion on the role of funders and possible strategies that funders can use to counter this threat and to support social movement priorities. With Angela Martínez, American Jewish World Service; Hildebrando Galeano, CENSAT, Agua Viva (Colombia); and Abel Barrera Hernández, Tlachinollan Human Rights Center (Mexico)

Networking Session: The Reciprocity Web
4:30 to 5:30 pm
We all know people. But do we truly comprehend just how mighty a tool our connections with others can be? In this facilitated networking session, we'll use a simple but creative tool called a Reciprocity Web to make connections with one another and—best of all—find ways to solve real-life problems by tapping into the rich Gw/oB network.

Evening Events
Beginning at 5:45 pm

Dine Arounds
Continue your learning and networking while enjoying an evening on the town! Like breakout workshops, each Dine-Around will focus on global issues and grantmaking strategies. We'll start at the conference venue with hour-long presentations and discussions, and then we'll head out into the city for a great meal and a continuation of our conversations in an intimate and private restaurant setting.

The Local and Global Impact of Diaspora Giving
Join a lively discussion as the Chicago Global Donors Network shares its exciting new findings on diaspora giving, based on in-depth interviews conducted with over 100 diaspora donors in Chicago. In 2008, diaspora donors contributed over $5 million to global projects and over $7 million to local human needs programs in Chicago (soup kitchens, youth mentoring, health education, medical care and other social goals). Learn how they help develop infrastructure, engage local governments and promote democracy in the process. Find out how this growing trend of diaspora philanthropy affects global and local giving.

Gender and Global Grantmaking
A growing number of foundations and donors are recognizing that lasting social change demands the full and equitable participation of women. Come learn about Gw/oB's Gender and Global Grantmaking Initiative, a partnership with the International Network of Women's Funds whose aim is to assist grantmakers to truly integrate a gender equity framework into their grantmaking. Join gender experts from around the world and participants of Gw/oB's Gender Workshop to explore what an authentic gender lens looks like and requires.

Water Rights, and Wrongs: Grantmaking for another World
Over the last year, 18 participants joined the Other Worlds Are Possible Giving Circle, hosted by Gw/oB and the Other Worlds collaborative. We explored economic, social and environmental alternatives flourishing around the world, especially in water rights, our chosen focus. Join us to hear how our grantees create and strengthen innovative models to protect water and ensure popular access to it. In addition, learn how the Circle models respectful grantmaking, addressing power dynamics in philanthropy. We intend to eat well, exchange heartily, and foster hope, all in time for dessert.

Small Foundations and Global Giving
Join colleagues from small foundations to discuss our unique role as global givers. In an interview format, we will ask colleague foundations to describe how they have found their niche in global giving and the challenges they have encountered. The dine-around will feature Rachael Richards and Linn Kincannon of the Arthur Schultz Foundation that works in Vietnam, Palestine, Guatemala and Kenya on social microenterprise and disabled mobility. As a group, we will share effective techniques on how to identify trustworthy partners, engage with peers by networking, and make a difference through personal involvement.

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10TH

Breakfast and Morning Plenary:
Change is Good: Progress and Opportunity amidst the Global Economic Crisis
8:30 to 10:30 am
Clearly the world around us has changed dramatically. But as the old maxim goes: Change is good. In this morning plenary, we'll hear from a panel of experts who see great opportunities for positive change amidst the madness around us. We'll explore what our world might look like on the other side of this chasm—how our economic systems could be made more equitable and just and how our relationship to nature and the planet might be made healthier. And we'll explore how grantmakers can best support this vital path forward. With Ellen Dorsey, Wallace Global Fund; Sarah Anderson, Institute for Policy Studies; and Tom Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network

Breakout Workshops
10:45 am to 12:30 pm

Mobile Technology for Social Change: The Landscape, Project Successes, and What Comes Next
Research and empirical evidence have demonstrated the positive impact that mobile technology has had for the work of NGOs in the global South. The session will map out a brief history of the use of mobile technology in development work and share exciting and impressive undertakings that have delivered results. Come to gain a deeper familiarity with how mobile technologies have been used in development work and be inspired by the vibrant, diverse, and creative community of people using mobile technology for positive social and environmental change in the developing world. With Claire Thwaites, United Nations Foundation; Ella Silverman, World of Good Development Organization; Rosa Donna, Datadyne; and Deb Levine, ISIS

New Directions in Microfinance
Decades after microcredit was first made available in the Global South, microfinance has evolved into a complex, global poverty alleviation strategy. Today, microfinance offers a varied menu of financial products, support services, delivery methodologies and philosophical underpinnings. This session will use a SWOT framework (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) to examine the current juncture in the microfinance movement and to hear from funders, practitioners and researchers about promising innovations, new tools of the trade, best practices and cautionary tales. With Catherine Duggan, Harvard Business School; John Ambler, Oxfam America; Malini Tolat, Grameen Foundation; and Susan Beaudry, Grantmakers Without Borders

One of the best professional conferences I have ever attended. The combination of grassroots activists, NGOs and foundations was excellent. -Gw/oB conference participant

Beyond the Power Dynamic: Building Equal Partnerships with Grantseekers to Push for Social Change
In the face of incredible social, political and environmental challenges, transformative change is needed at all levels of society. Too often however, grantmakers and grantseekers seem to come from different worlds, and power imbalances make it difficult to work in truly collaborative partnership. Funders and grassroots leaders have been grappling with these issues over the last 18 months through the Funder's Network on Trade and Globalization's Funder/Movement initiative. This session will share what's being learned about the social movement ecosystem and discuss key challenges and opportunities for moving beyond the power dynamic to work collaboratively with grassroots leaders to support effective movement-building for long-term social change. With Sarah Christiansen, Solidago Foundation; Mark Randazzo, Funders Network on Trade and Globalization; and Cindy Weisner, Grassroots Global Justice

Finding Common Ground on Evaluation: Approaches to Impact Evaluation in North-South Alliances
Social change grantmakers and civil society organizations in the global South constantly seek more effective ways of learning from their work, improving their performance and demonstrating impact. Evaluation is a challenging yet important tool. We will share essential definitions and understandings of evaluation of social change and engage session participants on how different conceptions of evaluation between partners in a North–South alliance impact our work together. Participants will leave with ideas for deepening their work related to social change evaluation. Presented by ForAL's North-South Working Group for Evaluation of Social Change, in which Latin American social movements activists and Northern donors are working on this theme. With Diego Merino, American Jewish World Service; Virginia Lacayo, Central American Women's Fund (Nicaragua); and Maria Atilano, Centro de Promoción y Educación Profesional Vasco de Quiroga (Mexico).

Encouraging South-South Partnerships
Global South entities have a great capacity to forge creative solutions using a culturally appropriate, collaborative approach, and a bottom-up model with community led involvement. By sharing ideas and experiences with peers in the global South, members of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya and grassroots leaders of the Lambi Fund of Haiti are supporting each other with indigenous wisdom, peer exchange and collaboration to reforest their countries. Using a case study format, this workshop will explore a leading partnership between two social change organizations in the global South. Attendees will learn how to facilitate and support peer to peer exchanges in the global South. With Leonie Hermantin, Lambi Fund of Haiti (Haiti); Jeannette D. Gurung, Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management: and Cassandra Pataky, Green Belt Movement USA

Lunch and Grantmakers Without Borders Annual Meeting
12:30 to 2:00 pm
Grantmakers Without Borders will share updates and highlights of an exciting and dynamic period in the organization's history.

Breakout Workshops
2:15 to 4:00 pm

Grantmakers of the World Unite! Forging Successful Funder Collaborations
In these tough economic times, collaboration between and among funders makes more sense than ever. By pooling funding, grantmakers can really stretch their grantmaking dollars. By forging joint strategies with like-minded funders, grantmakers can really maximize impact. And by sharing staff and back-office support, funders can help save on administrative costs. These are just a few of many benefits of collaboration, but as anyone who's tried it knows, collaboration ain't always easy! This session will explore several successful examples of funder collaboration, and participants will walk away with useful tools and advice for forging funder collaborations. With Jim Coutre, The Philanthropic Initiative; Catherine Townsend, Wellspring Advisors and Disability Rights Fund; William Rowland, Disability Rights Fund (South Africa); and Mónica Larenas, Fund for Nonviolence

Transforming the Global Food System
Across the world, the food and agricultural supply chain is in transformation. Social movements are working together to reshape who controls agricultural production and the profits made from it, how far food travels to get to market, the health of that food and the land on which it is grown, how consumers have access to food, and the rights of the workers who plant, harvest and process it. This workshop will explore changes that are happening along the way, the movements behind those changes, and how funders can be supportive of this vital component of environmental, social, and economic justice. With Valentine Doyle, Lawson Valentine Foundation; Beverly Bell, Other Worlds; Carlos Marentes, Border Agriculture Workers Project; Gerardo Reyes Chavez, Coalition of Immokalee Workers; and Kathy Ozer, National Family Farm Coalition

Complexity-based Evaluations: When Traditional Evaluation Approaches
are not Enough
Although social change is a non-linear, long-term, uncontrollable and unpredictable process requiring efforts at multiple levels, most social change-focused grantmakers and their partners continue to frame their strategies in linear terms, as if their programs can be evaluated in isolation from other efforts and can demonstrate impact in the short term. Complexity science reframes our view of many systems that are only partially understood by traditional scientific methods. Participants will explore complexity-based evaluation, which can broaden our notion of evaluation and open our minds to alternative approaches in order to understand not only what changed, but also how change happened. Presented by ForAL's North-South Working Group for Evaluation of Social Change, formed by Latin American social movements activists and Northern grantmakers. With Virginia Lacayo, Central American Women's Fund (Nicaragua); Ana Juanche, Forging Alliances North and South /SERPAJ (Uruguay); and Saulo Araujo, Grassroots International

The Evolution—and Revolution—of Social Networking and Communications Technology: What Funders Need to Know
A revolution in social networking and communications technology is rapidly evolving around us and transforming how NGOs and social movements find, reach, and mobilize communities. Even in the most remote areas of the global South, tools like Facebook, YouTube and Skype are enabling activists across great distances to communicate, collaborate and synchronize at low cost, high proficiency, and rapid speed. But it isn't just the tools for outreach and communication that are changing: There is a shift in logic and strategy that comes with these changes that offers new challenges and opportunities for activists and funders alike. This session will explore this remarkable transformation and how funders can help grantees make the most of this changing landscape. With Marty Kearns, Netcentric Campaigns and Green Media Toolshed

Closing General Session:
"Now What Do I Do!?": Sketching a New Line Forward
4:15 to 5:30 pm
Okay. You've spent the last few days discussing and debating things that you're passionate about, sharing your stories and hearing those of others, learning new things along with new ways to think about them… Now what do you do? In this closing session, conference participants will consider how they can take what they've learned back to the office—and truly use it in their grantmaking work. Along with sketching out a plan of action, conference participants will also find ways to support one another, and hold one another accountable, in the journey ahead.

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