bbcon 2025: Elevate Your Grantmaking with Sessions, Insights, and Community
The past year has brought important changes to philanthropy and Blackbaud Grantmaking, and this year’s bbcon session line-up is designed to help you embrace these new opportunities with confidence.
Happening October 6-9 in Philadelphia, Blackbaud’s annual user conference has nine sessions dedicated to the work you do as grantmakers. And did you see? Organizational psychologist and best-selling author Adam Grant will be on the mainstage!
The session lineup includes ways to improve your application process, build stronger grantee relationships, and prepare your organization for the future. Here is what you can expect from the 2025 bbcon grantmaking lineup.
Building the Ultimate Grantee Experience
From the applications you create to the relationships you build, you want your grantees to have a streamlined and positive experience with your organization. At this year’s bbcon, you’ll find sessions to help you build the ultimate grantee experience.
Blackbaud University favorites, Chrissy Haskell and Henry Wiencek, will guide attendees through the advancements made to the Blackbaud Grantmaking Online Application tool in their session, The New Era of Blackbaud Grantmaking Online Applications: Tips and Tricks. Henry and Chrissy will lead a series of demonstrations to spotlight some of the new portal’s most time-saving features, including conditional logic, automated program processes, and eligibility assessments.
Even in times of misunderstanding and frustration, there is an opportunity for connection and empathy. Heather Hiscox from Pause for Change will discuss opportunities for learning and co-creation to fuel relationship-building, trust, and greater impact. Her session, The Empathy Opportunity: How Our Collective Unknowns Can Fuel Our Collective Impact, Heather will lead participants in hands-on activities to practice curious conversations and insight mapping.
Blackbaud’s Laura Sonee and Nichols Condon will bring grantmakers and nonprofits together in their session, Building Bridges: Strengthening Ties Between Grantmakers and Nonprofits to Drive Impact. Attendees will participate in brainstorming sessions to identify fresh approaches for collaboration and mutually beneficial partnerships.
Navigating Resiliency
Recent months have brought new shifts in grantmaking, with evolving policies and changing funding opportunities for your organization and those you support. As you and your communities rise to meet new challenges, bbcon offers sessions packed with resources and ideas to help you stay prepared, proactive, and ready to make a positive impact—no matter what comes your way.
Social impact leaders are facing the challenge of staying true to their personal and professional missions while driving change in an increasingly polarized sociological climate. In her session, The Changemaker’s Toolkit: Strategies for Resilient, Inclusive, and Sustainable Social Impact, Lekisha Middleton of The Good Success Network will provide practical strategies for navigating tensions and mitigating risk while remaining authentic and aligned with your core values.
Your knowledge work and data systems are core to your grantmaking. So, when the world is shifting, it’s important to make sure your knowledge work remains relevant and mission aligned. Angela Frusciante of Knowledge Designs to Change encourages attendees to creatively address four components of knowledge work in her session, Knowledge Work in Grantmaking: How to Keep your Data and Systems Relevant During Transition or Chaos.
When an environmental disaster strikes, grantmakers have the dual responsibility to keep funding programs running and employees safe while also supporting their larger impact areas. In the session Disaster Preparedness for Grantmakers: Supporting Your Staff and Your Grantees During a Crisis, a panel of veteran grantmakers will share their experiences supporting grantees during a crisis and provide actionable steps for preparing your organization for the inevitable. Hear from Audrey Kidwell from the Center for Disaster Philanthropy; Lisa Tacker, Grantmaking, CRM, and Database Expert; and Michael J. Burke, New York Life Foundation.
The Future of Grantmaking: An Exciting Road Ahead
It’s an exciting time to be a grantmaker. Not only because there are so many ways to make an impact, but also because technology is making it easier to understand your community and meet them where they are.
The Patrick J. McGovern Foundation (PJMF) launched Grant Guardian earlier this year, an AI-powered financial due diligence tool that equips grantmakers with data-driven insights. In their session, Unlocking AI’s Potential for Philanthropy: Insights from an AI Funder and Developer, Nick Cain and Hazem Mahmoud from PJMF will share insights from their work funding responsible AI tools and takeaways from their discussions with foundations on AI’s application within philanthropy.
Blackbaud’s Intelligence for Good® strategy has provided a foundation for powerful and responsible innovation within Blackbaud’s products. In their session, Unlocking Possibilities: How AI and Data Integration Are Shaping the Future of Grantmaking, Blackbaud’s Meg Radford and Hope Kerkhoff will highlight some of the trends they are watching on the integration of AI tools in grantmaking and how they are approaching seamless self-service options and advanced functionality with AI and data integration.
When data flows seamlessly through your systems, you break down silos and can make better decisions faster. In their session, Frictionless Grantmaking: Simplifying Your Payment Process from Collection to Delivery, Blackbaud’s Ryan Turner, Andy Fisher, and Stephen Churchill as they explore the coming integration between Blackbaud Grantmaking and Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT®.
Main Stage Can’t Miss
Don’t forget to look at sessions outside of fund accounting for some other fantastic opportunities for learning and connection.
If you are like most organizations, you—or your staff—have been incorporating AI-powered tools into your daily processes. And if you are like most organizations, you’re wondering if you are taking the right approach to this new technology. In her session, AI Is Hot, Lawsuits Are Not, Blackbaud’s Chief Privacy Officer, Camerson Stoll, will help you untangle the laws and requirements around the use and development of AI-enhanced tools and explore best practices for AI risk management.
And definitely don’t miss the main stage conversation with organizational psychologist and bestselling author Adam Grant. His books include Hidden Potential, Think Again, and Give and Take, and his podcasts Re:Thinking and WorkLife provide candid interviews with people who are approaching the world in unusual ways. His viral piece on languishing was the most-read New York Times article of 2021 and the most-saved article across all platforms.
Can’t Make It to Philadelphia? Join Us Virtually!
Even if you can’t make it to Philly in person, you can still register for virtual bbcon. You’ll get access to a number of the great sessions and learning opportunities. You can learn more and register for both in-person and virtual bbcon at https://www.bbconference.com/2025/.
