A Tale of Two Conferences

(by Leonie Taylor and Flaviano Bianchini)

What is the point of philanthropy conferences?

A Tale of Two Conferences

Earlier in 2026, Leap travelled to two conferences on the philanthropy circuit – PEX Fest in Bucharest, Romania, and Ariadne Reconnect in Bologna, Italy. We discovered a few key factors that influence the experience of philanthropy conferences for participants. We decided to put these down in order to share our thoughts and even offer guidance to future conferences. Space, Facilitation, Power Dynamics, and Number of Participants are, among others, key factors of the success of a conference.

1. The impact of the Space:

• PEX Fest had a cool artistic space, but the main event room got very noisy with more than one group talking to each other, and it became challenging to hear each other and focus on the topics at hand. We were glad when we did our Flip the Script workshop that they gave us a different room on another floor where we could create a group environment far from the chaos of the lower floor.
• Ariadne was in a greenhouse inside a park. It was a very cool space but a bit too weather-dependent. With the rain we could not use the spaces outside; with the sun the greenhouse becomes…a greenhouse! We had a similar experience in Bogotá last year: a fancy greenhouse there too, and exactly the same problem. Consider that when you plan a conference far in advance, you cannot know the weather for those days. You need a space that is not weather-dependent.

2. The impact of the Facilitation: 

• We were very impressed by the facilitation of the PEX Fest, which was super organised and on time, whilst managing to be energetic and fun. (Leonie particularly enjoyed the travelling use of the boombox as a method of getting people to the conference room, so she could dance a bit every time that we needed to regroup!).
• Ariadne’s facilitation was more formal and very professional. It was also very much on time, but sometimes lacked the ‘fun’ aspect. However, depending on the people you have in the room, it can be more effective this way.

3. How Power Dynamics are handled inside the group:  

Having a range of foundations of different sizes can be a good thing, but it changes the dynamic for the group as a whole. 

• At PEX Fest, we did the Flip the Script workshop which explored the power dynamics between funders and activists, and that shifted how people interacted with us and viewed us in the space.

• In Ariadne, one large foundation made an opening speech and left early. Another large foundation invited a select group of participants for dinner and didn’t invite the rest. These decisions had understandable knock on effects on the participant group which didn’t receive this well. Big and institutional foundations tend to have a different approach from small ones and having the two in the same group can create a power dynamic that is not particularly constructive. On the one hand it is important to have foundations of different sizes in the same room, from another point of view, the different sizes of funding can create tension when decisions are not approached sensitively. 

4. Number of participants:

• A conference of 50 (PEX) has a very different feel from a conference of 150 (Ariadne). While the bigger group obviously allows for more networking and to have more people in the rooms, a smaller group guarantees more direct contact and more intimacy. After three days in a group of 40-50, you have the feeling of being with a group of friends, while this cannot happen in a bigger group. However, we all know that one of the main goals of such events is networking and the bigger the group, the higher are your networking chances, and higher is the chance to find the right match! We met a potential funder at Ariadne, but we didn’t meet any potential funders at PEX.

5.Logistics: 

• Keep things close by. We know that sometimes it is difficult to have everything in the same area, and it is also nice to explore other parts of the town where you are hosted. But in that case, the logistics should be very well organized. When people leave a space and go to another space, and maybe in the middle they pass by their hotel, some of the energy is lost. They (we) take that opportunity to catch-up with emails and maybe do a couple of phone calls, and in a moment they (we) are in a different headspace, the one of everyday life. It might sound cruel or “overprotective”, but not allowing people to get back to their routine can be a key ingredient of having a successful conference.                       

Organizing events such as the ones we have attended recently is very hard work, and we are grateful to the organizers of these specific events for all they did to create welcoming spaces for participants to network, socialize and exchange experiences about philanthropy and activism. It’s no surprise that every event has its own specific successes, challenges and even surprises.

The Leap team is organizing an event at the moment so, when we attend events these days, we are wearing two hats at once. We’re there as participants ready to exchange with others at the event, to follow the facilitation that the organizers have proposed, to have conversations with other attendees, but secondly we’re also noticing what kind of approach organizers have taken: who attends, who speaks or presents, how activities are facilitated, and how is time managed. We notice how people are moved from one space to another, how much autonomy are people given (or take, if needed), and how contained attendees are in order to adhere to schedules and to participate in most activities. 

We are considering and observing all of this information as we plan our own event, which will be focused on care and power in philanthropy. Making power visible within events centered on philanthropy is very important to the Leap mission: if power is visible and somehow pliable, it becomes something we can work with, play with, redistribute. Events can serve as laboratories for playing with power. Our own game which we offer at events we attend, “Flip the Script”, is one attempt at making power more visible during events.

We hope to learn more from others at future events and to invite participants to play with us, to play with power as an accessible tool for change.