25th BIEN Congress Recap and Reflections

In a recent LinkedIn post by Vinod Rajasekaran, after attending a few philanthropic convenings (WINGS 2026 Forum in Montreal and PFC gathering in Winnipeg), he asks three questions: (1) “Who are we becoming” … (2) “How do we move capital for systems change — and fast?”… and, (3) “How might philanthropy and government build Canada’s future together?”

I responded by first suggesting he read Norma Wong’s “who we are becoming matters” and then suggesting that it may be helpful for me to sit with recaps I had been seeing come across my LI feeds from other gatherings that others in my network has posted, saying:

“ I am going to sit with some recaps from the past two weeks in my feed and see what I get. Already for instance there’s yours (Vinod), Brian Mc Bay’s (on creative land trust gathering in Finland), Tamer Ibrahim‘s (on community land trust gathering in Ottawa), Jen Angel’s (on the Adaptation Conference in Toronto, Milica Begovic’s (on a gathering at the UN) and then the various ASIE 2026 (Dieppe gathering) one’s.” — Louise Adongo

This article (see detailed blog here) begins that journey for me, I had delayed writing it but now that I have I can add it to the convening reflections I would like to sit with and pattern make from. I think this is important as we move from talking (to action, in remaking our ways of being/becoming who we need to be to respond to the realities our communities are facing.

In my next piece I will share the synthesis of the review of the recaps listed above (including the 25th BIEN Congress), and musing from Tamarack’s Community Change summit happening next week (Oct 20–23, 2026).

I close this reflection with Danya Pastutszek’s comment on Vinod’s post which says in part:

“[…]We can’t invest in the parts and hope for something whole. We can’t expect much if we leave untouched the systems that produce the grief and poverty. Designing and delivering the collection of things capable of transformational results means deploying so many types of capital — financial and otherwise — in new, coordinated ways. Let’s do it!” — Danya Pastutszek CEO Tamarack Institute