There’s no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to analysing and visualising data. The tools and strategies we choose are shaped by our goals, resources, capabilities and context. What works well for one organisation may be entirely unfit for another.

In this session, we’ll explore how two different organisations approached these choices, what drove their decisions when selecting data tools and systems, and how this has supported better organisational decision-making, progress tracking and impact assessments. You’ll gain insight into different paths to unlocking value from data and discover that whatever your size, focus or starting point, there are practical, meaningful ways to make your data work for you.

Learn tips for working with GivingData to ensure you’re achieving maximum benefit for your organization. GivingData wants you to succeed and they’ve developed resources to help you get the most out of your system. We’ll explore the resources available to you from pre-implementation to post-launch optimization and how you can leverage them for success. Members of the customer success team will be present to talk about their roles and tips for successfully engaging with them. You’ll have an opportunity to ask questions of GivingData staff and share your tips with fellow GivingData users.

Curious how other foundations are using GivingData to streamline their work? Join us for a collaborative session where GivingData users will share how they’ve configured and are using specific features like Interactions, Statuses, and Codes in their own GivingData environments. Whether it’s a deep dive into how one foundation uses Interactions to track events, or a look at how another manages unsolicited submissions with Statuses, this session is all about learning from each other’s real-world setups.

Each presenter will offer a brief, informal walkthrough of their configuration, followed by open Q&A. Participants will also have the opportunity to share their own setups in small group discussions and to the broader group, so come ready to participate and bring your laptop!

Too often, philanthropy and policy are designed at a distance from the communities they are intended to help. This creates solutions that may be well-meaning but fail to address root causes—or worse, perpetuate harm. In this keynote, Se-ah-dom Edmo, Executive Director of Seeding Justice, which is based in Portland, will share how community wisdom and leadership transform both processes and outcomes.

Drawing on lessons from Seeding Justice’s 49 year history of community-led funds, including immigrant and reproductive justice initiatives, she will illustrate how shifting decision-making power to those most affected creates more just, durable, and innovative solutions. This will include an exclusive peek behind Seeding Justice’s Donor-In-Movement Program. 

Attendees will leave with concrete insights on how to reimagine philanthropy and impact measurement: moving from transactional grantmaking toward community-driven strategies that honor lived expertise, build trust, and create lasting change.

Short talks are given twice with a 15-min break in between.

GivingData is not just for Programmatic staff! In this session, learn how your Operations and Finance departments can utilize GivingData to:

- Plan, prepare, forecast, and budget for current and future fiscal years.

- Prepare for your audits and your grantees’ audits.

- Reconcile GivingData with your financial systems.

Short talks are given twice with a 15-min break in between.

After adopting our theory of change last year, programmatic shifts meant that some grantees were no longer aligned with our priorities. To honor our relationships with these grantee partners, we wanted to provide final grants to phase out support.  Learn how the Sewall Foundation leveraged GivingData’s features to create a process for winding down grantees that minimized grantee burden and was easy for staff to follow.  We’ll also share how our decision-making process, communications, and support beyond the grant helped to minimize the impacts of this change.

Short talks are given twice with a 15-min break in between.

As grantmaking processes evolve, resources often lag behind. They become scattered across folders, buried in lengthy documents, and hard to navigate for quick answers. The result? Staff waste time searching or turn to the Grants Management team for help instead.

If this sounds familiar, a Grants Management SharePoint site could be your solution. In this session, you’ll learn how two foundations built centralized, user-friendly resource hubs that put everything Program staff need at their fingertips: step-by-step processes, a library of how-to guides for GivingData tasks, internal reference materials, and more.

We’ll walk you through the entire journey, including how we built out the sites, documented process steps, organized the content, and leveraged visual resources like Miro, Tango, and more. Regardless of the state of your process documentation, you’ll learn strategies for gathering feedback from staff, reducing repetitive questions, and keeping resources current.

Short talks are given twice with a 15-min break in between.

GivingData is not just for Programmatic staff! In this session, learn how your Operations and Finance departments can utilize GivingData to:

- Plan, prepare, forecast, and budget for current and future fiscal years.

- Prepare for your audits and your grantees’ audits.

- Reconcile GivingData with your financial systems.

Short talks are given twice with a 15-min break in between.

After adopting our theory of change last year, programmatic shifts meant that some grantees were no longer aligned with our priorities. To honor our relationships with these grantee partners, we wanted to provide final grants to phase out support.  Learn how the Sewall Foundation leveraged GivingData’s features to create a process for winding down grantees that minimized grantee burden and was easy for staff to follow.  We’ll also share how our decision-making process, communications, and support beyond the grant helped to minimize the impacts of this change.

Short talks are given twice with a 15-min break in between.

As grantmaking processes evolve, resources often lag behind. They become scattered across folders, buried in lengthy documents, and hard to navigate for quick answers. The result? Staff waste time searching or turn to the Grants Management team for help instead.

If this sounds familiar, a Grants Management SharePoint site could be your solution. In this session, you’ll learn how two foundations built centralized, user-friendly resource hubs that put everything Program staff need at their fingertips: step-by-step processes, a library of how-to guides for GivingData tasks, internal reference materials, and more.

We’ll walk you through the entire journey, including how we built out the sites, documented process steps, organized the content, and leveraged visual resources like Miro, Tango, and more. Regardless of the state of your process documentation, you’ll learn strategies for gathering feedback from staff, reducing repetitive questions, and keeping resources current.

Hands-On with the Latest & Greatest Product Features!

Get ready to roll up your sleeves and explore GivingData’s newest and most powerful features in a guided, interactive format. From personalizing your workspace to leveraging advanced workflows, you’ll swap ideas and tips with fellow users, learn from product experts, and help shape the future of the platform through your feedback.

Features covered:  Holidays, Workflow Criteria, Homepage Customization

Click here to reserve a spot.

Office Hours provides you the opportunity to meet in-person with members of our CX team. This is a great time to investigate features with which you are not as familiar, to discuss and implement workarounds, and to learn new tips and tricks.

Please review the available slots below and click the button to sign up. Giving us a quick description of what you are looking to discuss will help us pair you up with a GivingData Team Member, if needed. All of our CX Team Members are GD experts steeped in deep product knowledge, and each of us is eager to support and work with you!

After booking your appointment, you will receive a confirmation email. If you don't receive the email, please check your spam folder, or let us know if the email is still missing. Thank you!

Sign up for dine-arounds here. The deadline to sign up is Wednesday, September 16 @ 11:59 PM.

Please meet in the lobby at 5:45 PM to leave for the restaurant by 6:00 PM. All reservations are at 6:30PM. You will need to walk or order rideshare. 

If you'd like to host a dine-around, please reach out at gdconnect@givingdata.com

In this session we will explore strategies to optimize GivingData within resource-constrained environments. While primarily focused on foundations with smaller staff size, the session will also benefit individuals on smaller Grants teams within larger organizations. The discussion will cover practical tips + tricks — at every GivingData subscription level — to maximize impact within lean operations. We’ll offer diverse perspectives from the GivingData community on best practices for doing more with less. Come prepared with your best tip(s) for maximizing GivingData for a lean grant team!

Working title

Foundations face growing pressure to track, understand, and communicate impact—but it’s not always clear where to begin, what tools to use, or how to balance rigor with practicality. In this interactive session, we’ll create space for candid conversation among peers about what’s working, what’s not, and where we’re stuck when it comes to Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL).

This session is for anyone curious about measuring impact—whether you're knee-deep in dashboards or just trying to figure out where to start.

How can foundations design a grants management function that truly aligns with their grantmaking strategy? Drawing on insights from nearly 100 foundations, this interactive session explores key characteristics of grantmaking activities—particularly volume and complexity—that should inform how strategic grants management teams are structured and resourced. 

We’ll look at three foundations to show how different grantmaking profiles shape staffing needs and roles. The session will also highlight how features in GivingData can support more strategic, efficient, and scalable grants management practices. Attendees will have the opportunity to apply the model to their own foundation's work, reflect on their current team structure, and identify areas for alignment and improvement.

What if grant reporting felt more like a conversation and less like a compliance exercise? In this session, four foundations will share how they’ve adopted verbal reporting practices to better align with their trust-based values. Through real-world case studies, panelists will explore how structured conversations not only reduce grantee burden, but support more equitable, learning-centered grantmaking. Panelists will reflect on how they designed their verbal (or hybrid) reporting process, implemented their process by leveraging GivingData features, and how the change has been received by staff and grantees. During a candid conversation with our panelists, we’ll explore strategies for gaining buy-in from senior leadership, tips for navigating potential obstacles, and best practices for tracking insights from verbal reports. 

Attendees will leave with ideas and actionable steps to take to advocate for and design the future of grantee reporting at their organization. This session is suitable for all GivingData skill levels.

The Patrick J. McGovern Foundation (PJMF) is a philanthropic institution dedicated to advancing AI and data science solutions to create a thriving, equitable, and sustainable future for all. We are grantmakers and technologists, with a team of in-house software developers and data working to advance socially beneficial AI solutions.

Whether in the context of disaster relief, healthcare, or even philanthropic operations, one of the most powerful applications of AI is as a tool to draw insights from data, and to democratize access to specialized analytical expertise. Earlier this year, building on our experience working with hundreds of nonprofits and peer funders, PJMF launched Grant Guardian, an AI-powered financial due diligence platform that equips grantmakers with data-driven insights. This tool allows all grantmakers, regardless of financial expertise, to interpret the financial health of a potential grantee with confidence. As the only free, AI-powered tool designed specifically for grantmakers, Grant Guardian is just the first example of strengthened philanthropy through AI. Building Grant Guardian brought us into dialogue with philanthropies across the U.S. on the potential of AI to enhance internal processes and strengthen the collective power of philanthropic contributions.

During this session, we will share insights from our work funding responsible AI tools, as well as key takeaways from our discussion with foundations on AI’s applications within  philanthropy. We will explore how these insights can help funders leverage AI to make more informed, effective decisions and drive greater impact across a wide range of programmatic focuses.
 

Short talks are given twice with a 15-min break in between.

The session will focus on how seemingly straightforward features within GivingData such as custom fields can drive significant organizational change. Attendees will learn how Strada used grant rubrics, grant closeout and custom fields to create a practical, accessible way to collect data for impact measurement. The session will also touch on how the grants management team can be a catalyst for leading important efforts within the organization

Short talks are given twice with a 15-min break in between.

Candid is developing landscapes, a powerful new tool that enables grantmakers to visualize and analyze philanthropic activity across funder cohorts, causes, geographies, and populations. Built to support data-informed decision-making, landscapes helps you explore who is funding what, where, and how. In this first-hand view of the tool, you’ll see how it can transform how you understand your funding ecosystem, collaborate with peers, and tell your foundation’s story with data.

Short talks are given twice with a 15-min break in between.

In this short session, we’ll introduce Impact Labs, a new initiative from our product and technology team where a small group of engineers is dedicated to experimenting with emerging technologies. The goal isn’t putting features into production, but exploration: learning, prototyping, and understanding how new technologies and tools might shape the future of our products and the philanthropic sector. We’ll share what Impact Labs is, why it exists, and offer a glimpse into a few of the early research projects in motion. If you're curious about where innovation starts and how we're preparing for what's next, this session is for you.

Short talks are given twice with a 15-min break in between.

The session will focus on how seemingly straightforward features within GivingData such as custom fields can drive significant organizational change. Attendees will learn how Strada used grant rubrics, grant closeout and custom fields to create a practical, accessible way to collect data for impact measurement. The session will also touch on how the grants management team can be a catalyst for leading important efforts within the organization

Short talks are given twice with a 15-min break in between.

Candid is developing landscapes, a powerful new tool that enables grantmakers to visualize and analyze philanthropic activity across funder cohorts, causes, geographies, and populations. Built to support data-informed decision-making, landscapes helps you explore who is funding what, where, and how. In this first-hand view of the tool, you’ll see how it can transform how you understand your funding ecosystem, collaborate with peers, and tell your foundation’s story with data.

Short talks are given twice with a 15-min break in between.

In this short session, we’ll introduce Impact Labs, a new initiative from our product and technology team where a small group of engineers is dedicated to experimenting with emerging technologies. The goal isn’t putting features into production, but exploration: learning, prototyping, and understanding how new technologies and tools might shape the future of our products and the philanthropic sector. We’ll share what Impact Labs is, why it exists, and offer a glimpse into a few of the early research projects in motion. If you're curious about where innovation starts and how we're preparing for what's next, this session is for you.

Hands-On with the Latest & Greatest Product Features!

Get ready to roll up your sleeves and explore GivingData’s newest and most powerful features in a guided, interactive format. From personalizing your workspace to leveraging advanced workflows, you’ll swap ideas and tips with fellow users, learn from product experts, and help shape the future of the platform through your feedback.

Features covered:  Holidays, Workflow Criteria, Homepage Customization

.

Click here to reserve a spot.

Office Hours provides you the opportunity to meet in-person with members of our CX team. This is a great time to investigate features with which you are not as familiar, to discuss and implement workarounds, and to learn new tips and tricks.

Please review the available slots below and click the button to sign up. Giving us a quick description of what you are looking to discuss will help us pair you up with a GivingData Team Member, if needed. All of our CX Team Members are GD experts steeped in deep product knowledge, and each of us is eager to support and work with you!

After booking your appointment, you will receive a confirmation email. If you don't receive the email, please check your spam folder, or let us know if the email is still missing. Thank you!

6:00 pm Reception Begins*

8:00 pm Reception Ends

*Light food will be provided. We recommend making the appropriate dinner plans prior to or after the reception. 

You will be travelling to the reception directly from the hotel and our team will meet you there. It's about an 8 minute walk (0.2 miles) from the hotel.  

1200 SW Park Ave Portland, OR 97205

Google Maps Link

Be the first to see the new features coming to GivingData and join the conversation on how to put them to work in your organization.