Events & Opportunities
Webinar Information
Below is a list of upcoming webinars. As a member, you will receive an email with a link to register for the webinars below. An invite is sent out about a month before each webinar is to take place.
To view archived webinars you need to be a member of ProNet. The archived webinars can be found in the Members Only section of the site. You can view them by clicking here.
Upcoming Webinars
September 22, 2021 | 2-3 PM EDT Webinar :
How Community Foundations Can Shift Conversations With Scholarship Donors
Members Only
Community Foundations often agree to manage highly selective scholarship funds with very specific criteria. Managing these funds is usually an administrative burden.
-How do we start to shift donor conversations away from criteria-heavy scholarship funds and move towards maximizing impact, and focus on targeted populations of underrepresented students?
-Learn about what data points to use and how to craft new strategies.
The Program Network (ProNet) is looking for committee and board members– as well as new and returning members! If your community organization is not already a member, please consider joining ProNet (sign up here, or contact us at contact@pronetcf.org), and please encourage those you think would help lead our effort to unite community organizations across the country.
Collectively, the board helps to:
- Provide opportunities for professional development and skill-building;
- Facilitate ongoing communications, information exchange, and networking, and
- Promote effective advocacy and leadership on program and policy issues.
We have three active committees where our work is carried out:
Professional Development (providing and organizing opportunities for professional development by way of webinars and other member resources),
Membership and Promotion (working to engage our current and future members through communication), and
Conference Planning (providing support in coordination with ProNet’s representation and participation at the CF United Conference and other conference opportunities)
We seek a mix of cultural, racial, gender, and geographical diversity for the board.
Interested candidates should submit a completed application form.
Past Webinars
To view archived webinars you need to be a member of ProNet. The archived webinars can be found in the Members Only section of the site. You can view them by clicking here.
Racial Equity from the Inside Out
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Racial Equity is a critical journey that requires leading from where we are as organizations and also requires personal and collective transformation to make real progress.
-Learn about how Greater Cincinnati Foundation is going ‘all in’ on racial equity by centering race inward and outward
-Wherever you are on the racial equity journey i.e. If you want to get started, early in the process or further along on the journey, learn concrete steps to operationalize racial equity
-Learn how to build engagement from staff, leadership and board as well as how that focus translates to grantmaking and community leadership
Being an Ally and Reducing Barriers to Funding Access for the LGBTQ+ Community
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- Date: Wednesday, June 30, 2021
- Speakers: Jennifer Ruppe and Tara Sandercock
- Overview: An interactive session on how to be an ally and reduce barriers to funding access for the LGBTQ+ community with Jennifer Ruppe, MPA (She/Her/Hers), Executive Director,
Guilford Green Foundation & LGBTQ Center.
Disaster Recovery with the Center for Disaster Philanthropy
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- Date: Tuesday, May 4, 2021
- Speakers: Regine Webster, Vice President, Center for Disaster Philanthropy; Tanya Gulliver-Garcia, Director of Learning and Partnerships, Center for Disaster Philanthropy
- Overview: Disasters are not going away. Low attention disasters are affecting rural communities, massive hurricanes are striking the South and Southeast and catastrophic natural and human-caused disasters continue to devastate low development countries globally. The funding community must take every opportunity possible to discuss, prepare for, plan, and DO something about future disasters. What better place to do that than ProNet?
- Learn what effective localization and place based grantmaking strategy could look like for philanthropy.
- Better understand the changing nature of the disaster philanthropy landscape through promising practices, impact stories and effective tools.
- Learn concrete techniques to help your foundation become more effective partners in disaster recovery.
Lessons Learned in 2020: Overcoming Uncertainty
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- Date: Thursday, March 25, 2021
- Speakers: Kelly Anoe, Vice President, Legacy Foundation; Amanda Klinck, Grants and Impact Manager, Cumberland Community Foundation; Kevin Lundy, Director of Grantmaking Programs, Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro; Alexandra Warner, Program Officer, Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo
- Overview: With 2020 firmly in the rearview mirror, we invite you to join members of the ProNet community for an open and honest conversation on how we can use the events of 2020 to advance the mission of our community foundations, as well as our communities at large.
Scholarship Administration: Two Pathways to Access
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- Date: Wednesday, November 18, 2020
- Speakers: Beth Heller, Vice President for Scholarship Programs, East Tennessee Foundation; Jean McKeown, Vice President Community Impact, Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo
- Overview: Nationally, the average student debt upon graduation is approximately $27,000 making the availability of private scholarship aid more important than ever before. Scholarship support can play a critical role in bridging the gap for students and families who may be faced with applying for college loans to pay for higher education.Private scholarships established by individuals, employers, membership organizations, and foundations, play a major role in providing financial assistance to help make postsecondary education and training a reality especially for low- and middle-income students and families.
Join us to learn about scholarship administration, timeline, the process for selecting and awarding recipients and the impact of COVID making private scholarships even more critical.
ProNet Town Hall: COVID-19 and our Communities
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- Date: Thursday, May 7th, 2020
- Overview: In the short time that COVID-19 has taken over every aspect of our lives, we have faced unexpected challenges and accomplished amazing things in our communities. Even though we don’t know what the future holds, we wanted to take a moment to pause and reflect on where we have been and share ideas for where we go next.This was an interactive virtual event. Thank you to all our participants!
Impactful Philanthropic Services: How the Community Foundation Engages Various Stakeholders
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- Date: Wednesday, November 20th, 2019
- Speakers: Jean McKeown, Vice President – Community Impact, Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo
Ba Zan Lin, Program Officer – Community Impact, Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo - Overview: Philanthropic services have become increasingly prevalent in the Community Foundation world. In order to deliver impactful philanthropic services, a well-rounded engagement and implementation approach is crucial. This session will discuss how the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo collaborates and engages with national, local, and governmental funders, and delivers unique and impactful philanthropic services.
2020 Census: Grantmaking Engagement and Challenges
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- Date: Wednesday, September 25th, 2019
- Speakers: Amanda Klinck, Grants and Impact Manager, Cumberland Community Foundation
Juliana Cabrales, Mid-Atlantic Director of Civic Engagement, NALEO Education Fund
Catherine Gray, Director of Impact Strategy, Civic Engagement, The Minneapolis Foundation
Randi Hewitt, President, Community Foundation of Elmira-Corning - Overview: The U.S. Constitution requires a complete count of the nation’s population every 10 years. Census information is used to determine political representation and drive the distribution of over $675 billion in federal funding. These resources are essential to the well-being of people in all communities. Decisions about your foundation’s focus and investments may depend on how federal funds are distributed and what remaining community needs exist.The 2020 Census’ detailed demographic data helps to shape most of the other federal data surveys, which help inform your grant-making and the outcomes your foundation seeks to address in society. The information is also relied upon by the grantees and communities that you serve!
Grantee Feedback Processes
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- Date: Wednesday, July 31st, 2019
- Speakers: Tom Linfield, Vice President, Community Impact, Madison Community Foundation.; Andy Davey, Community Resource Analyst, Madison Community Foundation; Kelly Anoe, Vice President, Legacy Foundation; Erika Fizer, Director of Marketing & Communications, Legacy Foundation
- Overview: As community foundations, feedback from grantees on our performance and our relationship with their organizations is a critical part of our commitment to learning, and a method for ensuring that we’re building strong partnerships with the organizations we work with to make a positive impact. Madison Community Foundation and Legacy Foundation will share examples of how they have secured grantee feedback through focus groups and surveys, then discuss what was learned and changes made based on the feedback received.
Youth Philanthropy & Grantmaking
- Date: Wednesday, November 1, 2017
- Speakers: Colton Strawser, President, Colton Strawser Consulting, LLC.; Jill Gordon, Program Director, Youth Philanthropy Initiative of Indiana (YPII)
- Overview: Engaging the next generation of philanthropists is important, and this webinar will help grantmakers understand the value and joy that youth philanthropy can bring to a community foundation. Youth philanthropy and youth grantmaking programs can help community foundation prepare the next generation of philanthropists, while also having fun along the way. Participants will learn about the variety of program models for youth philanthropy programming, as well as some of the best practices and resources used in the field.
The Time is Now: How Community Foundations Engage in Public Policy to Affect Change
- Date: Wednesday, September 27, 2017
- Speaker: Gina D. Dalma, Special Advisor to the CEO on Public Policy, Silicon Valley Community Foundation
- Overview: There is no argument that community foundations are agents of change, however some may be skeptical on whether or not community foundations can or should influence public policy. This webinar will look at how community foundations can add public policy as a tool to effect change. Gina D. Dalma will share several examples of what has worked, including the passage of SB 359, or the California Mathematics Placement Act of 2015, a new law that the Silicon Valley Community Foundation sponsored in California in which a $200,000 investment in policy change affects the lives of one million students per year.