Ignite! 2017: The Fluxx Community Inspires for 2 Days in San Francisco

We are right in the middle of the 2017 Ignite! Grantmaker Summit and I couldn’t be more energized and inspired. It is great to see so many good people gathered in one place, learning new skills and gaining a renewed focus on their missions. 

As Brad Cameron-Cooper, the communications and project management associate at the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, told me earlier today, “When so many of us are in the same place at the same time, it’s a fabulous opportunity to go ‘blue sky,’ and and think about where we’re going as a field.”

Brad’s exactly right. Since we began bringing our community together back in 2015, it’s been our goal to not only celebrate them, but to also share their collective expertise, and think big.

Last year, more than 50 foundations from all over the world came together for an amazing two days of collaboration and learning. This year, we have nearly 200 grantmakers from 100 grantmaking organizations world-wide represented – an astounding number that truly inspires.

We planned our conference with the express goal of helping each and every one of our family of Fluxx users to develop new skills and gain a deeper knowledge of Fluxx. But beyond technical know-how, we hope everyone returns home a more empo

wered grantmaker.

“I’ll have more clout when I go back home,” Leigh Meunier, the associate for program and partner support at the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, told me. “I have the tools to return to my organization and show them howour grantmaking processes impact the larger mission of our organization.”

It’s our hope that empowered grantmakers lift their grantmaking from the mere transactional to the transformative. Empowered grants managers, program officers, directors, and even board members can be more efficient, more collaborative, and more transparent in their work –  and transform their missions into reality.

This is why we put our focus this year squarely on elevating our community’s knowledge of Fluxx and promoting the skills to excel as changemakers. There is a tremendous amount of leadership and vision in this community, all dedicated to doing good in the world. Seeing us all here, at the same time, striving to do it even better is simply, well like I said, inspiring.

So here’s to the Fluxx community! Here’s to all you do today and all that you will do tomorrow. Thank you for joining us for another year in San Francisco. Now let’s get back to it. There’s work to be done!