The workshops are your chance to dive deeper into the themes shaping foundation practice today.
Across the day, you'll join two dynamic 60-minute breakout sessions – one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Each session is designed to spark bold conversations, offer practical insights, and create space to reflect with peers.
Led by expert practitioners from across and beyond the foundation sector, these interactive workshops cover a wide range of topics and offer something for everyone. Whether you’re shaping strategy, making grants, or managing investments, there's something here for you.
This is your chance to explore what it really means to be future-ready, wherever you’re starting from.
Morning workshops (11.15am-12.15pm)
W1. AI ready – practical steps and ethical considerations
AI is reshaping how foundations and social investors operate, whilst also raising ethical questions. Join social sector AI experts from Better Society Capital, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Blackbaud to explore navigating the issues and practical steps for using AI within your foundation’s operations. Suitable for foundations of all sizes, offering guidance for beginners and useful insights for those already on their AI journey.
Led by: Nicholas Andreou, impact manager, Better Society Capital
Joined by: Will Ranjan-Churchill, technology lead, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation; David Upcraft, senior customer success manager, Blackbaud
W2. Philanthropy’s mandate to build narrative power that strengthens democracy
Public perception of philanthropy is rapidly shifting in the current political landscape. For funders to proactively navigate this troubled time, it's critical to understand how narrative strategies affect us. Our session will provide an overview of the narrative environment philanthropy operates in, illuminate opportunities to build infrastructure for the narrative power we need, and explore philanthropic practices that accelerate progress toward a democratic vision of justice and equality for all.
Led by: Virginia Ruan, head of communications, Oak Foundation
Joined by: Marzena Zukowska, co-director, POMOC; Sufina Ahmad, director, John Ellerman Foundation and ACF trustee; Mandy Van Deven, co-lead, Elemental and founder, Both/And Solutions
W3: Social sector scaffolding: how best to invest in future leaders?
Social leaders supply the invisible scaffolding which holds up the social impact sector, but many lack the sustained support needed to help them be future-ready leaders. Is there a case for foundations to play a bigger part in the ‘capacity building’ ecosystem? Designed for those developing grant-making and organisational strategies inside foundations, this interactive workshop will invite you to work with trends and emerging insights from a new multi-funder initiative in the UK.
Led by: Samantha Creme, director, Collective Futures
Joined by: Josh Falconer-Roberts, founder and solidarity community organiser; Caireen Goddard, strategy and impact consultant; Celia Hannon, consultant; Charlie Leadbeater, independent writer and adviser
W4: The power in pooling
A space for sharing and learning between peers about the purpose, practicalities, and power dynamics in setting up and running pooled funds. With case studies spanning the hyperlocal (Edinburgh's Regenerative Futures Fund), the regional (Devon Community Foundation) and the global (Wellcome Trust).
Led by: Erika Loggin, strategic partnerships advisor, Wellcome Trust and Philippa Knott Kos, joint head of grants, Devon Community Foundation
Joined by: Leah Black, co-head, Regenerative Futures Fund
W5. Using data to understand social divides and inequality: a place-based approach
New datasets are transforming how we understand social divides and inequality in the UK, revealing patterns that were previously hidden. This hands-on workshop will dive into data on life pathways and outcomes across the UK, drawing from sources like the National Pupil Database and the Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset. Participants will learn how to adopt a place-based lens to uncover local trends, drivers of inequality and what the future may hold. You'll gain practical insights into how data can inform your priorities, understand how to use key social datasets, build confidence in exploring and interpreting data, and have access to online tools that support place-based decisions. No prior experience with data is required - just curiosity and willingness to explore social issues through data.
Led by: Jamal Clement, senior consultant, Joe Miller, associate director, and Steve Preston, associate director, Mime
W6. Future-proofing your investment portfolio in a new world of geopolitical, political and inflation volatility
We will take you through an overview of the impact of wider geopolitical and political shifts on the global economy and investments of trust and foundations. You will be guided on what extreme weather we can expect and how to navigate a more volatile environment, including an exercise on which asset classes might prove to be essential.
Led by: Charles Lynne, director and partner at ACF Official Partner, Ruffer
Afternoon workshops (2.25pm-3.25pm)
W7. AI's relationship with foundations' missions
AI is transforming the world around us today. As AI becomes more embedded in society, it presents both opportunities and challenges for charitable foundations. This workshop will explore what it means to remain mission-driven in a world where AI is prevalent. We will examine how foundations can harness the opportunities that AI brings, as well as mitigate its risks to ensure that the sector adapts and thrives in an increasingly technological world. You will gain clarity on AI’s role in the sector and how it can be used as a force for greater equity, efficiency and impact.
Led by: Dan Sutch, director at CAST – Centre for the Acceleration of Social Technology
W8. Futures, funding and racial equity
Expect time travel, dreaming and possibility. We will travel back in time sharing insights from our ongoing journey to becoming an anti-racist organisation. We will share what worked, what didn’t, and what still needs to be done. Then we’ll travel to the future to imagine what an anti-racist future looks like for your organisation. Ideal for staff at all levels.
Activity guidance: collective imagination exercise
From the comfort of our seats, we will take part in a short collective imagination exercise where we will be embarking on some time travelling to the future. This carefully facilitated session requires no preparation other than an open mind and a sprinkle of curiosity. It will be a fairly informal and relaxed exercise, but to get the best out of it, it will involve you closing your eyes (if you are comfortable) or lowering your gaze for about five minutes. There will be gentle prompts to guide us through, but mainly this is an opportunity to slow down, relax and dream.
Led by: Julie Aitken, policy and communications manager, Shasta Ali, racial equity and engagement officer, and Carolyn Sawers, chief executive, Corra Foundation
W9. How can funders prepare for the impact of future trends?
Examining the impact of future trends for foundations and those they support using insights from a project by Combat Stress, funded by FIMT. Through developing a 20-year future view of changing characteristics and needs, the project aims to address evolving challenges and build resilience in service provision. The session will help attendees consider their own futures work and the role of foundations in facilitating futures thinking to enable lasting change.
Led by: Caroline Cooke, head of policy and Isabel Summers-Smith, assistant head of policy, Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT)
Joined by: Alan Friggieri, director of strategy and communications, Combat Stress
W10. Funding work-ready futures – skills for a changing world
What does true work readiness look like today? Join this interactive workshop to explore how funders can support young people to develop the skills, confidence and behaviours needed to thrive not just survive in tomorrow’s world of work.
Led by: Mahad Ali, executive director, Commercial Education Trust (CET)
Joined by: Sharon Davies, founder, Good Place Company; Harvinder Rathore, partnerships manager, The Quilter Foundation; Harish Naguleswaran, student and founder, EconBridge
W11. How the British Seven segments can help charities in 2020s Britain
In an era defined by political polarisation and rapid social change, charitable foundations face evolving challenges remaining relevant to the public and having impact. In this workshop we will present our British Seven segments model to help charitable foundations understand how the public intersects with their mission. The workshop will introduce the segments and work through some practical examples of how they can help charitable foundations better navigate change in 2020s Britain.
Led by: Alex Newton, deputy director (strategy and development), More in Common
W12. Better by design: CCLA’s strategies for endowed charitable trusts and foundations
Learn how CCLA thinks about and constructs diversified portfolios that deliver robust income today and growth for tomorrow. By the end of the session, you should have a good understanding of how to truly judge success, enabled by the financial engine of a well-managed endowment, proven over multi-year periods. We will also leave you with a helpful tick-list of metrics to consider when experiencing short-term fluctuations in markets.
Led by: ACF Official Partner, CCLA