Orange County Grantmakers hosts summit, bigger than ever, in Costa Mesa

It took Orange County Grantmakers’ executive director Taryn Palumbo just a couple of days to read “The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why it Matters,” the renowned book by Priya Parker.

She read it after booking Parker for the OC Grantmakers Summit, which took place Thursday at Orange Coast College.

It took Palumbo even less time than that to pick up some jewels from the 2018 self-help offering, which gives advice on creating a human-centered approach to gathering, rather than meeting just because it’s on the calendar.

“I think we all could fall into the trend of just having meetings for meetings’ sake,” Palumbo said. “Her book was such a good re-frame for why are you there, and how do you structure it? I actually redid our morning opening after I read her book. She was like, ‘Don’t start with thanking your sponsors.’ I always do that, of course.”

Instead, Thursday’s all-day OC Grantmakers summit started with a drum circle, with attendees using instruments at their tables including tambourines, drums and percussion tubes. A land acknowledgment followed, with the message of remembering to celebrate others’ culture and way of life.

A full audience listens to Priya Parker during a fireside chat at the Orange County Grantmakers Summit on Thursday.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

That began a day of learning, which ended with Parker’s fireside chat moderated by OC Grantmakers Board of Directors member Nate Brown of PIMCO Foundation.

The event drew 436 nonprofit leaders and community members, which Palumbo said was a new high mark for the event that started in 2010 as a way to support nonprofits coming out of the recession.

Palumbo said she has toyed with the idea of inviting businesses to the summit as well.

“Sure, we would love if business people were more understanding of the work that is happening here,” said Palumbo, who lives in Huntington Beach. “But at the end of the day, this community is about the people who are doing the work on the ground. We clearly keep growing. I need to find a bigger venue.”

Madelynn Hirneise is the chief executive of Families Forward, a nonprofit that provides housing and support services for county families. She said she enjoyed the morning message by Dyonne Bergeron, the vice chancellor of equity, diversity and inclusion at UC Irvine.

The topic was “The Power of Connection: Launching Conversations That Matter.”

“She kind of charged us to listen today,” Hirneise said. “We can’t move forward without listening.”

Author Priya Parker talks about the different types of ways people gather during the Orange County Grantmakers Summit at Orange Coast College on Thursday.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Mark Lowry, the longtime director of the Orange County Food Bank, left the summit with a list of things to follow up on after the day of networking.

“This isn’t part of my job,” he said. “We’re a food bank. But this conversation appeared, and what could happen from that?”

The OC Grantmakers Summit’s theme this year was “Today, Tomorrow, Together.” The OC Food Bank is part of the Orange County Hunger Alliance, which called itself “Better Together” before it came up with that name, Lowry said.

“That theme resonates,” he said. “That was our motivation.”

The event also included five different learning labs dealing with issues like public-private partnerships, community engagement and fighting hate by leveraging local resources.

After lunch, Professor Manuel Pastor of USC offered a sneak peak of the 2025 OC Equity Profile, which Palumbo said would be released early next year.

The county’s population is diversifying. Pastor reported the county was 76% white in 1980. By 2021 that figure had dropped to 39%, with 34% of the county Latino.

By 2060, Latinos are estimated to be 45% of the county’s population, with Asians or Pacific Islanders at 31% and whites at 17%.

Guest speaker Deborah Phares talks on the idea of “Live Like You Have ADHD” during the Orange County Grantmakers Summit at Orange Coast College on Thursday.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Nonprofits in areas like food, immigration and housing need to continue to work together to move the county forward in a positive way, Palumbo said.

The OC Grantmakers leadership team, including Palumbo, a program manager and a board of directors, starts planning for the summit each March.

Parker’s tips on gathering seemed apropos for the summit, an appropriate way to cap off the day.

“I thought it was perfect,” Palumbo said. “This is a gathering. Why do we do it, other than just to have a meeting every year? We do it because we want to be intentional about bringing people together. So, I thought her message about sort of how you ensure that there’s a purpose to your work is so impactful for everyone here.”