From January 22 to 23, 2026, in Sarasota, Florida, The Harwood CIRCLE of Catalytic Funders, The Harwood Institute's national network of philanthropic leaders, will convene an intimate group of funders who, like you, are working in complex spaces and seeking to make a real difference in their communities and society for the Second Annual Safe Haven for Funders.

This is not another conference. Attendees will examine what it really takes for communities to transform themselves and how funders can actively support those efforts in ways that go beyond financial capital through deep conversations about:

• What it takes to engage people in this environment productively
• How you can set realistic expectations about who is willing to run with you and under what conditions
• How to find the sweet spot between your organizational priorities and what it means to grow your community and meet people where they are
• How to move forward in a catalytic way when you don’t know where everyone stands
• How you personally can keep going amid external and internal challenges

This gathering will be led by Rich Harwood, who, over nearly forty years, has worked to create change in nearly every sector of society — including nonprofits, philanthropy, corporations, civic and arts groups, faith communities, school districts, newsrooms, and state governments. His recent piece for The Chronicle of Philanthropy, "Ditch Grand Strategies and Focus on How Change Really Happens," outlines how philanthropy can rethink its approach to problem solving based on his decades of on-the-ground experience.