IHRFG's New York City Conference

July 13-14, 2010

Pre-Conference Intensive Institutes
July 11-12, 2010

Registration is now closed

About this Conference
IHRFG’s conferences are an opportunity for participating grantmakers to hear and engage with leading human rights practitioners, policy makers, scholars, and peers on timely human rights issues. These events serve as learning and networking forums that promote the exchange of information and collaboration among grantmakers.

The plenary theme of our upcoming conference in New York this July 13-14 is Human Rights in the Digital Age: Mobilizing Freedom, Repressing Dissent:

A new frontier of human rights struggle is opening up between citizens seeking to realize new opportunities to organize, mobilize and inform across boundaries – and repressive regimes seeking to use new technologies to control dissent. In this new frontier, human rights groups – looking for new tools and platforms for communication – are developing a “peer to peer” model in which the creation and sharing of content is distributed among many through digital means accessible via a broad range of devices.

View an 8-minute film, Getting Past the "Barbed Wireless," to learn more about the importance of digital communications in human rights.

The opening plenary session (Tuesday, July 13) will chart this fast-changing landscape, illustrate the policy challenges and new tools available to the human rights movement, and provide an opportunity to meet some of the new actors shaping the field.

The closing plenary (Wednesday, July 14) will seek to demystify technology tools for human rights funders and activists. It will be a hands-on, up-close opportunity to touch, see, feel, and use innovative technology that is breaking ground in the field and to hear from activists and campaign leaders who are harnessing these technologies.

Our dinner-dialogue event on Tuesday, July 13 will feature Michael Posner, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.

We will feature a pre-dinner-dialogue (Tuesday, July 13) with Mr. Posner and French Ambassador-at-Large for Human Rights François Zimeray on U.S. and European perspectives on human rights.

Member-designed workshops and panels will explore:

• Effective communication strategies through digital technology
• Supporting human rights defenders in emergency/repressive contexts
• Investing in building the capacity of grantees
• Gender, the environment, and human rights grantmaking
• Placing access to water in the human rights framework
• Mission-related strategies for foundations to advance human rights using their assets
• Human rights donor collaborative funds
• New approaches to achieving U.S. ratification of CEDAW ( Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women)

Check the conference agenda regularly for updated information.

Pre-Conference Intensive Institutes
IHRFG is offering two concurrent intensive institutes in advance of the New York Conference: one on Gender Justice and Human Rights Grantmaking; the other on Evaluation and Human Rights Grantmaking.

Each institute will begin over dinner on the evening of Sunday, July 11 at 5:30 pm and continue through the next day, Monday, July 12, from 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.

The institutes are open to grantmakers only. The cost to attend is $150.

Registration for both institutes is now full.

Registration
Registration is now closed.

Eligibility
This conference is open only to grantmakers. Current IHRFG members and individuals eligible for membership may attend the IHRFGl conferences. We encourage participation by grantmaking staff at all levels who are interested in exploring human rights.

IHRFG membership is open to staff, consultants and trustees of private foundations, corporate foundations, community giving programs, governmental giving programs, faith-based giving programs, philanthropic advocacy and support organizations, individual philanthropists with significant giving programs, and public charities (public foundations and community foundations) whose primary activity is grantmaking and who do not relate to other IHRFG members primarily as grant-seekers. Please note: Staff of grantmaking institutions (that are also grant-seeking organizations) whose functions are solely fundraising are not eligible for participation.

To become an IHRFG member, click here. IHRFG dues are voluntary, apply to member institutions (not individuals), and are based on institution size. While we strongly encourage the contribution of dues, the full benefits of IHRFG membership remain open to all grantmakers, regardless of contribution.
Conference participants will be asked to agree to a non-solicitation policy when registering.

Participation Fees
IHRFG charges a daily registration fee to help off-set the costs of food and beverages. Breakfast and lunch will be provided on both days. Our on-line registration process offers registrants the choice of paying for only the days and optional events they wish to attend. If you are eligible to attend but would have difficulty paying the meeting fees, please contact Azeen Salimi: 1.212.609.2626 or asalimi@ihrfg.org.

The fees for the pre-conference learning institutes and conference events are:

Learning Institute (Sunday and Monday, July 11-12): US$150
Tuesday, July 13, only: US$80
Wednesday, July14, only: US$80
Both Tuesday and Wednesday: US$160
Networking Reception (July 13): US$30
Dinner-Dialogue Event (July 14): US$60

Accommodations
IHRFG has NOT blocked any hotel rooms for this conference. For those interested, we have created a list of suggested accommodations near the conference venue and elsewhere in New York City.

Conference and Pre-Conference Institutes Venue

New York University School of Law, Lipton Hall
108 West 3rd Street, between Sullivan and MacDougal Streets
New York, New York 10012

This venue is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Please note that the dinners opening the Learning Institutes on Sunday, July 11 will take place at:

45 West 36th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues
New York, New York 10018

Lunchtime Discussions
Lunchtime during the conference is an opportunity for participants to explore human rights and grantmaking questions in an informal, lightly structured setting. These questions can relate to the theme of the plenary sessions, an IHRFG working group, and/or an issue of interest to a member. Please contact Azeen Salimi if you are interested in organizing a lunchtime discussion!

Materials Table
If you would like to share resources with IHRFG colleagues, we will have a table for printed materials and other informational resources. However, to reduce our carbon footprint, we ask that you bring only three copies of the resource with you and provide information on how interested participants can obtain more copies.

Questions
Please contact Azeen Salimi, IHRFG Program Manager
Phone: 1.212.378.4428
Email:  asalimi@ihrfg.org