BPP LEARNING COMMUNITIES

Building a Partnership Across Borders: First Learning Community

September 18-20, 2002 - Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, México

• CLICK HERE FOR A PDF VERSION OF THE FULL MEETING REPORT
  
  
  QUESTIONS ADDRESSED:
• What is the common vision for the Border Philanthropy Partnership?
• How will success be measured at the end of the Initiative?
• How will the Initiative be governed and how will my foundation participate?
• Who are my peers along the border with whom we can learn and share?
• What should be the focus of future Learning Community events?
• How can my foundation access un-pooled and technical assistance funds?

Wednesday, September 18
The Framework: Building A Common Vision

12:00pm Registration (Hotel Lobby)
Pre-registration for the socio-cultural tour

1:00-1:10pm
Welcome Ricardo Betancourt, Fundación del Empresariado Chihuahuense (FECHAC); David Winder, The Synergos Institute

1:10-1:30pm
Why Is This An Historic Occasion?
Border Community Foundation and Funder Panel
Session Leader: Pablo Farias, Ford Foundation; Panel participants: Richard Kiy, International Community Foundation; Enrique Suarez, Fundación Comunitaria Frontera Norte; Rosie Zamora, Houston Endowment; Ramón Perezgil, Fundación Gonzalo Rio Arronte

4:45-6:00pm Building Our Common Vision for the Partnership
Session Leaders: Robert Sogge, Inter-American Foundation and Linetta Gilbert, Ford Foundation
Session leaders presented the history and rationale of the partnership. The final version of the Framing Document was presented and discussed

Thursday, September 19, 2002
Brick By Brick: Defining The Partnership

8:00-9:10am Peer Advice Breakfast Roundtables:
CF representatives will chair peer advice breakfast roundtables. Participants will be asked to choose between:

• Community Based Asset Development as a Grant-Making Strategy
  Bob Stark, New Mexico Community Foundation
• Getting Started in Mexico
  Enrique Suarez, FCFN and Adriana Mendiolea FINCOMUN
• Getting Started in the US
  Steve Alley, CF for Southern Arizona; Toni Partington, Santa Cruz Valley CF
• Using Affiliates to Increase Reach and Assets
  Carla Roberts, Arizona Community Foundation
• Building Donor Services to Increase Assets: The Nuts and Bolts of Donor Advised, Field of Interest, and Donor Designated Funds
  Virginia Kemendo, El Paso Community Foundation
• Getting and Keeping Your Board Engaged
  Maricarmen Casavantes, FECHAC; Russ Jones, Yuma Community Foundation

9:15-10:40am Creating Synergies Across the Border: How Will We Work Together?
Session leader: Judy Harper
This session analyzed each organization's potential contributions and needs as participants in the partnership. Organizational limitations and expectations were also explored. Through plenary and working groups, the session identified synergies among participants.

11:00-1:00pm How Do We Measure Success? -- Creating Outcomes and Indicators for the Partnership
Session Leader: Shari Turitz, Synergos
How will we measure success in achieving the partnership's goal and objectives? Synergos presented what has been jointly defined to date. Working groups created measures of success in the border community foundation strategic areas and for the partnership as a whole.

1:00-2:30pm How Will We Work Together? -- Agreeing on a Governance Structure
Session Leaders: George Grainger, Houston Endowment and Norty Kalishman, McCune Foundation
A proposed governance structure was presented. After a plenary discussion, participants divided into working groups to address the roles and functions of the different governing bodies, and border community foundations elected representatives to the different committees.

Friday, September 20, 2002
Moving Forward: Learning Together in Partnership

9:00 -11:00am What Do We Want To Learn ... and How? -Content and Priorities for the Learning Community
Synergos presented the learning agenda designed to date. Participants divided into working groups to discuss and prioritize the learning agenda.

12:00-12:30pm Accessing Un-pooled and Technical Assistance Funds
Guidelines for accessing funds distributed and discussed.

12:30- 1:15pm Next Steps, Wrap-up and Evaluation
Session Leader: Ramón Perezgil, Fundación Gonzalo Rio