“Now is the time to be the grantmaker
you have been waiting to be
Time to be braver and more committed
Than you have ever imagined yourself”
This was the invitation – and the admonition – the poet Chinaka Hodge extended to attendees at the start of the 2017 Northern California Grantmakers’ Annual Conference. Over 400 members of the NCG community gathered for what turned out to be an energized, substantive, and occasionally raucous day together. There were even pom poms!
We had many objectives for the day. At the top of my list was to create a space for all of us to connect with one another, re-fuel ourselves, and – believe it or not – laugh together (always the best medicine, as they say). From my vantage point, all of this happened, and then some.
My deepest thanks to all of you who joined us and contributed. I invite you to take a few minutes with this special issue of Together for Good to appreciate and enjoy some of the highlights.
As I said in my remarks at the conference, we are blessed to have a community like this to turn to. And as Chinaka reminds us, now is the time for us to turn to each other and find new ways to be bigger, bolder, and stronger.
If not now, then when?
Ellen LaPointe
Watch Chinaka's performance
Chinaka Hodge | Great People, Great Work, Cultural Legacy from Northern California Grantmakers on Vimeo.