Meeting the Moment
Evidence-Based Strategies to Drive Impact
ANNUAL CONVENING 2025
December 3 - 4 | 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm ET
RSVP Deadline: December 1
Please join us for TWO VIRTUAL AFTERNOONS where we will share our latest research findings on strategies to increase the power and impact of organizing and civic engagement programs in the run-up to the 2026 election. The agenda includes updates from our organizing and value: research portfolios, including learning from new initiatives to understand "disaffected" voters and the connection between organizing and voter engagement.
Convening Agenda
Dec 3, 2025
MEETING THE MOMENT
12:00 pm
-
12:25 pm
ET
Welcome to the 2025 Democracy & Power Innovation Fund Annual Convening!
description
Change has always come from organized people, and meeting this moment requires organizing with courage and clarity. Over the past six years, the DPI fund has led field-defining research and innovation to strengthen organizing practice and demonstrate a new way of driving change rooted in multiracial democratic practice. Now is the time to harvest what we have learned to sharpen our collective strategies.
Speakers
Managing Director of the Democracy & Power Innovation Fund,
Associate Director of the Rockefeller Family Fund
Dec 3, 2025
BUILDING CIVIC POWER: What Works
12:25 pm
-
1:50 pm
ET
A discussion of groundbreaking research that demonstrates how organizing connects to civic engagement and drives impact.
description
Elections are where we contest for who we are and what we want as a country. While the political industry is built to chase a few more efficient votes at the margins, organizing focuses on building constituencies to achieve material change in their own lives through democracy. In 2024, the DPI Action Fund, Pro-Democracy Center, and the Organizing Lab at the State Power Fund undertook an unprecedented study of 26 independent power organizations (IPOs) across 10 states, representing the largest dataset ever collected on organizing and mobilization. We will share key findings and hear from state leaders on how organizing is converting election-year participation into civic power.
Resources:
Civic Power: The Role and Impact of Independent Political Organizations
Speakers
Dec 3, 2025
BREAK
1:50 pm
-
2:00 pm
ET
Dec 3, 2025
UNDERSTANDING DISILLUSIONED VOTERS
2:00 pm
-
3:15 pm
ET
Highlights from new research to understand disillusioned voters across demographic and social groups.
description
Our values and identity research has shown that 40% of Black, Latino, and Asian American eligible voters are disconnected from civic engagement. In 2024 and 2025, we set out to better understand the roots of disconnection across demographic and social groups. This isa bloc of voters with outsized influence who have shaped the political arena for more than 25 years. This panel will explore new insights and feature organizers using innovative strategies to engage and enroll disillusioned voters into democratic practice.
moderator
Managing Director of the Democracy & Power Innovation Fund,
Associate Director of the Rockefeller Family Fund
Speakers
Dec 3, 2025
BELONGING + AGENCY = POWER
3:15 pm
-
4:30 pm
ET
An exploration of the critical role of agency in growing public leadership and powering collective action.
description
Civic homes are vehicles for transforming the extraordinary anger and abundant activism of this moment into organized, enduring power. Join us for a conversation with organizers and researchers about the role belonging and agency play in building powerful organizations and fueling collective action. This panel will explore what we are learning about the strategies that move people from isolation to solidarity and from self-doubt to agentic public leadership.
Resources:
Building Civic Homes: Fostering Belonging, Agency, and Collective Impact
Speakers
Dec 3, 2025
DAY ONE REFLECTIONS
4:30 pm
-
5:00 pm
ET
We will reflect together and lift up key learnings from Day 1.
description
We will come together to surface the themes and questions that will shape our conversations tomorrow.
Speakers
Managing Director of the Democracy & Power Innovation Fund,
Associate Director of the Rockefeller Family Fund
Convening Agenda
Dec 4, 2025
RADICAL HOPE
12:00 pm
-
12:20 pm
ET
Welcome back to Day 2 of Meeting the Moment, as we focus on hope in action.
Speakers
Managing Director of the Democracy & Power Innovation Fund,
Associate Director of the Rockefeller Family Fund
Dec 4, 2025
LEARNING TO WIN: Data-Informed Innovations in Organizing for 2026 and Beyond
12:20 pm
-
1:45 pm
ET
An exploration of how civic organizations are innovating approaches to build and wield power.
description
In a democracy, the source of all power is organized people. For nearly six years, the DPI Fund has partnered with base-building groups to strengthen how they collect, analyze, and learn from organizing data. This capacity is sparking innovation, accelerating the development of new leaders, and sharpening how organizations build and wield power in electoral and legislative arenas. On this panel, leading state practitioners will discuss how they are turning insights into strategy—and the hopeful possibilities emerging for a deeper, multiracial democratic practice.
moderator
Senior Vice President, Program Strategy & Management
Freedom Together Foundation
Speakers
Dec 4, 2025
BREAK
1:45 pm
-
2:00 pm
ET
Dec 4, 2025
VALUES RESEARCH IN ACTION: New Approaches for Organizing Disillustioned Voters
2:00 pm
-
3:15 pm
ET
Lessons from the DPI Implementation Lab on values and identity-based innovations in Black, Latino, and Asian American organizing and voter engagement.
description
Bridging disconnection in this moment will take vision, curiosity, and a deeper understanding of our communities to meet them where they are. The DPI Implementation Lab supports organizers in turning insights from values research into strategic program redesign. This session will explore how state-based groups are testing bold new approaches in real-time to meet communities where they are, and howThey are leveraging rigorous data practices to generate more nuanced insights into how Black, Latino, and Asian American communities can be brought fully into civic life.
Resources:
Understanding Black Values: National and State Level Survey Findings
Asian American Values: State-Based Research in North Carolina
Speakers
Dec 4, 2025
SHAPING THE POWER ARENA: Spotlight on Missouri
3:15 pm
-
4:30 pm
ET
A powerful closing case study of how organizers in Missouri are using practice-based research to build power, transform what is possible and deliver material change.
description
This closing panel will bring together core themes and strategies explored over the past two days through a powerful case study focused on the transformative work that has been led by organizers in Missouri. Over the past 15 years, they have redefined what is possible and reshaped power arenas in the state to deliver change. Organizers in the state have built a powerful, leaderful, multiracial coalition through deep canvassing, organizing, rigorous research, innovative practice, and intentional collaboration across race and place. The results speak for themselves. Our conversation with leaders on the ground will surface the critical elements of their success, how they are shifting culture and wielding power for new fights, and what questions remain for continued learning.
Resources:
Transformative Conversations Using Deep Canvassing to Enroll Communities in Path to Power
Speakers
Dec 4, 2025
CLOSING REFLECTIONS & COMMITMENTS
4:30 pm
-
5:00 pm
ET
Together, we will make meaning of our learnings and identify next steps rooted in power and agency.
Speakers
Managing Director of the Democracy & Power Innovation Fund,
Associate Director of the Rockefeller Family Fund
Join us to explore more research and innovation projects housed in the DPI Research Library.
