On Monday, May 20th, over 50 community members attended the Fair Chance Roundtable at Accenture‘s office in Washington, DC. Attendees represented a variety of Fair Chance nonprofits partners and supporters interested in exploring pressing issues facing the nonprofit sector, children, and families.

We were joined by guest speakers who helped ground our roundtable conversations in the realities experienced by communities in our region. Keynote Speaker Professor Anthony E. Cook of Georgetown Law and founder of the Coalition for Racial and Democratic Economy underscored the urgency of our work to address inequities in the communities we serve. Lecester Johnson, CEO of Fair Chance Alumni Partner Academy of Hope Adult Public Charter School, shared her Fair Chance story and the importance of capacity building for small nonprofits and nonprofit leaders. Attendees then went into the discussion portion of the evening where each table addressed questions about declines in funding, strengthening relationships between nonprofits and the philanthropic sector and centering equity and anti-racism in funding practices.

It was a phenomenal evening of conversation and community building. 96% of survey respondents reported that they found the evening useful and 86% reported that they made one new connection during the evening.

Takeaways from the evening’s discussions include:

• A noted decline in funding for direct services in favor of advocacy / systemic change initiatives;
• Need to focus on nonprofit collaboration and remove competition;
• Desire for more events that bring together funders and nonprofits; and
• Knowledge gaps that exist for nonprofits engaging in advocacy, and knowledge gaps for funders around nonprofits’ challenges and lack of available individuals to serve on nonprofits’ boards.

Thank you to Accenture for sponsoring and hosting this year’s Roundtable. To view photos from the evening, click here.