NCNG Promising Practices Gathering
October 7 - 9, 2026 | Holiday Inn Resort: Lumina at Wrightsville Beach
Agenda
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Wednesday, October 7
Dine Arounds
Thursday, October 8
Morning Gathering & Welcome
Concurrent Sessions
Attendees can choose from two learning tracks:
Navigating Rapidly Changing Times
Foundation leaders are being asked to navigate through a period of accelerating change: shifting community needs, political and economic uncertainty, evolving expectations from boards and donors, rapid technological disruption, and increasing pressure on nonprofits to do more with less. In this environment, resilience is not simply a grantee concern. It is also a leadership and governance challenge for philanthropic institutions themselves.
This interactive session will help CEOs and Executive Directors examine how a culture of generative leadership and adaptability can strengthen both their own institutions and the nonprofit partners they support.
Participants will consider the major disruptive forces and “meta trends” shaping philanthropy and governance today, and discuss practical ways to bring boards along as strategy, risk, partnership, and impact expectations evolve. Through conversation and reflection, the group will explore what it takes to build institutions that are more responsive, innovative, and better equipped to support nonprofits navigating uncertainty.
Facilitator: Sylia Obagi, Executive Director, Winston Family Foundation; Founder, The Generative Group
The Promising Practices Track for foundation staff to explore pressing topics and tools offers two concurrent sessions to choose from:
Morning Session 1: Shared Evaluation, Shared Learning: Practical Insights from a Funder Partnership
How can evaluation be leveraged as a tool to support capacity building efforts, learning, and systems change between funders and nonprofit organizations? This session shares lessons from a multi-year funder partnership, where shared evaluation, targeted technical assistance, and responsive facilitation help grantees build early childhood advocacy capacity to drive systems change.
Participants will learn what made the partnership successful, how shared evaluation informed continuous improvement, and the conditions funders can create to support stronger field-level collaboration and impact. Attendees will leave with practical strategies for collaborative learning and meaningful evaluation design that center grantee relationships and actionable decision-making.
Morning Session 2: How Local News & Information Advances Your Funding Strategy
No matter your grantmaking vision and goals, investing in North Carolina's local news and information ecosystem is a proven method to ensure our communities can thrive. Accurate and accessible local journalism improves public health outcomes, keeps people safe during natural disasters, encourages civic participation, and more. In this session, we'll explore emerging practices and lessons from efforts to strengthen North Carolina's local news ecosystem. Learn from case studies and research that show the power of local news and philanthropy's role in supporting more informed, connected communities in North Carolina.
Break
Network with participants, discuss insights from previous sessions, or simply enjoy our view of the beach with coffee and a snack.
Lunch
Join us for lunch as we focus on building community: sharing a meal, connecting with colleagues, and taking time to strengthen relationships across NCNG. We'll also hear from Sarah Mann Willcox, NCNG Executive Director, as she reflects on what makes the NCNG community unique and the values that bring us together.
Break
Network with participants, discuss insights from previous sessions, or simply enjoy our view of the beach with a snack.
Concurrent Sessions
Attendees can choose from two learning tracks:
Working Together on Purpose
Funders, nonprofits, and community partners are often encouraged to "collaborate" -- but not every effort to work together requires the same level of commitment, structure, or shared ownership.
In this interactive session, CEOs and Executive Directors will explore a spectrum of working together, from communication and information sharing to coordination, collaboration, and beyond. Through real-world examples, honest discussion, and practical reflection, participants will examine what makes partnerships successful, where they can become overbuilt or underbuilt, and how different stakeholders may define collaboration differently.
Participants will have the opportunity to map the collaborations they are currently part of and consider whether those efforts are aligned with their intended purpose, outcomes, and investment of time and resources.
Leave with a clearer framework for evaluating partnerships and greater confidence in choosing the right approach for the work in front of you.
Facilitators: Sarah Mann Willcox, Executive Director, NC Network of Grantmakers
Gita Gulati-Partee, Principal, OpenSource Leadership Strategies & Co-Director, Listen to Community
The Promising Practices Track for foundation staff to explore pressing topics and tools offers two concurrent sessions to choose from:
Afternoon Session 1: Using Your Data Like Flashlight, Not a Hammer
How can grantmakers use data to ask better questions, make stronger recommendations, and support nonprofits without reducing complex work to a scorecard? In this session, our presenters will share how they are thinking about data as a practical tool for learning, decision-making, and communication.
Drawing on recent work analyzing the social return on investment of grants, the conversation with Cape Fear Collective and LiveOak Bank will explore how funders can use data “like a flashlight, not a hammer” -- to illuminate patterns, identify opportunities, strengthen internal conversations and recommendations, and consider where additional investment may be needed.
Afternoon Session 2: Reimagining Capacity Building: Navigating Culture, Systems & Power
Nonprofits today are stretched thin — navigating staffing shortages, rising demand, and dwindling resources. In this moment of compounding challenges, philanthropy must go beyond technical fixes and embrace capacity-building approaches that address the deeper roots of sustainability: equity, power, culture, and community voice.
This session with Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO) invites grantmakers to reexamine traditional models of support and explore how equity-centered capacity building can lead to more durable, community-rooted outcomes. Participants will reflect on their roles, learn practical tools, and leave with clear, actionable strategies for aligning their work with the realities nonprofits are facing today.
We’ll share examples, stories and approaches with peers to deepen our understanding of how equity-centered capacity building can be practiced and identify ideas participants can adapt in their own grantmaking contexts.
Quick Break
Network with participants, discuss insights from previous sessions, or simply enjoy our view of the beach with a snack.
Closing Reflection
Power is a common topic in philanthropy, but it is often discussed in ways that feel abstract, uncomfortable, or disconnected from day-to-day practice.
What if we understood power not as a finite resource to be guarded or distributed, but as the ability to achieve intended purposes? This mindset shift can reshape relationships between funders and communities, challenge assumptions about where knowledge and solutions reside, and invite more reciprocal approaches to partnership.
By developing a deeper awareness of our own power, and building some skill and confidence to engage in discussions about power, we can be better equipped to navigate both the opportunities and responsibilities that come with philanthropic work.
Happy Hour Reception
Join us ocean-side to unwind with drinks and hors d’oeuvres.
Dinner Salons and Gatherings: COMING SOON!
Stay tuned for special dinner gatherings. Limited on-site dinners will be available by advance registration (additional ticket may be required). Details coming later this summer.
Questions? mbostic@ncgrantmakers.org
Friday, October 9
Continental Breakfast Bar
Opportunities for Collaboration: New Hanover County and Region
An additional RSVP is required to attend this free event. Please register at this link.