Taking a pause can be a powerful thing. The radical act of not doing allows space for reflection, rest, connection, imagination and planning. We managed to do all of this and more by deciding to pause our annual conference in 2023. This pause year allowed us to refocus on our “why” for this event. Now we’re excited to share what came out of this time and what’s coming in 2024. 

Listening Tour   

For 2023, we decided to take a pause on our annual conference. Our goal for this pause year was to create some space for intentional and strategic thinking about how we most meaningfully gather as a network.  

Over the course of this year, we engaged key stakeholders including staff, board, members and partners at other Philanthropy Serving Organizations (PSOs) in a listening tour to inform the future of our conference. This member input included in-person visits, numerous virtual focus groups and one-on-one interviews from across all six of our states.  

What We Heard  

One major theme we heard was that the Philanthropy Northwest network values being together in-person for collective learning to best support our region.  

We also heard that after several years of attending all virtual events due to the pandemic, folks are largely burnt out on virtual conferences. In addition, we heard that people are being more intentional and thoughtful about what events they attend in-person and are prioritizing opportunities that provide connection and learning in a way that can’t be delivered virtually.  

PNW24 is Back! 

As a result of this pause year and listening tour, we have a few exciting announcements: 

• Save the date for PNW24: Our PNW24 conference will be October 21 - 23, 2024 in Missoula, Montana. Additional details and registration will come in 2024.  

• Centering sense of place: We are moving away from a conference theme, and instead highlighting the location as the central focus for our event. Philanthropy Northwest is a regional organization proud of our communities and this is a chance to further celebrate our connection to place.  
• Change in cadence: Our conference is moving from annual to every other year. Over the past few years, Philanthropy Northwest has greatly increased our program offerings and opportunities to engage. We also heard from the listening tour how thoughtful you are with your in-person travel. Therefore, to make the most of Philanthropy Northwest’s resources and yours, we are moving the conference to an every-other-year cadence.  

We are grateful for this time to reflect, listen to feedback, expand our creativity and build the best experiences to meet our members’ needs. We look forward to seeing you at PNW24!