ABOUT Breakin' It Down

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For twenty years, the Breakin' It Down Planning Committee has held conferences focused on engaging diverse nonprofit and fundraising professionals in empowering conversations about the present state and future of the nonprofit, philanthropic, and fundraising sector and its impact on under-represented and underserved communities in the Chicago area.  At that time, the field of nonprofit, philanthropy, and fundraising was undergoing noticeable professionalization, making nonprofits and the under-represented and underserved they sought to help more vulnerable to new institutional pressures and expectations as well as goal displacement, resource dependencies, and career quality of BIPOC professionals in the field.  A group of nonprofit and philanthropic leaders spearheaded an inaugural conference in 2003.

The history and success of the Breakin' It Down conference are grounded in the culture of volunteerism and empathy embodied by its founders and committee members over the years.  Over the years, BID has dedicated ourselves to partnering with diverse nonprofit, philanthropic, and community leaders in the city, to plan and execute our conference programs. We believe this is the best way to help our communities thrive, and to  continue to provide our nonprofit professionals with opportunities to build acumen and strengthen networks integral to organization success. 

The event brings together seasoned and emerging nonprofit professionals and administrators, academics, community activists, students, and other stakeholders who serve under-represented and underserved communities, with experts and distinguished philanthropic, nonprofit, and community leaders for a day of speakers, plenary panels, workshops, and professional speed networking with funders.  It uses an interactive agenda that seeks to bring balance to expressive and instrumental elements and focuses on key challenges in the field, encouraging professional excellence, promoting professional opportunity through networking and collaboration, and exploring best practices and different sustainability strategies.  Participants leave with an increased understanding of a substantive range of pertinent issues and an increased ability to be agents of change in our field.  

FOUNDING PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS  

 ASIAN AMERICANS & PACIFIC ISLANDERS IN PHILANTHROPY (AAPIP)

ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICANS IN DEVELOPMENT (APAID)

BLACKS IN DEVELOPMENT (BID) 

CENTER FOR ARAB AMERICAN PHILANTHROPY (CAAP) 

CHICAGO AFRICAN AMERICANS IN PHILANTHROPY (CAAIP)

CHICAGO LATINOS IN PHILANTHROPY (CLIP)

LATINOS IN DEVELOPMENT (LID)