PFC News Outlook on the year ahead: Shining a light on what’s in store for the PFC Network in 2024 Jean-Marc Mangin Jan 18, 2024 7 mins read News & Insights PFC News Outlook on the year ahead: Shining a light on what’s in store for the PFC Network in 2024 By Jean-Marc Mangin, President & CEO The challenges faced in Canada and around the world throughout 2023 have been undeniably daunting, from deep-seated housing and affordability challenges, to the accelerating impacts of climate change, to armed conflict with devastating civilian casualties – and more. Yet, within in the context of our daunting collective challenges, the commitment and belief for change and making a difference across PFC’s network is what stands out to me and what gives me hope and optimism. I am awed meeting people every day who are responsible for stewarding and sharing our philanthropic resources rising to the occasion, with tremendous intention, purpose, and humility. Similarly, I am inspired by the dedication of PFC’s sensational board and staff, and the incredible partners we work with to strengthen philanthropy for a more just, equitable and sustainable world. 2024 marks 25 years of PFC bringing grantmakers together to connect, learn, and advance solutions for change on the issues that matter. To this end, we have been working hard on some landmark initiatives and programming to ensure our work is responding to the growing complex needs of the network, and the communities they serve, in these extraordinary times. I am proud to share a few examples, in the hope they help spark some encouragement and enthusiasm as we launch into 2024. Setting a chart for PFC in 2025 and beyond Since fall 2023 we have begun an extensive consultation with our members and partners to develop the next evolution of PFC, as we look to build out our next strategic plan for 2025-2028. Through this process, we are gathering feedback on the continued relevance of our three pillars, testing assumptions, and deepening our knowledge of our members. Our aim is to be more thoughtful and clear as to how PFC can strengthen the sector for increased impact, and channel innovative ideas and evidence-based reflections to help improve philanthropic practice. This work involves surveys, focus groups online and in-person in cities across the country, and one-on-one conversations. Our member-wide survey is open right now – please share your thoughts. If you’d prefer to chat one-on-one with me, do not hesitate to reach out. Our objective is to take our learnings, develop a plan with our board and team, and share our updated strategic directions for the years ahead at our national conference in Ottawa in September. New Research: PFC Landscape Report on Philanthropic Foundations in Canada Later this spring, PFC will be releasing its inaugural Landscape Report on Philanthropic Foundations in Canada. Building on PFC’s Snapshot Report research on foundation assets and giving trends which PFC has published regularly since 2014, this report will establish a comprehensive model for a new, regular signature research initiative at PFC focused on providing a more fulsome account of what foundations are and what they actually do. This is big news. There is no other regular data gathering initiative on philanthropic foundations in Canada anywhere else. The launching of this new initiative represents an important evolution of PFC’s research agenda, capacity, and contribution to our collective understanding of not only philanthropy in Canada, but of the wider non-profit and charitable sector in Canada. Roughly 1 in 8 charities in Canada are foundations, and they have an enormous impact on the vast contributions of the wider sector as a whole – yet because of a dearth of investment in the research, what we know about foundations is very limited. Evidence-based decision making is vital, and this work will help change the landscape in a big way, with ramifications for program planning, public policy, and much more. Using a mix of currently available but under-analysed or reported quantitative data, along with qualitative data gathered through extensive interviews with a diverse cross-section of PFC members and non-members from across Canada over the past year, the 2024 Landscape Report will provide a deep dive into what the data reveals about how Canadian philanthropic foundations developed, and what purposes, approaches, and roles they use to deliver on their mandates – from investment to grantmaking. We are thrilled that Michele Fugiel Gartner, who has been at the centre of this work to evolve our research agenda, is staying on at PFC as our Research Lead, following the end of her PFC-PhiLab Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Philanthropy and Public Policy. Her expertise and contributions at PFC will undoubtedly shift the dial on the public narrative and our collective understanding about philanthropy in Canada. Together25: PFC’s 2024 National Conference Over the last year, PFC has made some important strategic decisions about our event offerings. We have doubled downed on coordinating better with colleague organizations, holding our national conference now on a biannual basis staggered with other major gatherings, and hosting regional events in communities across Canada in between. This affords us a longer runway for planning and engagement. As a result, we have been able to be more intentional than ever in engaging our community in developing our national conference, including at regional gatherings, through affinity groups, with surveys, and in putting together a member advisory committee. Building on the successes of our 2022 conference, the largest and most diverse in PFC history, and on our popular regional events hosted across Canada in 2023, PFC’s next national Conference will be held September 23-25 2024 in Ottawa, on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishnaabeg People. It is shaping up to be one of our most exciting and ambitious initiatives to date. We are planning substantive PFC program and affinity group in-person gatherings as part of pre-conference activities, and an opening plenary in the afternoon on September 23th at the primary conference venue: The Westin Ottawa. We are also planning an evening special event nearby, in collaboration with some nationally renowned partners – details will be released later in the spring about this! In terms of programming, as announced a few weeks ago, the conference will be organized around three key themes: Foundation Fundamentals will host practical educational discussions on the “nuts and bolts” of foundation mechanics, from regulation to governance to investing and beyond Trends and Tensions will feature honest dialogues centred on new developments, urgent issues, and complex challenges facing philanthropy today, and exploration into how practitioners can rise to the occasion The Collaboration stream will see ample open forums and spaces for learning and sharing opportunities to work together with more intention for greater impact In the announcement, we also launched a call for conference speakers. You can learn more about our speaker selection process in the blog post by PFC’s Director of Learning and Collaboration and conference lead, André Vashist. In the spirit of collaboration, we have some special post-conference activities shaping up as well. One plan includes an evening reception after the conference formally closes on September 26th on Parliament Hill, hosting interested PFC conference goers, along with other non-profit leaders, Parliamentarians, and other notable Ottawa and national leadership. At the reception we will fete the enormous contributions of Senator Ratna Omidvar before she retires from the Senate later this year. Her leadership has been instrumental in many policy advancements central to our work as charities. We have also coordinated with Imagine Canada so that their 2024 Hill-Day will take place adjacent to the conference, to help facilitate a potential “philanthropy delegation” of PFC members and partners. Many more exciting conference-related plans are in store, so keep an eye out for more announcements and registration details later in the year. Stay in touch What I’ve outlined above is just a taste of what PFC has been working on to support the network in the months and years ahead. We also have several new affinity groups and peer learning initiatives, and events in the works, and a host of other opportunities to engage with your peers. Make sure you are subscribed to our monthly newsletter for the latest developments. On behalf of the team and board at PFC, I wish you all the best for the coming year, and look forward to connecting and engaging together as the days continue to get longer – and brighter – into 2024. Jean-Marc Share This Article Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email