ABFE Annual Conference 2025: Call for Session Ideas

ABFE Annual Conference 2025
April 7-9, 2025 (Pre-conference activities scheduled Sun. April 6th)
Atlanta, GA

HARAMBEE 2025

ABFE remains unapologetically committed to our mission of promoting effective and responsive philanthropy in Black communities. That commitment doesn’t come at the expense of anybody else but holds the belief that better outcomes for Black people and communities equates to improved outcomes for all. To that end, we encourage our network to submit session ideas that demonstrate philanthropic and community-based solutions and strategies in alignment with our Responsive Philanthropy in Black Communities (RPBC) tenets.

Civic Engagement & Political Power,
Community Organizing & People Power,
Policy, Advocacy & System Reform,
Economic Development & Economic Power,
Research & Intellectual Power,
Communications/Narrative Change, and
Leadership Development & Strategic Convenings.

Your session ideas may exemplify one of these tenets or reflect intersectional work with two or more combinations. Key here, is we want the sessions to provide examples for how success can be achieved by strategic investment in leaders and communities in these areas. Philanthropy doesn’t do its work without help from partners, which is why we welcome ideas from:

Grassroots leaders
Individual or institutional philanthropy;
Philanthropic networks; and
Public-private partnerships powering their community change.

Content is strengthened with voices of partners who have madethe work possible. Look for diversity of voice, gender identity & expression, ability, diasporic connection, etc. as you build your content team.

THE PROCESS:
We greatly appreciate your investment of time in submitting a proposal (or two). Unfortunately, we will have limited time and space, and won’t be able to accommodate all of the submissions. We will select sessions that best fit our vision for the conference. Priority consideration is extended to ABFE members. Learn more about ABFE membership here.

If selected, ABFE will work with the session curators to create an ideal session for Harambee 2025.

You’ll be responsible for covering your travel/lodging expenses. Please consider how you may help support those who you designate as speakers for your session. Very limited resources might be available for speakers who might have limited travel budgets. Session times, titles & descriptions may need to be modified to accommodate timing & placement in the agenda. So plan to join for the full conference, if possible.

There might be opportunities to collaborate with another colleague, with a similar submission topic. We ask that you are amenable to collaborative opportunities, should we decide to accept & merge similar concepts. In the event your session isn’t selected, we might want to discussion other presentation opportunities in 2025. Either way, we hope you will join us in Atlanta.

DEADLINE:
Submit your proposal by Friday, December 6, 2024 at 5:00PM EST. ABFE will notify you by mid-January, 2025 regarding your submission and to share if your proposal has been selected. Even if you aren't invited to present, we hope that you will join us at Harambee 2025.

I am/My organization is a member of ABFE (Note: consideration will be given to ABFE members)::*

Yes, I am a memberNo, but I'm interested in learning about membership

Primary Session Designer Name:*

PrefixFirst NameLast NameSuffix

Primary Session Designer Pronouns:*

She/Her/Hers

Primary Session Designer Title:*

Primary Session Designer Organization/Foundation:*

Primary Session Designer Organization's Website:

example@example.com

Primary Session Designer Email Address:*

example@example.com

Primary Session Designer's Assistant's Email Address (if applicable):

example@example.com

City/State:*

Street Address

Street Address Line 2

CityState / Province

Postal / Zip Code

Primary Session Designer Organization's Social Media (LinkedIn, etc.):

example@example.com

List All Collaborators on the Design of Your Session Idea (Name, Title, Organization):*

Proposed workshop/ session title (Up to 100 characters):*

Proposed description (Up to 500 characters - it should convey the session's purpose):*

0/500

What are the goals/takeaways for your session (up to three):*

0/500

Which of the above-mentioned tenets of ABFE's Responsive Philanthropy in Black Communities (RBPC©) framework will be the primary focus of your proposed session:*

Is there a media element that can complement/connect with the session?*

YesNo

Identify how your session connects with the selected imperative (Up to 50 words):*

0/50

If your session is selected, could the content it be pre-recorded for hybrid participants?*

YesNo

Session Voices: Your co-conspirators/collaborators can be community leaders, funders, grantee partners. Tell us who will lend their expertise in this experience? The voice of youth/next generation leaders is desired, where there is a good fit. *

NOTE: Please consider including a voice of an organization based in the NC area. No more than three speakers for a session is recommended. Include Name, Organization/Affiliation, and gender pronouns (he/him/his, etc.) of each contributor.0/150

Moderator/Facilitated by (name/organization/title/gender pronouns):*

Type a question*

Talk Show - Standard Panel - Solo/lecture, Dual (one-2-one), and Panel presentations can offer a deeper dive into more targeted topics. Panels typically feature one moderator and up to three additional subject matter experts who represent similar or different perspectives and opinions in a given area, making for a lively discussion.Campfire - Campfire Sessions begin a lot like a traditional presentation, with a speaker (or multiple speakers) at the front of the room presenting an idea to a group of people. After 15 or 20 minutes, however, the focus shifts from the presenter to the audience. For the remainder of the session, the presenter becomes a facilitator, inviting comments, insights and questions from those around the room. Campfire sessions allow attendees to drive their own learning and share experiences with others, which also assists with networking.World Café - The World Café format is a simple, effective, and flexible format for hosting large group dialogue. The process begins with the first of two or more rounds of discussion for groups of 4-6 seated around a table. Each round is prefaced with a question. At the end of each 15-20-minute round, each member of the group moves to a different table. They may or may not choose to leave one person as the “table host” for the next round, who welcomes the next group and briefly fills them in on what happened in the previous round. Once all rounds have been completed, key points from each table are presented to the whole group for a final collective discussion.Fishbowl - Fishbowls help facilitate discussion in large groups by having just 3-6 people talk at any one time. Those individuals are seated in the center of the room while the while the rest of the participants (maximum of 50 people) sit around the outside and observe without interrupting. You can have “closed” or “open” fishbowls, meaning that the discussion is either exclusive to the selected participants or one or more of the chairs is open to members of the audience who want to ask questions or make comments. Although largely self-organizing once the discussion gets underway, the fishbowl process usually has a facilitator or moderator.Speed Talks (three types) - A. Lightning Talks - As the name suggests, lightning talks give speakers a limited amount of time to make their presentation – no more than 10 minutes. They may or may not include slides, but if they do, the slides usually move forward automatically to keep speakers to time. Because lightning talks are brief, it requires the speaker to make their point clearly and rid the presentation of non-critical information. This, in turn, helps keep the attention of the audience. It also means many ideas can be presented in a short amount of time. A period of between 30 to 60 minutes is usually allotted to lightning talks, allowing for up to 12 speakers to be heard. B. Ignite Session - A form of “lightning talk”, Ignite Sessions give speakers five minutes to talk on a subject accompanied by 20 slides. Each slide appears for 15 seconds and is automatically advanced. The speaker must not read the details included in the slides. C. PechaKucha - This is a simple presentation format where you show 20 images, each for 20 seconds. The images advance automatically and speakers talk along to the images.Storytelling/Griot - Storytelling/Griot sessions invite speakers to tell stories that help illustrate or enhance a specific conference imperative. They should reflect the authentic experience of an individual, a team, or a community, but be told like a traditional story. The narrative should contain a beginning, middle and end, characters and themes that hold interest, like adversity and triumph. Stories should be about 15 minutes long, and fit within the prescribed time frame, with time provided for Q&A afterwards."Hyde Park Corner Debate" - This format takes a central theme or question and has two speakers debate for and against. At the outset, the participants are polled to measure their opinion on the topic. Following the debate, they are polled again to see how many are now in favor or against. The winner of the debate is the speaker who caused the most audience members to change their votes.Book Readings/ Signings - Book Readings are hour-long sessions focusing on the launch of a new book and give the author a chance to explore the themes or motifs present in their work. These are a great way for both first time and returning authors to showcase their latest title to a diverse audience.

Does your proposal capture demonstrate/exemplify racial equity/justice in practice in any way?*

YesNo

If yes, how? (50 words or less):*

Select a proposed time for your session (these are proposed times, scheduling needs might require adjustments):*

60-minutes90-minutes

What techniques will you use to make your idea/session interactive?*

Session Q&A, Live Polling, etc.

Would you be interested in sponsorship, exhibitor, or advertising opportunities?*

Yes, please forward my contact information to ABFE's Development teamNo, I'm only interested in submitting my session idea at this time

If not selected, would you be interested in contributing to other programming or member-related sessions (webinars, etc.)?*

Yes, I would be interestedNo, I'm only interested in submitting my session idea at this time

Would you be interested in learning more about ABFE's Philanthropic Advising Services and its Racial Equity Curriculum?*

Yes, I would be interestedNo, I'm only interested in submitting my session idea at this time

HARAMBEE 2025 CALL FOR SESSION IDEAS

SESSION DESIGNER INFORMATION:

SESSION/WORKSHOP IDEA: