Registration is now closed. If you would like to attend, please contact Ron Milam.
About
Join statewide and regional funders in Sacramento to reflect on what’s next for communities, public systems, and philanthropy at a moment of profound disruption and possibility.
Newcomers welcome. Join us whether you are already engaged with Smart Growth California or are looking to learn more. Registration is open to donors, staff, directors, and trustees of all grantmaking institutions.
Objectives
Respond to disruption reshaping communities, public systems, and philanthropy.
Reconnect to renew trust and coordination across regions and sectors.
Reimagine how we work together as familiar tools fall short.
Check out the agenda for more details.
What to Expect
Pre-Conference Workshop | March 16
Kick off the Summit with an in-depth pre-conference workshop featuring Nat Kendall-Taylor of the FrameWorks Institute, focused on cultural mindsets and narrative change — exploring how shared values and stories shape how Californians understand equity, resilience, and community power
Place-Based Learning
Experience on-the-ground examples of philanthropy in action — from climate resilience and food justice to equitable housing, regenerative agriculture, and inclusive economic growth.
Inspiration & Strategy
Engage with community leaders, policymakers, and peers to reflect on philanthropy’s evolving role and explore new ways to respond to this moment.
Community & Connection
Recharge and reconnect with colleagues in a vibrant, diverse city that mirrors California’s complexity and promise. Expect time for informal conversation, creativity, and renewal.
Location
As California’s capital and a crossroads of north, south, and valley, Sacramento brings together the forces defining our future — climate adaptation, equitable development, rural-urban dynamics, and food systems transformation.
Its central location and proximity to both policymakers and community innovators make it an ideal gathering place for statewide learning, reflection, and collaboration.
Planning Committee
We could not have created this event without the help of our esteemed Planning Committee members:
- Emma-Louise Anderson (Co-Chair), Seed Fund
- Kaying Hang (Co-Chair), Sierra Health Foundation
- Craig Woods, Humboldt Foundation
- Juan Reynoso, The California Wellness Foundation
- Maria Aquino, Irvine Foundation
- Mark Valentine, ReFrame It Consulting
- Ricardo G. Huerta Niño, San Francisco Foundation
Agenda
Agenda Overview
March 16 | Monday
Pre-Conference Workshop, Statewide Steering Committee Meeting, Dinner
March 17 | Tuesday
Breakfast, Welcome, Making Sense of the Moment, Seeding the Next Economy, Lunch, Site Visits, Dinner
March 18 | Wednesday
Breakfast, Making Sense of the Moment for Philanthropy, When Good Ideas Stick, Closing, Lunch, Ad Hocs, Learning from PLACES
Click each day below to view timeline and session details.
March 16 | Monday
1:00 – 3:30 PM
Skill-building: Narrative Strategy in Practice
How people hear and make meaning matters. This session brings a leading national researcher on cultural mindsets together with communications practitioners to explore language that resonates — and how narrative change is being applied in practice.
Nat Kendall-Taylor (Frameworks Institute)
Mary Lou Fulton (The California Wellness Foundation)
Jonathan Tran (The California Endowment)
3:30 – 5:00 PM
Statewide Steering Committee Meeting & Open Networking
The Statewide Steering Committee will convene during this time; interested funders are welcome to observe. Concurrently, the space will remain open for informal networking and connection.
Darrell Steinberg — Former Mayor of Sacramento and former California Senate President pro Tempore; author of the Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act (SB 375) — will join for a candid conversation on the future of this landmark law and current efforts to strengthen and update it.
6:00 – 9:00 PM
Opening Dinner
March 17 | Tuesday
8:15 – 9:00 AM
Breakfast & Check-In
9:00 – 9:30 AM
Welcome & State of the Network
Dion Cartwright, CEO of The Funders’ Network
Emma-Louise Anderson (Seed Fund) & Kaying Hang (Sierra Health Foundation), Summit Co-Chairs
Ron Milam, Director, Smart Growth California
9:30 – 10:45 AM
Making Sense of the Moment: A Grounding Framework
In a moment when shared expectations, institutions, and assumptions no longer apply and new norms and rules have yet to be written, collective sense-making feels harder than ever. This session offers a framework for understanding where we are now, deciding what is worth fighting for, and imagining what comes next.
Moderator: Veronica Carrizales (The California Wellness Foundation)
Speakers: Sabrina Smith & Karla Zombro (We Are California)
11:00 – 12:15 PM
Seeding the Next Economy: Community Ownership in Practice
An exploration of community ownership of land and labor—two complementary strategies that help communities reduce displacement, strengthen local economies, and expand opportunity in place—examining how land and worker ownership reinforce one another across timelines, risk, and impact.
Moderator: Juan Reynoso (The California Wellness Foundation)
Speakers: Camille Llanes-Fontanilla (Sobrato Philanthropies), Vanessa Bransburg (Democracy at Work Institute), Olivia Ortiz (META LLC), Emily Duma (Common Counsel Foundation)
12:15 – 1:00 PM
Lunch & Audience Discussion
Steven Cliff, Executive Director, California Air Resources Board
Brief remarks followed by audience Q&A with the head of California’s climate agency, which implements the state’s climate laws and sets the pace for climate policy nationwide.
1:20 – 2:15 PM
Beyond “Capacity Building”: Supporting Communities to Lead
Drawing on The California Endowment’s $20 million Climate Resiliency Cohort and Social Impact Bond, this session examines different ways philanthropy can back Tribal and community leadership. Speakers will share lessons on how funders can help communities lead climate, land stewardship, and restoration efforts on their own terms — through approaches such as flexible funding, technical assistance, and advocacy to reform regulatory and funding barriers.
Moderator: Judi López (The California Endowment)
Speakers: Dana Arviso (Decolonizing Wealth Project), Katerina Oskarsson (Humboldt Area Foundation), Alfredo Gonzalez (Resources Legacy Fund)
2:30 – 5:30 PM
Site Visits
These site visits offer a closer look at how today’s themes are playing out on the ground. Participants will choose one of the following options.
Option 1: Aggie Square and Stockton Boulevard — Where Transit, Housing, and Jobs Converge
Explore one of Sacramento’s most culturally vibrant corridors — Stockton Boulevard, home to Vietnamese, Latino, and other immigrant communities, including Little Saigon. Set against the $1.1 billion Aggie Square innovation district anchored by UC Davis, this tour looks at how major investment is reshaping a long-overlooked commercial strip while navigating tensions around displacement and who benefits. We’ll hear about how a community benefits agreement helped ensure roughly 1,500 new housing units, workforce pathways and other investments in transit and local businesses.
Option 2: From Cropland to Cafeteria — Connecting Farmers, Schools, and Community Wealth
This tour begins at the local school district’s Central Kitchen to see what it takes to prep and cook nearly 50,000 from-scratch meals a day using locally sourced ingredients. From there, we travel to farms that help supply the region’s public food system, including Ujamaa Farmers Collective in Woodland. We’ll explore how institutional purchasing can strengthen regional growers, expand opportunity for BIPOC farmers, and build long-term community wealth while navigating groundwater constraints and long-term sustainability.
6:30 – 7:00 PM
Drinks & Appetizers
7:00 – 9:00 PM
Dinner & Evening Reception
March 18 | Wednesday
8:30 – 9:00 AM
Breakfast & Informal Networking
9:00 – 10:15 AM
Making Sense of the Moment for Philanthropy
When the ground is shifting, strategy can’t stay static. California funders will discuss how they’re navigating uncertainty, adjusting priorities, and deciding what’s worth defending and doubling down on.
Moderator: Mark Valentine (ReFrame It Consulting)
Speakers: Carolyn Wang Kong (The California Endowment), Charles Sidney Fields (The James Irvine Foundation), Kaying Hang (Sierra Health Foundation)
10:30 AM – 12:00 PM
When Good Ideas Stick: Making Collaboration Work
From building parks across Los Angeles County to expanding community land ownership in the San Joaquin Valley, this session shows how funders working together unlocked outcomes no single grant could have achieved. Drawing on examples from Smart Growth California’s working groups, we’ll look closely at how the work actually unfolded — how funders aligned around shared goals, responded to what grantees were asking for, adjusted along the way, and what surprised them. Speakers will reflect candidly on what worked, what didn’t, and what changed on the ground as a result.
Moderator: Diana Williams, Smart Growth California
Speakers: Marni Rosen (Tao Rising); Lydia Lopez and Jaqueline Rivera (California Community Land Trust Network); Lisa Craypo (Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation); Alfredo Gonzalez (Resources Legacy Fund); Everett Au (San Diego Community Foundation)
12:00 – 12:20 PM
Closing
This closing session creates space to reflect on what’s emerged, share insights, and identify questions and commitments to carry forward.
12:30 PM
Lunch
12:45 – 1:45 PM
Ad Hoc Conversation & Peer Exchange
Optional, peer-led discussion during lunch focused on shared challenges and opportunities:
Getting Public Climate Dollars to the Ground
Aligning philanthropy, technical assistance & capacity-building to help communities access public funds like Proposition 4.
Facilitators: Angelo Logan (Liberty Hill Foundation), Alfredo Gonzalez (Resources Legacy Fund), Kirin Kumar (Greenlining Institute), Lily Bui (SoCal Grantmakers)
2:00 – 4:00 PM
Learning from PLACES
Please join us for an open, generative conversation about what PLACES has offered grantmakers over the past 15 years, and how those lessons continue to shape funder practice today. This session is open to all Summit participants and is designed as a space to listen, reflect, and exchange perspectives — whether or not you have participated in PLACES.
Participants include:
Craig Martinez, facilitator (PLACES ’13)
Dion Cartwright (PLACES ’11)
Emma-Louise Anderson (PLACES ’23)
Everett Au (PLACES ’20)
Sandeep Bikram Shah (PLACES ’23)
Maria Aquino, Irvine Foundation (PLACES ’23)
Safety & Security Guidelines
To help us maintain a safe environment for all participants, we ask that you:
- Do not share location details of the event or any off-site activities or receptions with individuals who are not registered participants.
- Wear your name badge at all times while in event spaces. Badges are also required for access to site visits and off-site receptions.
- Respect photography preferences. Some participants may prefer not to be photographed. Please ask permission before taking or sharing photos that clearly feature other attendees.
- Follow event social media guidance. We ask participants not to post about the event on external social media platforms until the agenda concludes.
Participants are welcome to share about their TFN’s Smart Growth California 2026 Funder Summit experience on social media beginning March 19, 2026.
Social Media Guidelines & Best Practices
- Please be mindful of the safety, security and comfort of fellow attendees when posting on social media or other digital platforms.
- We encourage frank and candid conversations throughout the event. To support this, we ask participants to follow the Chatham House Rule: you may share insights and takeaways, but please do not share the names or affiliations of speakers or participants.
- Please also respect any requests from speakers, moderators or attendees to keep remarks off the record.
- If posting photos, ask permission before sharing images of fellow attendees and check in advance if they’re comfortable being tagged on platforms like LinkedIn or Instagram.
Click here to see highlights from our 2024 Funder Summit.
