Giving Institute Summer Symposium 2026

Registration

Location: Basie B/B1

First-Time Attendees & Golden Ticket Breakfast

Whether this is your first Summer Symposium, you are a new voting director at a member firm, or you are joining us as a golden ticket guest exploring what membership looks like, this breakfast is your starting point. Co-hosted by the Membership Committee and the Summer Symposium Committee, the morning is designed to put names to faces, answer the questions you might not want to ask in a room full of people who seem to already know each other, and make sure you walk into the first session with people in your corner. Each table will include ambassadors from current member firms who are there for one reason: to make sure you feel like you belong here, because you do. One quick note: if someone at your firm registered on your behalf, please make sure we have your name so we can save you a seat.

Location: TBD

Giving Institute & Giving USA Welcome

Facilitators: Paul Koreen, Giving Institute Chair. Wendy McGrady, Giving USA Chair.

Location: Basie A/A1

Summer Symposium Co-Chairs Welcome

Facilitators: Janell Johnson, Kinetic. Erik Tomalis, Avid AI

Location: Basie A/A1

Keynote Session: Show Me the Money: The Wealth Transfer This Sector is Underplaying

Theme: Confront

Historians may one day mark this era as the most consequential in the story of American philanthropy, and most of us are not treating it that way. Over the next two to three decades, an estimated $124 trillion in wealth will change hands as Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation transfer accumulated assets to their heirs, making this the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in human history. A fraction of that (projections suggest approximately $18 trillion) is expected to flow to charitable causes, a figure that sounds extraordinary until you consider what the gap between “projected” and “possible” actually represents. In this session, Laura MacDonald and Rick Dunham, two of the sector’s most rigorous and plainspoken thinkers, lay out the full scale of what is underway: where the wealth is concentrated, how giving patterns shift across generations, what current projections tell us about the charitable share, and what it would actually take to move that number.

Facilitators: Laura MacDonald, The Benefactor Group. Rick Dunham, Dunham & Company.

Location: Basie A/A1

The State of Donor Participation, Retention & Giving: What the Data is Telling Us

Theme: Confront

Donors are leaving faster than they’re being replaced — and many never intended to stay. The prevalence of one-and-done giving distorts how we read retention, masking a participation crisis underneath a volume story. The result: major investment flowing toward acquisition while the most committed donors go under-cultivated.

Facilitator: TBD

Location: Basie A/A1

Listening at Scale: What the National Alumni Survey Reveals About the Future of Philanthropy

Theme: Confront

What if the way we have been advising clients is part of the problem? [Co-presenter TBD] and Chad Paris come to this session not to present data, but to challenge a founding assumption of our work: that generosity grows when we get better at asking. The National Alumni Survey says otherwise. Constituents are generous. They are just not generous with us. And the gap between those two things is not a solicitation problem. It is a trust problem, a values problem, and a listening problem. The future of philanthropy will not be won by sharper strategies or smarter segmentation. It will be won by organizations, and the advisors who serve them, that are willing to examine what they have taken for granted and change. Are we advising based on what we know, or what we have always assumed?

Facilitators: Chad Paris, ParisLeaf. TBD

Location: Basie A/A1

Lunch

We are Hiring the Wrong Leaders for the Moment We’re In

Theme: Confront

Philanthropy says it wants transformational leaders. The hiring decisions tell a different story.

Organizations want leaders who can navigate uncertainty, rebuild trust, and rethink relationships with donors, communities, and institutions. But when decisions become real, too many default to predictability, selecting against the very qualities this moment requires.

At the same time, the sector is quietly hollowing out its leadership pipeline. Burnout, weak succession planning, and under-resourced teams are thinning the next generation faster than most institutions want to admit.

The result is a dangerous collision: a structural labor problem underneath and a judgment problem at the top.

In this session, we’ll examine what leadership hiring patterns reveal about risk, governance, and institutional fear – and whether the sector genuinely wants transformation, or simply the appearance of change without discomfort.

Facilitator: Johnny Cooper, Cooper Coleman. 

Location: Basie A/A1

Break

The Board Problem Nobody Wants to Face

Theme: Confront

We all have a board story. The client whose campaign stalled because the board would not ask. The organization that lost a transformational leader because the board could not get out of its own way. We all know boards are struggling. What we talk about less is why.

This session takes on the harder conversation: that board recruitment has become a transaction instead of a strategy, that fiduciary duty has become a hiding place for risk aversion, and that too many boards are optimized for an organization that existed ten years ago rather than the one that needs to exist ten years from now. The question is not how to fix boards. It is why they keep breaking in the same ways, and what that tells us about something deeper the sector has not been willing to confront.

Moderator: Brenda Asare, The Alford Group. 

Panelists: TBD

Location: Basie A/A1

The Fight Inside Our Firms: Lightning Rounds – Each session is 10 minutes. 

Competing Against Free: When Clients Question the Value of Your Fees

Facilitators: Leya Simmons, Better Unite. Jim Bush, Winkler Group.

Don’t be Irreplaceable: The Case for Developing the Next Generation of Relationship Holders

Facilitator: TBD

Fueling Generosity Through Trust: The Own Your Own Value Framework

Facilitator: Shannon McKracken, The Nonprofit Alliance (Tentative).

Growth Strategies: The Referral Economy

Facilitator: TBD

Lightning Round Q&A

Facilitator: Erik Tomalis, Avid AI

Location: Basie A/A1

Day One Reflection

Facilitators: Janell Johnson, Kinetic. Erik Tomalis, Avid AI

Location: Basie A/A1

Offsite Dinner (Ticket included in registration. Guest tickets available.)

Join us for a private evening at one of the nation’s most powerful historical institutions.

The National WWI Museum and Memorial stands as a testament to sacrifice, resilience, and collective responsibility—values deeply connected to the spirit of generosity. As we gather for dinner and guided exploration, we’ll reflect on how moments of global challenge have historically called forth profound acts of giving, and what that means for our work today.

Cocktails and an introduction from Dr. Matt Naylor, National WWI Museum and Memorial President and CEO, begin at 5:30 p.m.

Main Gallery access: 6-7 p.m.

Dinner: 7-8:30 p.m.

Wednesday Warmup

Facilitators: Janell Johnson, Kinetic. Erik Tomalis, Avid AI.

Location: BasieA/A1

Keynote Session: Donors Don’t Need More Persuasion. They Need Better Conditions.

Theme: Explore

We have built an entire industry around persuading donors to give. What if the decision was never really about persuasion at all? Cherian Koshy has spent years at the intersection of neuroscience, behavioral psychology, and fundraising, and his research points to something that should make every consultant, technology company, and agency in this room rethink how they advise clients: the donor’s decision to give or not give is largely made before the ask ever happens. The signals, the framing, the sequencing, the emotional architecture of the experience — these are what move donors from considering a gift to making one, and most of what our industry teaches about messaging gets the order wrong. This keynote is not a feel-good talk about the science of generosity. It is a challenge to the assumptions baked into how we build campaigns, design platforms, write cases, and coach gift officers. If Explore is about rethinking how we work, this session starts by rethinking what we think we know about the people we are ultimately trying to reach.

Facilitator: Cherian Koshy, Kindsight.

Location: Basie A/A1

The AI Tools and Workflows Transforming Member Firms

Theme: Explore

This is not a session about what AI can do. It is a session about what AI is already doing inside firms like yours. Four member firm leaders will walk through the AI tools and workflows they are using right now across three core business functions: business development (including proposal writing), client delivery, and firm operations. The conversation is organized by function, not by firm, so attendees walk away with a practical framework they can map directly onto their own operations. But the panel will not stop at tool lists. The moderator will push into what changes when AI enters these workflows: how it affects staffing decisions, how it reshapes pricing conversations, and how it forces firms to rethink what they are actually selling when the work that used to take weeks now takes days. Each panelist will close with the one AI question they still cannot answer. If you have been experimenting with AI in pieces but have not yet thought about it as a firm-wide operating shift, this session will change that.

Facilitator: TBD.

Location: Basie A/A1

Generations of Impact: The Evolution of Family Philanthropy

The Kansas City region is home to some of the nation’s most financially influential and philanthropically impactful families. For generations, their charitable investments have helped build a nonprofit sector that enables Kansas City to far exceed expectations in healthcare, higher education, the arts and social services.

Over the past decade, many of these philanthropic families have undergone a natural evolution as leadership and giving priorities transition from one generation to the next. This session brings together family members and foundation executives to explore the values, influences and experiences shaping that evolution — and the ways their philanthropy is changing in response.

Through candid conversation, panelists will discuss how next-generation leaders are redefining engagement, impact, governance, and community investment while honoring the legacies that came before them.

Moderator: Matt Beem, Kinetic.

Panelists: TBD.

Location: Basie A/A1

Lunch

From Founder to Future: Planning Leadership Transitions That Actually Work

Theme: Explore

Most firms in this room will face a leadership transition in the next decade, and whether you run a consulting practice, a technology company, or a specialized agency, the questions are remarkably similar. How do you preserve what made the firm valuable when the person who built it steps back? How do you transfer relationships, institutional knowledge, and client trust to the next generation of leaders? And how do you do all of that without losing momentum or identity in the process? The reality is that transitions are more complex and more personal than any planning document can fully capture.

This panel brings together founders and successors from across our membership who have recently lived through it. They will talk openly about what worked, what surprised them, what they would do differently, and what they learned about their firms and themselves along the way. Whether you are years away from a transition or in the middle of one right now, this conversation will give you a more honest picture of what the road ahead actually looks like.

Moderator: TBD. 

Panelists: TBD. 

Location: Basie A/A1

Go Deeper: Roundtable Conversations Session I

Theme: Explore

The roundtable sessions are your chance to go deeper. Five tables, five topics, each one connected to a session from the symposium program: the neuroscience of donor decision-making, AI tools and workflows in member firms, navigating family philanthropy, leadership transitions, and hiring leadership. Each table is hosted by presenters and practitioners close to the topic, but the conversation belongs to you. There is no agenda and no presentation. This is open time to explore whatever part of the topic matters most to your firm, ask the questions that did not get asked during the session, and hear how peers in the room are thinking about the same challenges. There will be two rounds, so you can sit at two different tables. Pick the two conversations that will be most useful to you and dig in.

Topics: 

1. The neuroscience of donor decision-making
2. AI tools and workflows in member firms
3. Navigating family philanthropy
4. Leadership transitions (planning for succession)
5. Hiring leadership

Self-Moderated

Location: Basie A/A1

Go Deeper: Roundtable Conversations Session II

Theme: Explore

The roundtable sessions are your chance to go deeper. Five tables, five topics, each one connected to a session from the symposium program: the neuroscience of donor decision-making, AI tools and workflows in member firms, navigating family philanthropy, leadership transitions, and hiring leadership. Each table is hosted by presenters and practitioners close to the topic, but the conversation belongs to you. There is no agenda and no presentation. This is open time to explore whatever part of the topic matters most to your firm, ask the questions that did not get asked during the session, and hear how peers in the room are thinking about the same challenges. There will be two rounds, so you can sit at two different tables. Pick the two conversations that will be most useful to you and dig in.

Topics:

1. The neuroscience of donor decision-making
2. AI tools and workflows in member firms
3. Navigating family philanthropy
4. Leadership transitions (planning for succession)
5. Hiring leadership

Self-Moderated

Location: Basie A/A1

Where We are Going: The Giving Institute Strategic Plan

Theme: Commit

The strategic planning chair will present the goals and strategies that will guide the Giving Institute over the coming years. Shaped by the work of the strategic planning committee and informed by what we are hearing from our membership. The session will walk through each goal, the strategies behind it, and what it means for how the Institute operates, serves its members, and shows up in the sector. If the rest of the Commit block is about what individual firms will take on, this session is about what we are taking on together.

Facilitator: Lee Ernst, Strategic Planning Chair.

Location: Basie A/A1

Wednesday Reflection

Facilitators: Janell Johnson, Kinetic. Erik Tomalis, Avid AI.

Location: Basie A/AI

Breakfast Affinity Groups

Thursday morning starts with a working breakfast organized by role. Seven tables, seven conversations: Business Development, CEOs/Principals, Early Career Professionals, Operations, Marketing/Communications, HR/Talent/People, and Technology in Practice. Sit with the people who do what you do and talk about whatever is on your mind. These conversations are self-led with no moderator and no agenda. After two and a half days of thinking about the sector, this is time to think about your role in it with people who understand the day-to-day realities because they live them too.

Affinity Groups:

1. Business Development
2. CEOs/Principals
3. Early Career Professionals
4. Operations
5. Marketing/Communications
6. HR/Talent/People
7. Technology in Practice

Location: Basie B/B1

TBD

Facilitator: TBD

Location: Basie A/A1

TBD

Facilitator: TBD

Location: Basie A/A1

TBD

Facilitator: TBD

Location: Basie A/A1