GEO’s 2022 National Conference May 18th 10:30-11:45 CT

Radical Readiness: Who Decides Who’s Ready to Solve Complex Social Problems?

In the tumultuous last couple of years, grantmakers and grantees appreciate the only way to rebuild, re-energize and recover, is to work collaboratively to address complex social problems. It is no longer enough to focus on strengthening individual grantees with the hope of enabling them to meet community members’ needs. Yet, the mere commitment or desire to collaborate, no matter how strong, has not resulted in successful solutions for even the tamest of community challenges. Grantmakers who typically determine whether their grantees are “ready” to grow, strengthen, or scale, must begin questioning their own readiness to engage collaboratively in ecosystem capacity building. Funder-grantee power dynamics often inhibit the trust building crucial to the staying power of many capacity building initiatives.  This dynamic session will explore “readiness” barriers that impede organizational strengthening of all social sector actors wishing to solve complex community wide issues.   

Speakers

• Julie Simpson, Director, Nonprofit Effectiveness, TCC Group
• Annie Martinie, Senior Program Officer, Danville Regional Foundation
• Andrea Kellum, Senior Program Officer, Healthcare Georgia Foundation

Session Designer

• Jared Raynor, Director, Evaluation and Learning, TCC Group

About Grantmakers for Effective Organizations

At GEO’s 2022 National Conference, hosted in partnership with Forefront, grantmakers and other practitioners will have the opportunity to come together in Chicago, Illinois to explore challenges and uncover solutions with fellow grantmakers who are continuing to lean into to transformational change in order to create a just, connected and inclusive society where we can all thrive.

GEO welcomes participants to join them in person for an interactive, engaging, and intimate conference experience in Chicago from May 16 – 18, 2022.