Smart Growth California

SGC Funder Summit

Thanks to everyone who made Smart Growth California’s 2024 Funder Summit a Success!

Click here for highlights. 

Explore how philanthropy is driving change in California.

Engage with regional, statewide, and national funders from San Diego to the Sierra, the Imperial Valley to the San Joaquin Valley and beyond.

Summit goals: 

  • Spark connection and collaboration among funders within Smart Growth California’s network and working groups.
  • Explore intersectional issues such as climate resilience in the context of power-building; create a green, inclusive economy alongside environmentally sustainable communities; and ensure equitable implementation of federal and state infrastructure funds.
  • Strengthen relationships across Smart Growth California working groups and members with opportunities for funders to network, strategize and have fun.
  • Deepen learning from place and peers, lifting up how philanthropy can be of service to community-led solutions.

What’s at Stake:

It’s been fifteen years since Smart Growth California was launched by a group of funders in the wake of landmark climate legislation, SB 375. Our goal was to build a network of changemakers to support, and create, sustainable and equitable communities throughout California that would naturally lead to reduced emissions and more affordable, walkable places to live.

California has reined in greenhouse emissions significantly since 2009 in some arenas but the jury is still out on whether SB 375’s goals are realistic and even achievable. Meantime, the climate impacts of a warming planet, persistently out-of-reach housing costs and a widening wealth gap are reverberating throughout the state – most significantly in vulnerable communities.

What is the path forward? What strategies are working, and which aren’t? 

Join us to strategize with the state’s leading practitioners about where California stands in meeting this moment – and how funders need to be engaged.

You’ll hear from policymakers, thought-partners and funders as they reflect on what projects they’re invested in, and how historic levels of federal infrastructure funds are either helping or bypassing their communities.

We’ll be staying at a historic hotel in midtown Sacramento, engaging in local site visits, indulging in some of Sacramento’s delicious local food, and getting energized for the year ahead. As always, engaging with Smart Growth California means engaging with great people.

Join us!

Agenda

Monday, March 4 

  • 6:30 p.m.  Reception & Dinner for Funders

Tuesday, March 5 – at Sierra Health Foundation

  • 8:00 a.m.    Breakfast (available at hotel, coffee & light fare at SHF)
  • 9:00 a.m.    Welcome & Funder Introductions: Dion Cartwright, TFN, Ron Milam, Smart Growth California/TFN, Kaying Hang, The Center at the Sierra Health Foundation
  • 9:15 a.m.    Welcome: Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg
  • 10:10 a.m.  Panel: The Climate is Speaking. What’s our Answer?
  • 11:30 a.m.  Discussion: CA Highways Can’t Grow Anymore – Now What?
  • 12:30 p.m.  Networking Lunch: Dialog with Advocates
  • 1:30 p.m    Grounding in Place/Power Building for Sustainable Communities
  • 2:30 p.m.   Empowering Communities Through Land
  • 3:50 p.m.   CA Budget Briefing
  • 4:40 p.m.   Closing Reflection/Announcements
  • 6:00 p.m.   Reception (Mulvaney’s Building & Loan 1215 19th St.)
  • 7:00 p.m.   Dinner (Mulvaney’s Building & Loan 1215 19th St.)

Wednesday, March 6 – at The California Endowment

  • 8:00 a.m.    Breakfast
  • 9:00 a.m.    Welcome/Opening Comments
  • 9:15 a.m.    How to Show Up in a Moment of Massive Money/Public Sector Partner Check-in
  • 10:50 a.m.  Building Capacity for the Long Haul/Breakout Groups
  • 12:15 p.m.  Networking Lunch: Integrating Issues and Synthesizing Learning
  • 1:15 p.m    Closing Reflections/Action Steps/Moving Forward
  • 2:00 p.m.   Adjourn/Networking

Check out this link for a detailed Funder Summit Agenda with session descriptions and speakers.

Lodging

Many conference attendees are staying at the historic and walkable Hyatt House Sacramento/Midtown on Monday and Tuesday, March 4 and 5. If you have questions, please contact Diana Williams. 

Who Should Attend?

Registration is open to donors, staff, directors and trustees of all grantmaking institutions. We are seeking to create an intimate gathering of funders who are working to build equitable, sustainable communities, with the goal of learning, sharing and facilitating strategic conversations about where philanthropic resources can have the greatest impact.  

Registration

Newcomers welcome! Join us if you are already engaged with Smart Growth California’s working groups — or are looking to learn more about these working groups. Registration is open to donors, staff, directors and trustees of all grantmaking institutions.

  • $300 for TFN Members*
  • $500 for non-TFN members*

*On the registration form, first select your organization from the drop-down menu, and this will auto-populate the appropriate registration payment as you scroll down. Also note: you may pay via credit card by clicking on the PayPal link.

For questions on registration, or regarding group rates, please contact Ron Milam.

Health and Safety

The Funders Network is committed to implementing appropriate policies and taking necessary actions to create a safe and comfortable meeting environment, and to the extent possible, protect the health of everyone who attends or participates in Smart Growth California events. 

For the most up to date information regarding TFN’s health and safety protocols for in-person events, please click here.

Thank you to our funder planning committee for their ideas, guidance and assistance in planning this meeting (all of whom are also active in various Smart Growth California workgroups):

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