Elevate Children Funders Group Events
ECFG regularly sponsors and convenes member-only and public events. Scroll below to learn more about upcoming events and to view recordings and key messages from past webinars.
upcoming events
2024 ECFG AGM
Better Together: Bridging funders, young people and community for collective impact
ECFG 2024 Annual General Meeting
Better together: Bridging funders, young people and community for collective impact
We're excited to host the Elevate Children Funders Group's 2024 Annual General Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. Our decision to hold the 2024 AGM in East Africa aligns with the extensive grantmaking efforts of our members and their strong connections to community-led change in the region. Together, we will explore and capitalize on the synchronicities that make us greater than the sum of our parts - with each other, with young people, and with the local cultures and communities we serve.
learn more
June '24
4-6
past events
Youth-led Learning on Livelihoods with FGHR
Youth-led Learning on Livelihoods with FGHR
10am EST/3pm GMT | ECFG Community Conversation
an ecfg community conversation
(10am est/3pm gmt)
Last year, FGHR & Recrear worked with 10 youth co-researchers to explore the intersection of economic empowerment and human rights. Join us for a dynamic discussion on "Lively-hoods,” the resulting learning agenda that explores these issues through personal stories, creative insights, and reflective questions. This ECFG Community Conversation is open to the public.
notes & recording coming soon
march '24
5
Exploring Key Tensions in Child Protection and Child Rights
Exploring key tensions in child protection and child rights
28 Mar | ECFG Community Conversation
ecfg community conversation
Only 2 percent of philanthropic funding goes towards addressing climate change. It’s a figure we have heard a lot recently, but what practical steps can we take to strengthen the role that philanthropy plays in addressing one of the biggest global challenges of our time? Join us for a session that explores how the climate crisis impacts children and their education, that answers your questions on climate smart grantmaking and shares the work that other foundations are undertaking on this issue.
contact the secretariat for the recording
MAR '23
28
A candid conversation on Children, Climate and Education
A candid conversation on Children, Climate and Education
Hosted by the IEFG and ECFG
hosted by the IEFG and ecfg
Only 2 percent of philanthropic funding goes towards addressing climate change. It’s a figure we have heard a lot recently, but what practical steps can we take to strengthen the role that philanthropy plays in addressing one of the biggest global challenges of our time? This session explored how the climate crisis impacts children and their education, answered questions on climate smart grantmaking, and shared the work of foundations undertaking this issue.
FEB '23
6
ECFG Opportunities
for 2023
January Community Conversation: ECFG Opportunities for 2023
17 Jan | ECFG Community Conversation
ECFG community conversation
Our 17 January Community Conversation served as a “report-back” on the AGM, detailing what happened and what’s next. This meeting was open only to ECFG members.
contact the secretariat for the recording
Jan '23
17
ECFG 2022 AGM
Better Together: Elevating Connections for Collective Impact
ECFG 2022 AGM | The Royal Foundation of St Katherine, London
better together: Elevating Connections for Collective Impact
ECFG members gathered to nurture our relationships, strengthen our collaborations, and challenge our paradigms. This is a critical time in history for marginalized and vulnerable children and youth everywhere. They are calling on us to move out of our silos to work with and for them to drive sustainable change. We truly better together. This meeting was open only to ECFG members.
members are welcome to access notes and recordings at ecfgagm.org - please contact the secretariat for the password
NOV '22
1-3
Pre-AGM ECFG Reporting
October Community Conversation: Annual AGM Reporting & Goodbye to Mark
18 Oct | ECFG Community Conversation
ECFG community conversation
To ensure that every one (in-person attendees and not) could participate in the more formal elements of the AGM, we presented the ED report and Chairs’ report online before the AGM. Members joined us to learn about what’s happened in ECFG since the last AGM, get an overview of changes on the Steering Committee, hear about exciting opportunities in the coming year, and ask questions. We also wished a fond farewell to our outgoing Steering Committee Chair, Mark Guy, who recently left GHR. This meeting was open only to ECFG members.
contact the secretariat for the recording
oct '22
18
Family Strengthening & Children's Care with USAID
September Community Conversation: Family Strengthening & Children's Care with USAID
27 Sept | ECFG Community Conversation
ECFG community conversation
This ECFG Community Conversation, co-hosted by the Parenting and Children in Care working groups, featured Jamie Gow, from USAID, on the work of their Children in Adversity portfolio. USAID recently joined the Parenting and Family Strengthening Working Group as we collectively work towards aligning and amplifying funding for children and their families. We also heard an update from Aaron Lee Morris, Initiatives Manager at LEGO Foundation on LEGO’s Build a World of Play challenge.
We then reviewed our two working groups’ common connections and shared interests and brainstormed ways to collaborate moving forward.
contact the Secretariat for notes & recording
sep '22
27
Planting Seeds for Change
Planting Seeds for Effective Change: Lessons from the Reconstructing Children’s Rights Institute
28 June | ECFG Community Conversation
Lessons from the Reconstructing Children’s Rights Institute
In this ECFG Community Conversation, we were joined by Ghazal Keshavarzian and Mark Canavera of the Reconstructing Children’s Rights Institute - an online institute focused on dismantling racism, neo-colonialism, and patriarchy in humanitarian and development efforts to protect children and support families.
Over the last year, the Institute has released a series of six conversations and accompanying materials that have helped to raise awareness and recognition of how racism, patriarchy, and power are not just theoretical concepts but real drivers of inequality, ineffectiveness, and harm in the international child rights and protection sector. Ghazal and Mark discussed how the Institute has sowed the seeds for effective change and offered practical ways to dismantle and reconstruct the existing system.
watch the recording
JUNE '22
28
Weaving a Collective Tapestry:
Weaving a Collective Tapestry: Launching the new Funders' Toolkit for Child and Youth Participation
21 June | Hosted by the ECFG Secretariat
Launching the new Funders' Toolkit for Child and Youth Participation
In early 2022, ECFG commissioned a research study to better understand child and youth participatory models used by funders. The resulting Funders’ Toolkit for Child and Youth Participation, co-created by an amazing group of young leaders, and with the guidance of an advisory committee and the ECFG Child and Youth Participation working group, is the first of its kind to offer support and guidance on the substantive “how-to” of child and youth participation - tailored specifically to funders.
Meaningful participation in philanthropy can be a powerful catalyst for increased impact and transformation at multiple levels, from the individual to the systemic, but many funders still shy away from implementing meaningful child and youth participation across their work. Despite the many excellent resources available for nonprofits and development agencies addressing child and youth participation, few resources exist that address the unique, practical needs of funders. ECFG’s new Funders’ Toolkit for Child and Participation aims to fill that gap.
This 90-minute intergenerational launch event highlighted key insights from the research, introduced new tools and activities for funders considering or embarking on a participatory process, and hosted an important conversation with the report’s authors and youth co-creation group on their recommendations for funders.
watch the recording | read the report
JUNE '22
21
Redefining Local CSOs
Redefining Local CSOs - from implementing partner to strategic agents of change!
17 May | ECFG Community Conversation
from implementing partners to strategic agents of change
Five years on from the Grand Bargain, the vast majority of funds are still not going directly to local organizations. Localization, decolonization of aid, and initiatives to shift the power are being debated, but local CSO’s are still not always part of setting this agenda. In tandem, Black Lives Matter has accelerated conversation on racism, inequality, and discrimination within the NGO sector and asked questions of how we can resolve the systemic power imbalances.
This panel discussion brought together three local CSO leaders working on children’s rights: Rita Panicker, CEO Butterflies (India), Omattie Madray, Director of ChildLinK (Guyana), and Pierre Coulibaly National Coordinator of ENDA JA (Senegal) who have already established their own international alliance, Family for Every Child.
Sharing their experiences of working as an alliance, through initiatives such as the Blue Umbrella Day, the panelists highlighted the power of self-organized grassroots CSO's, and their ability to inform regional and global change. They will seek to dialogue ways to invest in and realize the potential of local CSO’s, and shift perceptions of local CSO’s from implementing partners enabling local change led by local people, to strategic partners enabling regional and international change informed by local context and diversity.
watch the recording
May '22
17
Resourcing Adolescent Girls to Thrive
20 April | Co-hosted by ECFG, the Gender Funders CoLab, and Purposeful
A report exploring where is the money for adolescent girls’ rights using an ecosystem approach
This webinar explored findings from the forthcoming research, Resourcing Girls to Thrive: A report exploring where is the money for adolescent girls’ rights using an ecosystem approach, co-led by Angelika Arutyunova and Amy Babchek with researchers Ruby Johnson, Boikanyo Modungwa, and Emily Battistini.
This research has dual purpose: first, to define the features of the current funding landscape, including its limitations; and second, to offer the initial scaffolding of a feminist funding ecosystem where girls can thrive. In this way, the report aims to equip adolescent girls’ funders with insights and analysis as a starting point from which to affect change toward a transformative funding ecosystem – to catalyze more thinking and deeper research as well as collective conversations, including with adolescent girls.
This webinar featured a presentation of the report findings by its authors and a panel of respondents flowing resources to adolescent girls. This report is a conversation starter - not conclusive research - and as such, it seeks to open a space for further research, advocacy, and convening across multiple actors, evolving what this research report presents as findings and offerings.
apr '22
20
Understanding Global South Philanthropy
ECFG Member Conversation: Understanding Global South Philanthropy - What's next for ECFG?
8 March | Hosted by the ECFG Secretariat
What's next for ECFG?
This member conversation featured a presentation and member-only discussion on the Understanding the Global South: Key Philanthropic Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities in Asia, Africa, and Latin America research. In early 2021, ECFG partnered with IEFG to commission this research, designed to help us attract and be more responsive to members from the Global South. The research team from Sattva Consulting joined us for a brief presentation of their findings followed by a conversation about what this means for ECFG and what comes next for the network.
this was an ECFG member-only conversation - members, please contact the Secretariat for the recording
mar '22
8
Presentation of findings:
Presentation of findings: mapping philanthropic investments in parent and caregiver support
20 April | Hosted by the ECFG Parent & Caregiver Support Interest Group
mapping philanthropic investments in parent and caregiver support
Evidence is increasingly pointing to the importance of strong families and parent and caregiver support in achieving positive childhood outcomes, particularly in early childhood development goals and reducing violence against children and women, among others. Such interventions can break intergenerational cycles of violence or adverse childhood experiences. In 2021, a group of Elevate Children Funders Group members and external philanthropic organizations with an interest in parenting came together in an informal working group, which wanted to understand philanthropic investments focused on parents, caregivers, and families in the Global South to inform their work.
The study was conducted by Sweta Shah, who will be presenting the findings on the call. The findings address the level of philanthropic support for parenting, the types of programmes and geographies covered, areas that could benefit from further investment, barriers to investment, and ideas for tackling these barriers.
Jan '22
31
Shifting Power in Grantmaking
7 August | Co-hosted by ECFG, IEFG, the Children, Youth, and Family Funders Roundtable, and Firelight Foundation
to Improve Child and Youth Outcomes
The Shifting Power series was designed to help funders in child education, rights, and wellbeing, explore what shifting power means for them, and how they can value community action and agency in their grantmaking. The series highlights case studies, evidence, and experiences of diverse organizations and foundations who are making the shift themselves. From an expert panel exploring why community-centered grantmaking is critical, to workshops demonstrating frameworks and tools you can start using today, this series seeks to support grantmakers as they make practical shifts for community-driven systems change.
The series consists of six webinars with reflection activities and peer coaching to support funders as they apply learnings to their own work. Speakers include experts in learning and scaling, changemakers from leading foundations, and academic experts. This toolkit provides a workbook overview of the series, walking participants through pre-readings, webinar recordings, and exercises.
access the toolkit & recordings
aug '21
7
