The national large philanthropy landscape is shifting, with legacy foundations being joined and disrupted by a host of mega-givers creating their own philanthropic pathways. Trends such as impact investing have waned in the current environment, as funders have had to shift their attention and resources to changes in immigration, health, climate, the environment, civic engagement and more – and more recent donors push to leverage their resources towards equity, poverty and early childhood education.
Notably, the majority of new foundations are now led by living and often active donors. A generational transition is also underway for those family foundations that launched with first or second generation founders. New and institutional funders are developing learning and leveraging alliances. Funder affinity groups and regional associations are also experiencing a resurgence in many parts of the country. What do all or some of these developments portend for engagement and alignment with national funders and funder networks? This session will provide an opportunity to discuss and decode the implications of these developments, share innovative engagement strategies and identify opportunities to build on effective approaches.
Guest Speaker: Liane Wong, Dr.P.H.
Dr. Liane Wong is the founder and principal for LWSolutions Consulting, a practice that launched in 2017 to advance solutions for values-driven philanthropic and nonprofit leadership. Liane formerly served as the Leader and Program Officer in the Children, Families and Communities (CFC) Program from 2006 to 2017 at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation in Los Altos, California. She directed strategy and programming to achieve universal health coverage and care for our nation’s children, and led CFC initiatives in leadership development, organizational effectiveness, communications and mission investments in health and education. She has launched and served in several national funder collaboratives and giving circles. In 2015, Liane became the first Innovator-in-Residence at the Aspen Institute's Ascend program and in 2016 co-founded the national Children’s Health Leadership Network.