Events & Programs
GCRI creates in-person and virtual opportunities for funders to understand best practices in philanthropy, hone their skills, and learn about national trends as well as issues facing Rhode Island communities.
Our programs and events are designed to help the state’s funding efforts go even further. GCRI prioritizes knowledge sharing and learning among peers and centers relationship-building, collaboration, and partnership.
Funder Collaboratives
These are ongoing thematic working groups of funders who want to dig more deeply into a shared issue, with the intent to understand the sector or issue more comprehensively, find opportunities for collaboration and/or pursue aligned funding. Funder Collaboratives rely on leadership from GCRI’s membership and are supported by GCRI staff. Currently, GCRI is supporting two Funder Collaboratives, one focused on Census 2030 and another on Workforce Development.
Interested in starting a new funder collaborative?
Signature Events
Several times a year, GCRI offers a program that invites our members to step back and reflect on their own practice or on an issue or cluster of issues. Often, these events are intended to provoke new thinking, and they may include hearing from experts in the field. Some examples include our Annual Meeting, April 2026 Civic Health Funders Forum, and Annual Program Officers Retreat.
Peer Learning
These gatherings provide an opportunity for GCRI members to share what they are working on and learn what their peers in a similar space are doing. In some cases, these are just-in-time learning opportunities related to an important issue in the sector; in other cases, they are a chance to informally network with peers within a sector or issue area. Some examples include: Corporate Funders Peer-to-Peer Lunches; Webinars on Loss of SNAP Funding and Understanding Federal DEI Directives.
Have a topic you’d like to see as the focus of a Peer Learning session?
Partner Events
These are webinars, programs, and conferences offered by GCRI’s peers throughout the region and across the country, which are available to GCRI members. GCRI expands what we can offer our members by plugging you into high quality programs offered by other philanthropy infrastructure organizations.
GCRI members can also tap directly into our national connections and resources through our membership in the United Philanthropy Forum — the largest and most diverse network in American philanthropy, with a network of nearly 100 regional and national philanthropy-infrastructure organizations and more than 7,000 funders.