The energy was palpable, and the conversations were rich at last month’s Bay Area Giving Summit, where 100 individuals who are committed to making a positive difference in the Bay Area through their giving and investing for impact came together.
Your feedback in our latest Donor Perception Survey shared a desire for more opportunities to connect, learn, and act with one another. Individuals have also shared how difficult it can feel to bring up topics of wealth and philanthropy because of the charged nature of talking about how to leverage their privilege, even when they know they want to for the good of the wider community. The Bay Area Giving Summit was an intentionally curated space specifically for these connections and conversations.
Based on your feedback, over the past year we offered new formats of engagement – topical dinner conversations*, a small group learning lab, and this summit. We were thrilled to witness the clear craving for meaningful discussions, sharing insights, and discovering new opportunities for collaboration, generating a wave of momentum that felt like a positive “hope spiral.”
We appreciated the warm feedback on the value of the connections formed during the event, showcasing the power of our network and the potential for amplifying our impact when we come together. And we’re excited to iterate on the format for next year – we heard loud and clear that folks wanted even more time to connect. We look forward to offering more time to engage at an even more meaningful level.
We are proud to play a role in facilitating these networks and supporting your efforts to strengthen the Bay Area. The contributions of our community, both financial and through active engagement, are an impressive driving force behind the hope we have for our community.
To all who attended, thank you for being a part of this inspiring evening. Your dedication and generosity are truly making a difference, and we are honored to be your partners in this work.
For those who couldn’t join us this time, we look forward to seeing you at future events and continuing to create a brighter future together for everyone who calls the Bay Area home. And we were pleased to make two grants – to Oakland Ballet and ASHA – as part of our “inverse raffle” which highlighted some of the attendees’ favorite, locally-based nonprofits.
This fall, we are looking forward to more exciting opportunities to connect, including a new celebratory event on October 24. Building from the momentum of our 75th anniversary, this will be a celebration of the SFF community including donors, grantees, partners, and elected officials.
*Interested in hosting a topical dinner conversation in your home? We are looking to experiment with trying out this format in a donor’s residence. These dinners, which we’re calling our “Bay Area Bold” series, are a chance for an intimate group of ~15 donors and issue area experts to gather and explore a topic of interest in a single, group conversation. We can help pull together experts and attendees from our networks – if interested, please reach out to your philanthropic advisor or donorservices[@]sff.org
