About the 2026 SAFSF Forum

The SAFSF Forum is a unique conference for the full spectrum of funders—including philanthropy, investors, community finance, and intermediaries—to foster collaboration among peers, field leaders, and practitioners across the country around a shared mission for equitable and sustainable food and agriculture. The conference focuses on different approaches to moving impact capital to transform food systems. While funder learning is a central goal, nonprofit movement leaders and food system partners are integral to the event’s success, bringing on-the-ground wisdom and solutions. As we face a moment of profound transformation across non-profit, philanthropy, and food systems, the SAFSF Forum is a gathering place for sense-making, solutions, and solidarity.

The 2026 SAFSF Forum will take place in Savannah, Georgia—a place where Afro-Indigenous stewardship, Gullah Geechee traditions, and Southern agrarian and culinary innovation intersect with today’s climate crisis, land loss, and rural economic disinvestment. The U.S. South is a fulcrum of American food and agriculture: a production powerhouse; a hub for farmworker and H-2A dynamics that shape national food supply; a climate frontline facing extreme heat, hurricanes, and flooding; and a logistics hub where Gulf and Atlantic ports—Savannah among them—move goods globally. Equity, divestment, and ownership struggles are also acutely felt here, from Black land stewardship and heirs’ property challenges to corporate land capture in rural communities forcing displacement of local food systems. Because issues of land justice, climate change, rural economic development, and systems of racism and exclusion converge so intensely in the South, investing in community-led solutions in food and agriculture in the region can offer solutions to the country and the world. Throughout the Forum, we will trace the throughline of Black and Indigenous Agrarianism, uplifting lineages of liberatory organizing, cooperative economics, and rural self-determination that lay the foundation for a climate-resilient, healthy, and equitable food future beyond corporate control.

SAFSF Forum Goals

For over 20 years, SAFSF has hosted the Forum across dozens of locations with these goals in mind:

• Build community among diverse capital partners focused on food and agriculture
• Guide funders’ understanding of issues in food, agriculture, and funding
• Inspire collaboration and alignment towards systems change
• Highlight local leadership, context, and community-led solutions in often overlooked places in our food system.

Request for Proposals for 2026 SAFSF Forum

We are seeking proposals for workshops, learning dinners, lightning talks, and field days that align with SAFSF’s mission and goals for the conference. In addition to shaping the 2026 SAFSF Forum, these submissions will contribute to ongoing program development within SAFSF, helping us identify key areas for future events, workshops, and initiatives throughout the year.

To help foster a diverse and representative Forum program that supports systems change in food and agriculture, we invite funders, frontline community and movement leaders, and practitioners who are dedicated to advancing equity and sustainability in food and agriculture to propose a session through this RFP.

To learn more about the RFP process, visit our FAQ page.

Session Formats

We are seeking proposals for the following session types:

• Panels or Workshops (15 sessions, 75 minutes each) –  Limited to 6 speakers, including a moderator
  • Panels and workshops can include panel discussions and interactive learning, focusing on actionable strategies that engage funders in systems change. We recommend no more than 6 speakers (including a moderator) to ensure a balance of perspectives and adequate time for all speakers.
• Field Days (Up to 5 Half Day and Up to 3 Full Day) – Half day visits are limited to 6 speakers, including a moderator, Full Day visits are limited to 7 speakers, including a moderator
  • These sessions will take participants into the region surrounding Savannah to explore place-based solutions and challenges. We encourage concepts that offer mutual benefit and are designed in collaboration with local communities. SAFSF may combine multiple submissions or curate additional components to create complete Field Day agendas.
• Learning Dinners (7 sessions, 90 minutes each) – Limited to 6 speakers, including a moderator
  • These are programmed group dinner events, curated for deeper connection around specific topics or affinity groups. This format lends itself well to discussion formats at tables. Please note: Organizers for Learning Dinners are expected to cover the cost of the meal and transportation off site (if needed) for participants. SAFSF will support organizers with identifying locations to host the dinner as needed. Learning dinners are a great way to highlight the region.
• Lightning Talks (15 minutes each) – Limited to 1 speaker
  • This format is best suited for focused ideas and concise topics that can be shared efficiently, inspiring new ideas, approaches, or opportunities. Although there will not be time during the session for audience questions, topics should spark curiosity and conversation, and may be curated around a common theme.

Selection Criteria

SAFSF staff work closely with a Host Committee to develop the Forum program. We evaluate proposals using the following criteria:

• Alignment with Forum Key Themes: The session aligns with the Forum’s 2026 themes and provides practical tools and insights to help diverse funders increase their impact.
• Originality and Creativity: The session uses innovative formats and learning approaches to engage multiple ways of learning.
• Emphasis on Systems Change: The session highlights collaboration across sectors and strategies, including policy and movement building, culture/narrative change, capital and markets, technology and tools, and uplifts community-led solutions.
• Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity, and Accessibility: The session centers marginalized voices, ensures equitable participation, and prioritizes accessibility for all.
• Skill and Capacity Building: The session helps funders incorporate leading edge practices in grantmaking, investment and lending.

Forum Session Themes

The following themes will be highlighted at the 2026 Forum. This does not mean these will be the only topics explored, but we encourage applicants to consider and prioritize the following topics. Additionally, we are especially interested in sessions that lift up policy advocacy, movement building, and narrative change as strategies for change. 

• Black Agrarianism in the South
  • This theme explores Black Agrarianism as a living tradition that centers cultural land stewardship, food sovereignty, cooperative economics, and liberatory organizing in food systems. We examine the historic and current realities of land access, land loss, and land retention for Black land stewards and producers—with particular attention to rural community needs.
• Food and Farmworker Justice and Immigration in the Food System
  • This theme examines food chain and farm worker justice within U.S. immigration and labor systems, addressing climate and economic impacts, community organizing and building power, and uplifting solutions for an equitable food system that honors and protects workers.
• Climate, Health, and Food Systems
  • This theme investigates how climate change and public health intersect across the full food system, with attention paid to a just transition to decarbonization and climate resiliency for producers, workers, and frontline communities. The 2026 Forum will also highlight the role of oceans, ports, fisheries, and aquaculture as integral components of our food economy.
• Building Sustainable Food Markets and Infrastructure
  • This theme is about aligning finance, policy, and practice so regenerative and agroecological producers can thrive—and communities can reliably access good food. This theme will lift up the policy shifts, integrated financing tools (grants, guarantees, patient debt, mission equity) and infrastructure needed to rebalance the system away from corporate capture, economic disparity, and climate fragility.
• Food Access and Food as Medicine
  • This theme focuses on how funders can strengthen household food security, expand equitable food access, and improve health outcomes through strategies like healthcare partnerships, community-owned grocery stores, and other community-led food access efforts that support the health of low-income and historically excluded communities.

Funding Praxis

If applicable, we also encourage you to address theories and practices related to funding in your submission. Please select which of the following funding practices will be addressed in your session, if any. In the form, you may check multiple boxes as applicable or add a free response.

• Participatory and Community Controlled Funding – Participatory and community controlled decision making models in funding.
• Equity Based Funding – Best practices in designing and implementing funding programs rooted in principles of equity, non-extraction, and dismantling systemic racism.
• Integrated Capital Strategies – Incorporation of multiple types of capital across the spectrum of grantmaking, lending, and investment.
• Other (Free response)

Who Can Submit a Proposal

We welcome proposals from any type of organization. We aim to select a balance of proposals submitted by both funders and non-funders, SAFSF members and non-members. To support travel costs and honoraria, we recommend non-funders who submit proposals identify a funder to sponsor your session. Please note that fundraising staff (e.g. Development Directors) are not able to attend the Forum.

Submit a Session Proposal

Please use this form to submit a session proposal by Sunday, November 23, at 11:59 PM PT.

Key Dates

• RFP Opens – October 1, 2025
• Open House – October 23, 2025
• RFP Closes – November 23, 2025
• Notifications: January 12, 2026
• Early Bird Registration Opens: March 2, 2026

Open House Information Session

SAFSF will be hosting an open house on Thursday, October 23 at 12PM PT to answer questions about the RFP process. Please note we will not be able to provide feedback on individual session proposals at this time. This session will be recorded for those unable to attend live.

Planning Ahead

Notifications about selection will go out by Monday, January 12, 2026. SAFSF may contact you about other opportunities to speak or host content at the Forum after the RFP closes or after notifications go out, depending on content gaps and needs.

Booking Travel: If your session is accepted, we ask that you please wait to book travel until we confirm what day and time your session will take place. Typically, we finalize the schedule in early March.

Preparing for the Forum: SAFSF staff will help you prepare for presenting at the Forum. You will be required to acknowledge our community guidelines, and have the opportunity to attend a planning call to refine your session content. You will also need to download the Whova App, and share any slides via Google Slides prior to the Forum. 

Please contact SAFSF at events@safsf.org if you have any questions. We look forward to working together in building a just and equitable food system!