Join EP at Building Together 2026

Essential Partners is proud to participate in the Council on Foundations' Building Together 2026 conference, taking place from May 4 to 7 in Seattle, WA.

Building Together is a three-day leadership development conference designed for philanthropy professionals—at all levels and in all roles—who are committed to connecting and collaborating across differences. Attendees will develop the heartset, mindset, and skillset needed to build relationships across lines of difference—whether in values, perspectives, or lived experiences—to achieve shared purpose.

Essential Partners will be leading a workshop, “Building Thriving Communities: Connecting the Cornerstones of Community to Catalyze Change.” This will be a hands-on workshop where philanthropy professionals will learn dialogic practices that help shift people from conflict to curiosity and, when leveraged at scale, build more resilient, hopeful, and cohesive communities. 

The workshop will be led by John Sarrouf, Co-Executive Director of Essential Partners; Meg Griffiths, Director of Programs at Essential Partners; and CJ Suitt, Restorative Practice Associate with Essential Partners and the Dispute Settlement Center (NC).

Conference attendees may choose two skill-building workshops to participate in during Building Together 2026. Workshop selections will be made during registration. Each workshop will be held on both Tuesday and Wednesday. There is limited space in each workshop.