Innovations in Philanthropy is an invitation-only convening for the people who move private dollars: nonprofit chief executives, chief development officers, and the grantmakers and philanthropists who fund them. Each summit brings a few dozen of them together for two evenings and a full day of conversation held under Chatham House Rules. There is no exhibit hall.

Teapot Mountain's founder, Rhett Wilson, started IIP in 2026 and serves as its Chairman. The idea came out of his nine years running philanthropy at the White House Historical Association. The most useful conversations he had in those years were with people on the other side of the table, and he noticed how seldom the executives who run institutions, the officers who raise for them, and the donors who fund them found themselves in one room with the freedom to speak plainly. He started IIP so that they would.

The summits takes place in Charleston, South Carolina, in the fall, at the Francis Marion Hotel, with a faculty that includes Christopher Cassidy, Pierce Bush, Eric Brinker, Leslie Miller, Jamie Kelley, Isaac Thweatt, Bill Kirst, and Nick Chin. The winter convening follows in Palm Springs, California, where the faculty includes Jeremy Bernard, Joe Bondi, Eric Brinker, Franzene Minott, Nicole Sexton, Josh Slusher, and Rob Spiller.

Members of the Teapot Mountain team support the summits' program and operations. The firm does not sell its services at IIP, and attending carries no expectation of a relationship with Teapot Mountain. We attend for the same reason everyone else does, to understand where philanthropy is going and who is shaping it, and that understanding informs the counsel we give our clients.

Attendance is by invitation, and prospective attendees may request consideration at innovationsinphilanthropy.com.