Registration includes all four seminars in the series. Sessions will be presented live, and recordings will be available at the end of each month.

Mark Your Calendars

September 29, 2021

2:00-3:30 pm ET

Building Blocks for Gender Equity Work 

In this introductory seminar, we’ll engage with key concepts and terminology vital to leading institutional gender equity work. Some guiding questions for the seminar include: What is patriarchy and how does that inform what we consider to be included within “gender equity work”?  What foundational concepts and terminology do we need to understand in order to begin? How can we approach gender equity work with an intersectional and holistic lens?

Jessica Havens, DEI Consultant & Strategist

October 12, 2021 

2:00-3:30 pm ET

Navigating Advancement as Women of Color

While the field of Advancement has teams and organizations led by women, women of color face unique challenges and situations that can impact their careers. This panel will explore the intersectionality of being women of color in advancement, and our panelists will share their stories of building community, leading others, managing the emotional labor of our work, and advocating for themselves.

Moderator: Gloria Ko, Senior Director, Alumni Career Engagement, University of California, Los Angeles

Panelist: Mo Cotton Kelly, Vice President, Alumni Relations, Marketing Communications and Annual Giving, UConn Foundation

Panelist: Jennifer Mora, Senior Director, Major Gifts, DEI and Community Initiatives, University of San Francisco

November 9, 2021 

2:00-3:30 pm ET

Unmasking Gender and Culture in Advancement: A Critical Conversation and Call to Action

Advancement professionals of color in the United States began organizing themselves into networks in the 1990s with the formation of the African American Development Officers Network. This organizing has accelerated across the United States and in Canada with the founding of groups such as WOC: Women of Color in Fundraising and Philanthropy, the Black Canadian Fundraising Collective, Men of Color in Development, The Rooted and F3: Fabulous Female Fundraisers. These groups create spaces for professionals of color (mostly women) to express and pursue mutual support, continuing education, networking, self and communal care as they navigate a larger field in which they are underrepresented and most often employed by male- and white-led organizations.



But what does it mean to be a woman or man of color in advancement? Why have these groups been formed? What particular needs are they meeting in the profession? What lessons do these groups offer to peers and organizations seeking to create more equitable workplaces for women and advancement programs for diverse donors and constituents?



In this session, a panel discussion with the distinguished founders and leaders of regional, national and international professional networks of fundraisers of color will be moderated by a scholar of philanthropy and fundraising to explore the intersections of gender and philanthropy in the 21st century. Attendees will participate in breakout groups to digest key themes from the panel with the aid of focused questions, and engage in follow up Q&A with panelists.

 

Moderators:

Nneka Allen, Founder, Black Canadian Fundraisers' Collective and Principal, The Empathy Agency

Tyrone Freeman, Associate Professor of Philanthropic Studies, Director of Undergraduate Programs, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

Panelists:

Birgit Smith Burton, Founder, African American Development Officers Network and Executive Director of Foundation Relations, Georgia Tech University

Christal Cherry, Founder, F3: Fabulous Female Fundraisers and CEO, Board Pro

Yolanda Johnson, Founder, WOC: Women of Color in Fundraising and Philanthropy and President, YFJ Consulting LLC

Juan McGruder, Vice President for Advancement, Oglethorpe University

Kishshana Palmer, CEO, Kishshana & Co. and Founder of The Rooted Collaborative

December 7, 2021

2:00-3:30 pm ET

Strategy Session on Gender: Where do we go from here?

For this final session in the series, you will have the opportunity to synthesize key concepts and develop a strategy to address a current challenge/opportunity related to gender. The facilitators will review three skills to support your next steps, and you will walk away from the session with a specific action to take in the next two weeks. Time will be reserved at the end to pose questions to the session facilitators and your fellow participants. This is a highly-interactive session, so please come prepared to participate!

Amy Bronson, Associate Vice President, for Advancement Resources & Strategic Talent Management, and Alexis Kanda-Olmstead, Director of Advancement, Talent Management, Dartmouth College