Giving Days have become such an important event for so many community foundations that this year’s Council on Foundations’ Fall Conference is going deep on the topic.

What do we know about the effect of Giving Days – beyond the dollars raised and numbers of donors participating? What do they mean for the future of community foundations? We hope to answer some of those questions during our Giving Days Deep Dive from 2 to 5:15 p.m. Monday, Oct. 20, at the conference in Cleveland.

We’ll also be liveblogging the session here on KnightBlog, so that folks who aren’t attending can follow along.

The three-hour session will bring together a wide range of speakers, including foundation program officers, evaluators, technology platform providers and network experts.

The session will start with six lightning talks that cover the basics, including insights on everything from partnerships to technology platforms. Speakers include Asha Curran, of 92Y and the #GivingTuesday movement, Lori Finch, Kimbia, Carol Goglia, Communities Foundation of Texas, Mari Ellen R. Loijens, Silicon Valley Community Foundation and Mike Berkowitz of Third Plateau. Each of the talks will give participants actionable tools to use in their own campaigns. We’ll also touch on the findings of Knight Foundation’s latest report, which highlights 10 Giving Days lessons from 18 campaigns across the country.

After getting up to speed on the basics, we will be joined by social media and network expert Beth Kanter, who will lead us through a learning exchange, to share experiences, tips and resources with one another. The Peer Learning Exchange was an instrumental part of Knight Foundation’s Giving Day Initiative, where we brought foundations together virtually to swap ideas and best practices.  During this part of the session, we will break into groups by topic area so that participants have the opportunity to experience the process. Conversations will be facilitated by speakers from the first panel, as well as other Giving Day experts.

To wrap things up, we will answer the question looming in everyone’s mind: Are Giving Days a good thing for my organization? Community foundations have begun to answer this question in a myriad of ways, thinking about how to make this a more sustainable operation internally, as well as using Giving Days as a way to understand what the future work of community foundations will look like. Gretchen Minekime, of the Community Foundation Serving Boulder County, Mike Batchelor of the Erie Community Foundation and Dana Nelson of GiveMn will offer a range of perspectives from their varied experiences.

By the end of the session, we hope you’ll be full of inspiring and practical ideas, and be able to answer the questions of what Giving Days mean, how they get done and whether they are a good tool for your foundation. I hope you will be a part of the conversation of how we shape these initiatives to help community foundations meet their needs and the needs of a 21st century community.

Hope to see you in Cleveland!

Bahia Ramos is director of community foundations at Knight Foundation.