Annual Conference

Our field is rapidly evolving, transforming faster than ever. What remains the same is how Grantmakers for Education and our members are dedicated to helping every learner receive the best education possible. Every single one. We produce conferences to make this happen.

Save the date for the Grantmakers for Education 2025 Annual Conference, October 21-23, in Memphis, Tennessee. New! Priority access for Grantmakers for Education members: registration opens July 7 for members and July 14 for all other funders.

2025 Annual Conference Theme

Transformative Philanthropy: Courageous and Visionary Leadership for Education and Civil Rights 

Where can philanthropy make the most strategic and powerful impact in education – now and for the future – and how? This is the central invitation that education philanthropy and its partners are being called to engage at the Grantmakers for Education 2025 Annual Conference. 

We are gathering at a time when so much is on the line for learners of all ages, in all places and spaces, and when their access, attainment and agency are being shaped. Philanthropic organizations are evaluating how they lean into their values and enact their strategies in the near and long term. Education leaders in all spheres are operating in shifting environments where the nexus between education and other systems and sectors prompts examination, exchange and action. 

This is a milestone year for the Grantmakers for Education community. We celebrate 30 years since our founding by a group of visionary leaders who sought to improve student outcomes by strengthening philanthropy’s capacity and effectiveness. Returning to the city of our first conference, we are gathering in a place that offers a poignant backdrop for looking at the issues of the day with a historical lens, illustrating resilient and intrepid resolve, and illuminating universal needs, opportunities and aspirations. 

We are all key players in a time when the very nature of education may be transformed. This moment requires courageous and visionary leadership from philanthropy – an exchange for its profound privilege to address immediate needs in creative and collaborative ways and imagine a future where education is a true public good that affirms individual civil rights and delivers broad societal benefit. 

At this year’s conference, we will be inspired to grapple with issues from a range of experiences and angles, to sharpen our thinking about what transformative philanthropy looks like for an affirmative vision of education, to showcase models of innovative leadership strategies, and to show up as the best version of ourselves as a sector. 

Become a Conference Sponsor

Five reasons to become a sponsor of the 2025 annual conference:

  • Proudly show your support for courageous and visionary leadership for education and civil rights.
  • Further important conversations that dig deep, generate new ideas and grapple with longstanding challenges.
  • Foster tools and learning that enable grantmakers to boost their impact on education.
  • Enable networking and collaborations that collectively address challenges not approachable on our own.
  • Enjoy a large array of conference benefits.

Learn more about sponsoring the annual conference, as well as our 30th anniversary, here.

Submit a Conference Session Proposal

The conference session proposal period is open! Submit your conference session proposals from May 1 through June 12.

Contact conference@edfunders.org with questions.

What attendees say about our conferences.