AI for Community Foundations: Practical Tools and a New Path Forward
Webinar:
Wednesday, April 22, 2026 | 2 p.m. ET
AI is transforming how organizations communicate, operate, and serve their communities — and community foundations have a unique opportunity to lead the way.
Join us and our allies from empire, a principles-based AI company, on Wednesday, April 22 at 2 p.m. ET for a practical, one-hour webinar that will show you how to put AI tools and agents to work in your communications right now.
You’ll also learn about a new alliance of community foundations that are designing what principled AI use looks like for the field — and how this approach can help you now and in the future.
We'll draw on real-world experience from our work at the intersection of philanthropy, strategic communications, and AI — including insights from conversations with community foundation leaders across the country who are already exploring how these tools can strengthen their organizations and their communities.
During this event, you will gain access to:
Practical, hands-on examples of how AI tools and agents can help community foundation communicators draft content, sharpen messaging, streamline workflows, and engage key audiences more effectively.
A clear-eyed look at both the opportunities and the risks of AI for community foundations — and a framework for approaching these tools with confidence and editorial rigor.
An introduction to the Community Foundation Alliance, a new peer community where foundations are working together to shape AI strategy, share what they're learning, and build shared infrastructure that no single organization could create alone.
We'll also leave plenty of time to answer your questions.
Speakers
Brett Horvath
CEO of Empire
Brett is the CEO of Empire, a principles-based company, with two primary ends: making sure that AI doesn't eat democracy, and embedding pro-democracy principles into AI everywhere.
Starting in fall 2023 Brett led ‘Accelerating Intelligence for Democracy,’ a training series to help pro-democracy NGOs prepare for AI. In the summer of 2024 the The William and Flora Hewlett and David and Lucile Packard foundations supported an expansion of that program’s work in partnership with The Impact Guild while adding two new cohorts: pro-democracy funders and leaders in entertainment and media.
His company is now partnering with Turn Two to launch the Community Foundation Alliance — a principles-based AI network specifically designed by and for community foundations.
Brett’s work has been covered in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Buzzfeed, Bloomberg, CNN, Politico, Vice, and several academic articles, among others. He is a frequent speaker on information warfare, political and economic risk and has appeared on national media including CNBC and MSNBC.
Peter Panepento
Co-founder and Managing Partner, Turn Two
Peter believes in the power of strategic communications to create change — a belief that has guided our agency since its founding and that shines through our work supporting social good organizations.
With more than two decades of experience as a journalist and more than 10 years as a consultant serving dozens of foundations and nonprofits, Peter has developed a reputation as a skilled strategist, a thoughtful listener, and a sharp writer and communicator.
Prior to starting Turn Two, he spent more than a decade covering the nonprofit and foundation world at The Chronicle of Philanthropy. There, he managed its online and social-media presence, developed cutting-edge research and data projects, and launched its webinar series.
He is co-author of Modern Media Relations for Nonprofits: Creating an Effective PR Strategy for Today’s World and is the former board chair of the Community Foundation of Howard County in Columbia, Md.