Here are my closing remarks from the September 2019 Southern California Grantmakers “Foresight Philanthropy” conference on using the tools of futurism in philanthropy:

Hi everyone! I know it’s been a very long day of learning. I’m just here to take one final moment to thank our brilliant panelists – and everyone who shared their insight and their foresight with us today – including all of you.

Because honestly? The fact that you care enough to be here – in this room, in this membership association, in this philanthropy sector, at this moment – personally, that is what’s giving me hope and a path forward these days. Today, you showed that the SCG community is full of people who are dedicating your careers to really see and really support deep-down, root-cause, systems-level change in the things that philanthropy has always said we exist to solve. As one of our speakers said earlier, we’re not supposed to be here just to make things 5% less terrible.

And so I hope today has been valuable for you – from this morning when Dr. Bryant Marks talked with us about how implicit biases hide in our minds and grants and our boardrooms, in the systems we create and the systems we’re part of – to our final panel just now, sharing practical, tactical lessons on how intersectional partnerships can make our impact stronger and smarter and deeper.

On behalf of the whole SCG team, we hope you got a few new tools for your toolbox today, and maybe sharpened up the old ones, so we can all go back out there tomorrow and keep building a better future together!