To share knowledge and improve our collective effectiveness, Grantmakers for Education convened a unique meeting in May 2008 that brought together local and state funder networks that support a core group of funders interested in education grantmaking.

We recognize that both Grantmakers for Education—as a national affinity group—and regional associations play important and complementary roles supporting the field of education philanthropy and encouraging funder leadership, learning and collaboration. This meeting was designed as a first-time-ever opportunity to help networks find ways to work more closely and to share best practices for working with education funders.

Recognizing the diversity of education funder networks that different regional associations sponsor—from learning circles that meet periodically to collaboratives that pool funds—we had designed the meeting agenda in consultation with nearly a dozen local network leaders. The agenda included time for group discussion, information-sharing and problem-solving. Click here to see a copy of the agenda.

In addition, Grantmakers for Education was delighted that Harvard professor Jim Honan led a case study seminar on effective grantmaking and funder collaboration. These case study discussions have been some of GFE's most popular program offerings, and we think the seminar helped us surface the thorny challenges and opportunities we face helping funders learn together or coordinate their efforts.

The gathering was May 28-29, starting with a networking reception on Wednesday evening and continuing with a robust program through Thursday. To make the meeting as conveniently and centrally located as possible, we convened in downtown St. Paul, Minneapolis. And, thanks to a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support this work, we could underwrite the travel costs of one person from each regional association to attend.