Grantmaking fundamentals

Join us for a grantmaking fundamentals workshop building on best practices across Australia, the United States, and other global philanthropy leaders to benefit you – the new and emerging leaders in our sector. We’ll span topics and content – ranging from big philosophical questions to granular technical approaches – and draw on best practices and insights from across the globe and from our peers in the room. 

Audience: This workshop is designed for emerging leaders in their first few years of grantmaking, as well as those looking to deepen their existing practices.  

This workshop will cover areas such as:  

What is your role in philanthropy?  

• Sorting through sector reality & myths 
• Situating your work amidst diverse giving approaches & grantmaker types 
• Defining your work in relationship to other sectors & field infrastructure 

What is good grantmaking?  

• Exploring the goals, struggles, & debates that define our sector 
• Understanding impact through a funder lens 
• Framing your approach within a broader theory of effective giving 

How should you show up as a funder?  

• Navigating the ethical complexities of giving 
• Balancing power dynamics as a funder 
• Applying the principles of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Justice 
• Managing implicit bias in your daily work 

How can you be more effective?  

• Developing and sustaining thoughtful relationships & communications as a funder 
• Leveraging your support beyond the grant 
• Building the field of philanthropy 

Pricing:

• Member Fee: $400 (+ booking fee)
• Non- member Fee: $600 (+ booking fee) 

Speaker:

Dr. Jason Franklin | Founder and Principle of Ktisis Capital 

Dr. Jason Franklin is Founder & Principal of Ktisis Capital through which he serves as a strategic advisor to a mix of progressive individual donors, families, foundations, networks, and philanthropic collaboratives. Building on 20+ years of philanthropic and organizing experience, his work is focused on moving resources to racial, social, economic & environmental justice and building the skills and capacity of individuals and communities to take action. He serves as board chair of the Michigan Alliance and on Proteus Fund board and the Philanthropy Initiative Working Group at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. He is a co-founder and member of the Solidaire donor network and member of the Threshold Foundation, Democracy Alliance, One for Democracy, Generation Pledge, and WINGS: Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support.

Before launching Ktisis, he served as the inaugural W.K. Kellogg Community Philanthropy Chair at the Johnson Center for Philanthropy (the nation’s first endowed chair focused on community philanthropy), where he engaged in research, teaching, and thought leadership to advance the field, nationally and internationally. He received his PhD from New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service where he also held an appointment for ten years as an award-winning adjunct professor teaching about philanthropy and social change. He previously served as Executive Director of Bolder Giving, an organization that inspired people to give big & take more philanthropic risks which was credited by Melinda Gates as an inspiration for the billionaire Giving Pledge, and has also worked at the 21st Century School Fund, the Rockefeller Foundation’s Next Generation Leadership Network, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and White House Office of National AIDS Policy.