Bending the Arc Towards Justice at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights
Monday, March 15, 2027 from 2:00 p.m.–5:30 p.m.
This pre-convening offers an unmissable, deeply moving journey into the Civil Rights Movement and Atlanta’s enduring legacy of social justice activism. Participants will first take a driving tour of Auburn Avenue, the historic cultural, civic, and commercial center of African American life in Atlanta. The driving tour will culminate with a short visit to the Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church where Martin Luther King Jr. served as pastor.
The group will then head to the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. Inside the Center’s immersive galleries, past and present converge through the powerful stories of the legendary and unsung heroes who resisted Jim Crow—inspiring countless leaders fighting for human rights across the globe today.
Following a self-led tour of the museum, participants will hear from a panel of local community builders who are carrying this legacy forward. Together, they will share candid insights into how collective will and transformation are put into practice—not just aspiration—through bold social justice advocacy, community partnership, and innovative grantmaking across the region.
What You’ll Receive
- Visit to Auburn Avenue and Ebenezer Baptist Church
- Entrance to the National Center for Civil and Human Rights
- Panel discussion with local leaders
Speakers
To be announced soon!
Registration
- Organization Members: $350
- Consultant Members: $350
- Individual Members: $525
- Non-members: $525
Building the Grantmaking Team Manual: Roles, Tools, and Decision Rights
Tuesday, March 16, 2027 from 8:30 a.m.–11:0 a.m.
Every grantmaking operation runs on process and procedures but all too often, those critical workflows remain unwritten. They live in the head long-tenured team members, leaving operations vulnerable to disruption when staff transition. This pre-convening session is designed to help grants professionals systemically capture institutional knowledge, strength operational resiliency across the grantmaking lifecycle.
Over the course of the session, we will build the manual layer by layer: mapping essential grantmaking functions, establishing clear decision rights and approval thresholds, resolving critical handoff points, and optimizing technology systems. Throughout the session, we will emphasize separating core functions from staff headcount, ensuring these practices scale seamlessly whether you operate as a lean two-person shop or a large foundation team.
A written manual is also the clearest statement a funder makes about how it treats the organizations it funds. Undocumented processes disproportionately privilege applicants with insider access while creating unnecessary ambiguity for others. By standardizing and publishing clear workflows, funders can actively reduce administrative burden on applicants and grantees, foster trust, and embed equity and transparency into everyday practice.
By attending this session, participants will be able to:
- Distinguish core grantmaking functions from headcount, assign primary and backup roles, and identify single points of failure.
- Establish clear delegation and decision rights across the grantmaking lifecycle while locating common handoff friction points.
- Define owners, administrators, and data stewards across your systems to declare reliable sources of truth.
- Sequence manual development based on operational risk and implement governance routines that keep manuals relevant and up to date.
- Evaluate operational workflows from the applicant perspective to eliminate unnecessary hurdles, enhance transparency, and uphold predictable service standards for all partners.
What You’ll Receive
- 2.5-hour pre-con training with breakfast and networking
- Slide deck (pdf) and all training materials referenced in the session
Speakers
Lauren Bell, President and CEO, MS, MPP, PMP, LaCire
Jamie Albaum, Managing Director, PMP LaCire
Zach Maynard, Project Manager, PMP, IPA, LaCire
Registration
- Organization Members: $350
- Consultant Members: $350
- Individual Members: $525
- Non-members: $525