Past Events

For information about past Seattle Foundation events, please contact Events Manger, Zandra Grissom at [email protected]. 

2024 Events

  • May 22: Community Connections: Conversations for a Joyful Region – Seattle Foundation envisions a joyful region of shared prosperity, belonging, and justice. Hear from President & CEO Alesha Washington and Board President Ed Taylor who will share what it means to build a joyful region along with a preview of our new strategic direction. Then Darryl Smith, Executive Director of HomeSight, will join the chat to talk about how Field Order 15, in connection with the Black Home Initiative, helps to realize this vision by working to close the homeownership gap.
  • Estate Planning Webinar | August 22 | In celebration of National Make a Will Month in August, Seattle Foundation hosted a free educational webinar to encourage participants to create or update their wills. Tiffany Gorton, Partner at KHBB Law, presented “Your Will: A Plan for Care, Connection, and Impact.”
  • NPO Training | September 23 | Seattle Foundation held a special training session for nonprofit organizations at its offices. Nationally recognized expert Lani Starkey led discussions on “Small Budgets, Big Aspirations” and “The Five Types of Blended Gifts.” CFRE credits were provided, with a $20 ticket option for a box lunch.
  • PACE Seminar | September 24 | Seattle Foundation’s bi-annual Professional Advisors Continuing Education (PACE) seminar took place on September 24. Lani Starkey delivered a presentation on “Grantor CLTs – The Amazing Alternative to Family Foundations and Donor Advised Funds That No One is Talking About.” CE credits and lunch were provided.
  • Annual Investment Briefing | November 13, 2024 | Be in community with fellow fundholders and partners to learn about Seattle Foundation’s investment strategy and market trends. Join us to hear from Seattle Foundation leaders and financial consultant, Crewcial Partners, on how our investment strategy ensures the judicious stewardship of our community’s philanthropic assets. Click here for more information.

2023 Events

  • December 5: The Power of Us – The Power of Us is recognizing that we are stronger as a collective. In partnership with Converge Media, come screen our new mini documentary that shares stories of both grantees and fundholders, demonstrating how through shared understanding and power, we can work together toward shared outcomes.
  • November 28: Annual Investment Briefing – Join us to learn more about Seattle Foundation’s investment strategy as well as overall market trends. Representatives from Crucial Partners, Seattle Foundation’s investment consultant, will discuss how our investment strategy ensures the judicious stewardship of our community’s philanthropic assets.
  • June 22: Embarking on Values Based Estate Planning – Are you thinking of starting your estate plan or updating one that you have created? Reaching far beyond the typical focus on tax savings, inheritance maximization, and asset protection, a values-based estate plan reflects your values and aspirations to communicate your goals and intentions to heirs and causes important to you. Join Seattle Foundation and Leave10 for a virtual webinar where we discuss how a plan can be developed that reflects the legacy you would like to leave and how you will be remembered. As you consider supporting charitable causes beyond your lifetime, it is helpful to understand what motivates you and what you hope to achieve. We will cover what transformational experiences may be influencing your values, what problems you wish to help solve, and what opportunities you want for your heirs.
  • April 24: Building Our Future Together – Donor Briefing – You’re invited to a virtual fireside chat with President and CEO, Alesha Washington, and Ed Taylor, Seattle Foundation Board Chair. Join us and other Seattle Foundation supporters to learn about and celebrate the collective impact of our community of support. You’ll hear about 2022 achievements from community leaders and receive updates from Foundation leadership about a vision that will accelerate philanthropic impact. 

2022 Events

  • November 7: Annual Investment Briefing – Join us to learn more about Seattle Foundation’s investment strategy as well as overall market trends. Representatives from Crucial Partners, Seattle Foundation Investment Committee and our management team will discuss how our investment strategy ensures the judicious stewardship of our community’s philanthropic assets.
  • July 27: In Conversation, In Community – Black-led Joy & Wellness Fund – On July 27, we will be joined by community leaders who have received one of the first rounds of grants from the Black-led Joy and Wellness Fund. The Black-led Joy and Wellness Fund aims to support staff at Black-led and -serving organizations and builds off our REPAIR (Racially Equitable Philanthropy Aimed at Initiating Reparations) framework. REPAIR is a 5-year, $25 million commitment to the Black community of the Greater Seattle Region we launched in June of 2021. The Black-led Joy and Wellness Fund is one approach Seattle Foundation has taken to center the importance of well-being among these organizations and their staff — allowing them to take a collective deep breath. Join us to hear how staff from a few organizations, who received one of the twenty-nine grants, centered their staff wellbeing.
  • May 25: In Conversation, In Community – The Fund for Inclusive Recovery – On April 13, Seattle Foundation announced the first 21 organizations who will receive a total of $12.6 million to support Community Power and Base Building approaches in their communities through The Fund for Inclusive Recovery. Join us as we engage with two organizations who have been at the heart of this work in their communities.
  • March 24: In Celebration of Woman’s History Month, Wonder of Woman Gallery – To celebrate Women’s History Month in March, please join Seattle Foundation as we take a virtual walk through the Wonder of Woman International Gallery, located inside of Pacific Place Mall. With the launch of REPAIR, Seattle Foundations’ five-year, $25 million commitment to the Black community of King County, we’re proud to spotlight this powerful, Black-owned and woman-focused art gallery. We invite everyone, including our philanthropic partners, donors, and grantees, to virtually tour this space which celebrates Black women and girls, rejuvenation, and healing.

2021 Events

  • November 15: Annual Investment Briefing – Learn from our team of experts at our annual Investment Briefing. Members of Crucial Partners, Seattle Foundation Investment Committee members, and representatives of our management team will discuss how our investment strategy ensures the judicious stewardship of our community’s philanthropic assets.
  • October 27: Working Together on Solutions to Homelessness – This salon-style conversation will focus on the ways public sector leaders, people with lived experience, providers, and philanthropists are coming together for this unique and bold new comprehensive cross-system approach to the region’s homelessness and affordable housing crisis.
  • October 7: Changing the Climate Justice Narrative through Storytelling – In Climate Justice work, storytelling is also about shifting power and telling the stories of people whose realities are not ordinarily heard or seen within mainstream cultural narratives. Join us in an engaging forum on how storytelling and communications can be utilized to build power and justice.
  • August 25: Neighbor to Neighbor (N2N) 30th Anniversary Celebration – Join us for a virtual event as we celebrate 30 years of advancing racial equity by investing in the power of community. In celebration of Seattle Foundation’s longest running program, we will be joined by a collection of close friends, members of the N2N advisory committee, grantees, and partners, including a special message from Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal.
  • August 11: In Conversation, In Community – Black-led Joy & Wellness Fund – In celebration of Black Philanthropy Month©, this instance of In Conversation, In Community will focus on nonprofits in our Black-Led Organization Cohort (BLOC). This moderated conversation will focus on the health and well-being of Black non-profit staff who are carrying the weight of providing significantly increased support and services to their communities and doing so while facing the unrelenting twin pandemics of COVID-19 and anti-Black racism at the same time.

2020 Events

  • November 12: Annual Investment Briefing – Learn from our team of experts at our annual Investment Briefing. Brian Crawford of Colonial Consulting, Seattle Foundation Investment Committee members, and representatives of our management team will discuss how our investment strategy ensures the judicious stewardship of our community’s philanthropic assets.
  • October 28: Donor Briefing: COVID-19 Relief Fund – Our focus has been on rapid response and getting resources to those most in need. Six months into the pandemic, we are also assessing the lessons we’ve learned from this model and looking ahead to recovery and reinvention.
  • October 22: Increasing Investment in Black-led Organizations – How funding Black civic leadership supports racial justice. Seattle Foundation sought out to answer questions by convening leaders of Black-led organizations for a series of monthly conversations about their strengths, challenges, and needs. In partnership with Byrd Barr Place, we recently completed a research project designed to gain insight into the experiences of Black-led organizations and how philanthropy can better support them. 
  • October 8: Climate Justice: Ensuring Resiliency – Join us for an intimate conversation exploring ways to build capacity and power within urban grassroots organizations working on issues such as green housing and energy efficiency. We’ll discuss how and why communities can inform and lead climate resiliency efforts, ways to advance policy change, the importance of long-term philanthropic investment, and more.