Forum 2024: A CSR Intensive

April 8-11, 2024
Hotel Chicago Downtown, Autograph Collection
Chicago, IL

Sponsored by:

Overview

Forum is a comprehensive educational program for professionals new to the field of corporate social impact (generally, up to three years of experience in the field). Forum attendees receive immersive, hands-on education alongside a cohort of peers (max cohort size is 50 attendees).

Not only will you develop knowledge around the typical components of a corporate social impact program, the network and connections fostered during Forum will help propel your career.

Forum provides a unique opportunity where attendees can delve into the full spectrum of corporate social impact work, while also forming a career-long peer cohort for collaboration and learning. All attendees will receive a certificate of participation upon completion of the program.

Learning Outcomes

  • Understand the value of CSR and how it aligns to business strategies
  • Gain a basic understanding of how CSR efforts contribute to DEI & ESG practices
  • Recognize the full scope and current landscape of the CSR role and differences that exist across companies
  • Deepen knowledge of the various ways to structure meaningful corporate social impact activities in support of employee engagement
  • Build a network of CSR colleagues to troubleshoot and share best practices
  • Develop soft skills needed to advance in the social impact field, while exploring career development with others in the field
  • Learn the intricacies, implications, and compliance of various vehicles of giving, both from a domestic and international perspective
  • Articulate the importance of impact measurement on programming decisions and understand how to identify key measurement activities and move towards an outcomes approach
  • Apply an equity lens to current CSR practices
Who Should Attend
  • Registration is open to both ACCP members and non-members.
  • Forum is intended for CSR professionals in their first three years in the field. These individuals may sit in various departments (marketing, legal, government affairs, or even as a stand-alone) with varied responsibilities that may also encompass some aspects of corporate DEI and ESG work.
  • Social impact professionals who are looking for a basic understanding of foundational CSR practices, including core concepts, recent statistics, and best practices in the areas of grantmaking, volunteerism, disaster relief, impact measurement, and ESG.
  • This event is intended to be highly interactive, particularly in the cohort discussions. Participants should only come to the event if they are ready to actively engage and participate in discussions, reflections, and sharing about their experiences and their organization’s current practices.
  • Social impact professionals who understand that the CSR field can look extremely different from one company to the next, that every organization is on a social impact journey, and we each have something to learn from each other. Participants should come with a desire to learn from one another, as well as an openness and willingness to understand different approaches to the work.
Members during a breakout session at ACCP's Annual Conference 2022
Tuition Rates

Tuition includes 3 full days of learning and networking, breakfast and lunch on all session days, one dinner, one off-site excursion in Chicago to view a signature program in action, and one happy hour experience with Chicago area CSR/ESG professionals. Tuition rates for 2024 are:

  • ACCP Members: $2,695
  • Non-Members: $3,695 

program AGENDA

*This is a tentative agenda and is subject to change.

Day 1

April 9th
  • Breakfast, Welcome and Introductions
  • Purpose, CSR & ESG; How they Intersect and Align to the Business
  • Breakouts on Org Structure and Responsibilities 
  • DEI & ESG in Corporations Today: Social Impact’s Role with Both
  • Lunch & Discussion – How are your teams incorporating or working with DEI? Challenges? Same with ESG?
  • Change Management Session
  • Ask me Anything on Career Development with ACCP Staff and Local Reps
  • Impact Measurement & Logic Models
  • Case Study and Breakouts 
  • Wrap Up and Parking Lot

Day 2

April 10th
  • Continental Breakfast to Go
  • Offsite Tour
  • Panel Interview – Strategic Partnership and Signature Programs
  • Break and Refreshments
  • Open Discussion – Signature Programs
  • Vehicles of Corporate Philanthropy
  • Lunch
  • Product Donation/In-Kind
  • International Giving – Understanding Regulations
  • Grantmaking & Equity
  • Breakouts on Grant Process and Requirements
  • Nonprofit Financials
  • Case Study – Financials Deep Dive
  • Wrap Up and Parking Lot

Day 3

April 11th
  • Breakfast & Employee Engagement
  • Breakouts on Volunteer Programs By Workforce Type – Activities that Work, Council Programs, Skills Based
  • Cause Marketing/Fundraising Overview
  • CSR Engagement Platform User Group Open Discussion – Tips and Tricks
  • Matching Gifts and Workplace Giving
  • Lunch
  • Policies & Waivers Discussion
  • Disaster Relief
  • Influencing Without Authority Session
  • Final Wrap Up, Parking Lot, Open Discussion

Speakers

Taylor Amerman
Director, Global Social Impact
CDW

Taylor Amerman leads CDW’s Global Social Impact team. She collaborates with employees and nonprofit partners to create sustainable and equitable change in the world. Prior to joining CDW, Taylor led Brown-Forman’s Alcohol Responsibility efforts to create a responsible drinking culture. She lives in Louisville, KY and currently serves on the Board of Directors for Volunteers of America Mid-States and is an active Court Appointed Special Advocate or CASA volunteer.

Nancy Bonges
Director of Community Engagement
William Blair And Company

Nancy Bonges serves as Director of Community Engagement, leading the strategy, impact, and evolution of William Blair’s global philanthropy initiatives. She externally champions William Blair’s culture of philanthropic commitment and serves as an in-house expert to motivate, recognize, and celebrate employee engagement.

Before joining William Blair, Nancy was Program Officer for The Allstate Foundation’s racial equity philanthropic pillar. Working with company leaders and external community partners, she formed a strategy to invest in programs advancing racial equity. She also held roles overseeing the foundation’s thought leadership, data analytics, and social impact measurement frameworks to inform program investments, measure success, and showcase community involvement results.

Nancy also served as Community Relations Manager for CME Group in Chicago. While there, she designed and executed the company’s global corporate citizenship strategy, including managing contributions, employee volunteerism, and giving and disaster response. Nancy’s career began in higher education admissions and expanded into business development in financial services. She also led the University of Michigan’s Project Lighthouse, a program that promoted higher education among underserved high school students in inner-city Detroit.

Nancy has a bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Michigan, an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School Management, and a master’s degree in Integrated Marketing and Communications from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism. Nancy is an avid global volunteer. She’s completed community service projects in Singapore, Indonesia, India, Peru and Guinea. In her free time, Nancy enjoys exploring “hole in the wall” ethnic restaurants and hosting game nights with friends. Nancy lives in Chicago’s Wrigleyville neighborhood with her husband, Matt, and two children, Mila and Eli.

Eileen Buckley
Vice President, Corporate Responsibility & ESG
Stryker

Eileen Buckley leads Stryker’s global Corporate Responsibility (CR) efforts, encompassing social, environmental and governance strategy, reporting, and social impact investments. Eileen drives these initiatives to yield measurable economic, social, and environmental outcomes that align with the company’s mission and growth strategy. She works closely with leaders across the company to advance goals that address carbon reduction, responsible procurement, social impact, and diversity and inclusion. She is a key contact for investors and customers and regularly presents to the company’s board of directors.

Before Stryker, Eileen was a director on PwC’s Responsible Business Leadership team where she advised clients and led CR employee engagement. She serves on the board of Hope Chicago and is an executive mentor for Loyola University Chicago’s MBA program. She resides in Chicago with her husband and three children.

Paige LaCour
Philanthropy Strategy Associate
William Blair And Company

Paige LaCour is Senior Philanthropy Strategy Associate at William Blair and has been with the firm since 2014. She is responsible for managing the firm’s community engagement initiatives, including William Blair’s employee gift-matching programs and volunteerism with local charities. In 2022, William Blair and employees contributed over $9MM to more than 1,000 nonprofit organizations worldwide. Paige serves as Founding Co-Chair and Honorary Advisor of the William Blair Pride Alliance, an employee business resource group (BRG) created 2017 to cultivate a supportive culture for LGBTQ+ employees and allies. In her role as advisor, she develops and implements strategy for inclusion, diversity, and equity initiatives across the firm and community. She also coordinates community engagement initiatives for each of the firm’s four business resource groups. Paige is a founding board director and secretary for Out in Finance, a network of LGBTQ+ professionals working in the Chicago financial services industry created in 2020. She also serves on the associates board for the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, where she has been a docent since 2010. Paige earned two B.A.’s from Indiana University in 2007 and was named as a Chicago Scholar 35 Under 35 in 2019, through a leadership program that recognizes young professionals for their commitment and dedication in making an impact on the community. 

Before Stryker, Eileen was a director on PwC’s Responsible Business Leadership team where she advised clients and led CR employee engagement. She serves on the board of Hope Chicago and is an executive mentor for Loyola University Chicago’s MBA program. She resides in Chicago with her husband and three children.

Dana Lieberman
SVP/Chief Lending Officer
IFF

As Senior Vice President for Capital Solutions, Dana Lieberman provides broad, executive-level oversight of the organization’s regional nonprofit financing program. She manages a team of 25+ professionals working in loan origination, portfolio management, and structured finance across IFF’s footprint in the Midwest.

Ms. Lieberman joined IFF in 2012 as Director of Compliance and Investor Programs, responsible for managing and coordinating IFF’s investor relationships, compliance initiatives, and New Markets Tax Credits-related activities. She was promoted in 2013 to Managing Director of Lending, with responsibilities for the leadership and management of the loan origination program and staff across IFF’s footprint.

Prior to joining IFF, Ms. Lieberman was Chief Operating Officer of a social enterprise bakery and transitional jobs training program affiliated with a Chicago social service agency. She began her career in commercial banking and spent 13 years with LaSalle Bank and Bank of America in Chicago.

She received her MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and earned a B.S. in Finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She serves on the Loan Committee and Community Advisory Committee for Partners for the Common Good, a community development financial institution based in D.C. 

Megan Mozina
Principal Consultant + Facilitator
Cresta Solutions

As Owner and Principal of Cresta Solutions, Megan Mozina (she/her) partners with purpose-driven leaders so that their teams can innovate and collaborate in order to deliver on strategic change initiatives. To get there, she serves as a facilitator, consultant, trainer, and coach who leverages expertise in Creative Problem Solving, Team Building, Organizational Change Management, and Strategic Initiatives to ensure her clients get innovation-focused results. Considering herself an adult educator first, she focuses on what her clients need to learn, grow, and make the kind of impact that they desire.

In her work, she leverages her career in higher education and with other purpose-driven organizations. She holds certifications in change management, FourSight®, strategic planning, and Lean process improvement methodology, as well as a Master’s degree from The George Washington University’s Graduate School of Education & Human Development, and a Bachelor’s degree from University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has lived in five countries across four continents (including as a proud Peace Corps Volunteer), so while she brings her Midwestern friendliness, work ethic, and accent everywhere she goes, she sees the world through a global perspective. She consumes dark chocolate daily, can talk about books all day, and thinks that Lake Michigan might be her soul mate.

Cresta Solutions, LLC is a Chicago-based, woman-owned facilitation and consulting practice.

Location

Hotel Chicago Downtown, Autograph Collection
333 North Dearborn St
Chicago, IL 60654
Phone: 312.245.0333

Reservation Link

Book your group rate for ACCP Forum Meeting April 2024.  Reservations may also be made by calling the hotel directly and referencing “ACCP Forum Meeting 2024”.

Group Rate

$189 per night (rates good three days pre and post event). The link will automatically populate these dates, so attendees should be sure to verify dates of their reservation. Also, please note: a destination fee of $15 will be reflected when booking online but it will be removed upon arrival and check-in as this fee was waived.

Last day to Book: Friday, March 22, 2024

Sustainability Practices

Click here for an overview of Forum 2023.

Thank you for your submission.