About the Briefing
A solid understanding of budget and tax policy within our political and economic climate is crucial for anyone working in philanthropy.
Public budgets and the revenue systems that support them are some of the most important policy instruments of our government. They are moral documents that reflect our values and priorities through decisions on how to tax residents and businesses and spend these collective resources.
Budget and tax poicies impact what families have to spend on basic needs and invest in their future, define the size of the government and its role in the national economy, and affect the lives of all Americans.
How will budget and tax policies impact supports and services for workers, families, and communities? What lies ahead at the federal level and in the states? What’s at stake and in play with a new Administration and Congress?
Join us on March 24-25, 2025 for a funder briefing on:
- The new political environment and its impact on social policy;
- Key battles and opportunities at the federal and state levels;
- Coordinated efforts underway to shape the budget and tax fights ahead;
- Implications for philanthropy in the short and long term; and
- Strategies for individual and collective action.
Since 2004, EOF has hosted an Annual Budget and Tax Briefing in the Washington, DC metro area. It is the only event of its kind focused on philanthropy and budget and tax policy.
Venue
Convene is located at 1201 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22209.
The meeting will be held at Convene, perched in the D.C. metro’s tallest building, in Arlington, VA.
Convene at 1201 Wilson Boulevard is a high-tech corporate meetings and events sanctuary in the sky located between North Lynn Street and North Moore Street on Wilson Boulevard near the Rosslyn metro station.
Schedule at a Glance
Speakers
Joan Alker
Joan Alker is the Executive Director of the Center for Children and Families and a Research Professor at the Georgetown McCourt School of Public Policy.
Michael Cassidy
Michael Cassidy is the Director of Policy Reform and Advocacy at The Annie E. Casey Foundation and an EOF Steering Committee member.
Nathan Gusdorf
Nathan Gusdorf is the Executive Director of the Fiscal Policy Institute
Marcia Egbert
Marcia Egbert is the Program Director for Thriving Families and Social Justice at The George Gund Foundation.
Hannah Halbert
Hannah Halbert is the Executive Director of Policy Matters Ohio.
Carol Joyner
Carol Joyner is the Executive Director of Family Values@Work Action.
Abriana Kimbrough
Abriana Kimbrough is a Program Officer at Washington Area Women’s Foundation and manages the Early Care and Education Funders Collaborative.
Lindsay Owens
Lindsay Owens is the Executive Director of the Groundwork Collaborative.
Sharon Parrott
Sharon Parrott is President of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Parita Patel
Parita Patel is Senior Program Officer of Strategic Portfolios at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Anna Wadia
Anna Wadia is Executive Director of the Care for All with Respect and Equity (CARE) Fund.
Amber Wallin
Amber Wallin is Executive Director at the State Revenue Alliance.
Registration
Who is Eligible to Attend:
- Community Foundations
- Corporate Foundations and Corporate Responsibility/Giving Programs
- Donor Advised Funds
- Funder Networks or Collaboratives
- Health Conversion Foundations
- Operating Foundations whose primary activity is grantmaking
- Pooled Funds where some joint decision-making by donors is offered
- Private, Independent, and Family Foundations
- Public Charities whose primary activity is grantmaking
- Public Funding Agencies
- United Ways that serve the community as a grantmaker
- Venture Philanthropy
You MAY qualify if you are a consultant or advisor who is currently contracted by a qualifying philanthropy and participate as a representative of that institution. Please contact Cema Siegel at [email protected] to confirm your eligibilty before registering.
The following DO NOT qualify:
- Fundraising or development staff. Eligible participants must oversee or manage an organization’s giving programs.
- Staff from institutions whose primary function is not philanthropic, including those that regrant funds.
- Staff from grantmaking institutions that only make grants to their members or affiliates.
Meeting Registration Fee:
- Meeting: $150
Regular: (registration closes March 17)
- Meeting: $200
Dinner Registration Fee:
- Dinner: $75 (registration closes March 17)
A limited number of scholarships are available to support participants if the fees are cost prohibitive to participation. Please contact Cema Siegel at [email protected] for more information. Registration fees do not cover actual expenses for the meeting and are subsidized through meeting sponsorships and grants and dues provided by EOF supporting members.
Become a Sponsor
Support EOF and this signature event by becoming a sponsor! Sponsorship levels start at $1,500 and provide the unique opportunity to support the engagement of national, regional, and local philanthropy in budget and tax policy.
Sponsors receive free meeting registrations and recognition on the conference program, signage, marketing, and EOF website.
Support EOF and this hallmark event by becoming a sponsor.
Thank You To Our Sponsors
EOF appreciates the support of our 2025 Budget and Tax Briefing sponsors.
EOF programming is also made possible through the generosity of our Supporting Members.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation
Blue Shield of California Foundation
Ford Foundation
The George Gund Foundation
The Kresge Foundation
New Economy Initiative
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Stoneman Family Foundations
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Host a Watch Party
Since 2014, local watch parties have been organized to expand our reach to funders unable to travel to DC by web-streaming our federal budget and tax outlook plenary session. Typically, watch parties are organized as two-hour programs, during which participants come together to view the budget and tax outlook presentation (live or as a recording on a later date) and then engage in a discussion with local experts on how the current landscape impacts critical programs and services in their state or area of interest (e.g. workforce development or child care and early learning).
Interested in learning more about local watch parties? Contact Cema Siegel at [email protected].
Watch Party Goals
The purpose of the watch parties is to help state and local funders:
- Gain a better understanding of this year’s pressing federal budget and tax issues;
- Discuss with peers the implications for programs serving struggling workers, families, and communities; and
- Consider grantmaking strategies and opportunities for collaboration with like-minded stakeholders.
Why Federal Budget and Tax Policy Matters to State and Local Funders
States get about one-third of their revenue from the federal government — funds that help pay for health care, schools, housing, roads, child care, job training, and a range of other programs. Unlike the federal government, most states and localities must balance their budgets every year and are directly affected by fluctuations in federal funding, presenting state policymakers with important choices regarding how to adjust their own spending in response.
State budgets are expected to shrink substantially in 2025, as the post-pandemic era of federal aid, record spending, and historic tax cuts comes to a close. Policymakers will face difficult decisions about whether to raise taxes or reduce critical programs and services like food assistance, Medicaid, housing, and education investments. In addition, the expiration of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act presents an urgent moment to ensure states and localities have the revenues they need to invest in programs for children and families and an opportunity to correct our course towards a more equitable tax code. These debates and their outcomes will touch every corner of philanthropic work — early childhood, health care, state, and local government services, climate change, housing, senior services, family support services, and much more.
Watch Party Logistics
- There is no fee to participate.
- The only technology needed is an internet connection.
- Watch parties can view the federal budget and tax outlook session and/or the state budet and tax outlook session live or as a recording at a later date.
- EOF will provide a Zoom link to share with registrants.
- As a watch party host, you set up (and co-brand) registration for your watch party.
- Hosts can provide supplemental programming (in-person or virtual), where participants view the federal budget and tax outlook presentation (live or a recording) and then engage in a discussion with local experts on how the current landscape impacts critical programs and services in their state or around a particular issue area (e.g. workforce development or child care and early learning). We recommend scheduling your supplemental program within 4 weeks of the live stream to ensure the content is timely and up-to-date. Watch party hosts can watch the live stream/recording during their supplemental program or share the link as pre-viewing for their program. Hosts also have the option of sharing the state budget and tax outlook Zoom link or recording as pre-viewing for their program.
- For hosts who don’t have the bandwidth to provide supplemental programming, it is also possible to just share the Zoom link(s) with your registrants.
- We ask that hosts share watch party details (number of registrants, as well as the date, time, venue, and speakers of a supplemental program if applicable) so that we can track participation.
- Watch party hosts will be recognized on the EOF website and meeting materials.
Budget and Tax Briefing for Grantmakers
[Date, Time]
[Host, Location Address]
Sample Agenda
| 5 minutes | Welcome and Introductions |
| 45 minutes | Federal Budget and Tax Outlook
Government services, structures, and systems are an essential foundation for a healthy economy where opportunity and prosperity are broadly and equitably shared. Noted tax and budget policy expert Sharon Parrott will provide an overview on the key provisions in the federal budget, discuss current and upcoming budget debates, and offer insights on the potential impact on struggling families, workers and communities.
|
| 60 minutes | Funder Discussion
Local experts will share their perspective on [state’s] fiscal landscape and how the federal landscape will affect funding for critical programs and services serving children and families in [state]. We will then have an open discussion about what this means for our work as funders and for the work of our grantees. Local speakers may include staff from the State Priorities Partnership group in your state or other non-profit human services coalitions. Sample questions your follow-up conversation might explore:
[Add speaker names here]. |
| 5 minutes | Closing Remarks and Adjourn |
Related Resources:
- State Budgets Are Downsizing: After several years of rapid growth, many states are curbing spending amid uncertain revenue conditions in fiscal 2025, By Liz Farmer, The Pew Charitable Trusts, July 15, 2024.
- How the Federal Income Tax System Can Worsen Racial Disparities, Urban Institute, February 14, 2024
- Tracking the Fallout From State Tax Cuts: This new resource from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities features stories, case studies analyses of the latest tax developments related to state tax cuts.
- PEW Fiscal 50: State Trends and Analysis: This interactive resource from The Pew Charitable Trusts, allows you to sort and analyze data on key fiscal, economic, and demographic trends in the 50 states and understand their impact on states’ fiscal health.
- Urban Institute State Fiscal Briefs: National recessions and federal tax and spending changes can affect budgets in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. And big policy questions, such as whether to increase teacher salaries or expand health care access, can pop up in many states at the same time. But each state faces unique economic, political, cultural, and historical pressures that affect how fiscal issues emerge and how problems are resolved. That’s why the State and Local Finance Initiative put together these 51 briefs, detailing the dynamics that influence major policy issues in each state.
- Children, Youth and Family Funders Roundtable + Grantmakers for Thriving Youth
- Connecticut Council for Philanthropy
- Florida Philanthropic Network
- Grantmakers Council of Rhode Island
- Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania
- Greater Cleveland Funders Collab/Philanthropy OH
- Indiana Philanthropy Alliance
- Maine Philanthropy Center
- New York Funders Alliance
- Northern California Grantmakers
- Philanthropy Missouri
- Philanthropy New York
- Virginia Funders Network
- Wisconsin Philanthropy Network
- Workforce Matters
- W. Clement & Jessie V. Stone Foundation (IL)
Thank You!
Many thanks to the EOF Steering Committee and our Planning Committee for their time and leadership in shaping this event!
Planning Committee
- Abriana Kimbrough, Washington Area Women’s Foundation
- Anna Shireen Wadia, Care for All with Respect and Equity (CARE) Fund
- Marcia Egbert, The George Gund Foundation
- Michael Cassidy, The Annie E. Casey Foundation
EOF Steering Committee
- Anna Shireen Wadia, Care for All with Respect and Equity (CARE) Fund
- Cassandra McKee, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund
- Erin Currier, W.K. Kellogg Foundation
- Michael Cassidy, The Annie E. Casey Foundation
- Stephanie Davison, The Kresge Foundation