Join the basic income community in June as we come together in Washington DC to chart the course for the critical next wave of our movement. Together, we will develop and coordinate the strategies and processes needed to meet the challenges we face with new political leadership and changes to the policy and funding landscape.
Join UsThe Basic Income Guarantee Conference (BIG!) is the only annual conference in the U.S. focused on all things basic income. In June, 2025 we will be celebrating our 23rd event, which will include collaborative sessions, panel discussions, interactive activities and more, as we dig deep into the most critical issues we face as a society, and a movement.
Join Us
Great Venue, Dynamic Speakers
The BIG Conference is a national convening for the basic income community to engage in fun and inspiring sessions that celebrate the progress and wins from across our diverse movement while connecting and collaborating on the work yet to do. The 2025 event will be hosted at The Press Club, in the heart of DC. Check out more about the venue.
The BIG Conference is a dynamic two day event. See some of how we incorporate innovation and community into the our Conference design to foster meaningful experiences and conversations.
From policy efforts or pilot best practices to storytelling cohorts and artist installations, bringing a broad set of perspectives to the programming landscape is foundational to the BIG Conference.
Lunch breaks, collaboration sessions, and receptions are planned for people from across the community to connect with each other. These are opportunities for casual conversations, networking and deeper debates about all things basic income.
Conference organizers work closely with panelists, artists and more to design sessions that allow for audience participation and interaction with the ideas being covered.
The BIG Conference is a community designed, annual convening led by Income Movement and USBIG. These two organizations lead the fundraising, design and convening of committees necessary for the success of BIG each year.
2025 marks the 23rd annual BIG Conference. This year’s BIG programming is co-designed by over 100 individuals across our broader community to collectively shape the topics, speakers and activities that will make up the two day event. The Press Club is a stones throw away from the Washington Mall and includes three dynamic spaces to support collaborative sessions, interactive activities, practical workshops, and peer conversations alongside keynote speakers and panel discussions. We will focus on topics prioritized by the community, including: developing high impact coalitions, developing the pillars of the movement, building the base, intersectional justice work and and more.
The BIG Conference (formerly the North American Basic Income Guarantee (NABIG) Congress) has been held every year since 2002 with the exception of 2020, to promote networking and exchange of ideas among scholars, activists, and policy makers. The first eight Conferences were organized by the US Basic Income Guarantee Network (USBIG) in conjunction with the Eastern Economic Association meetings. Beginning with the 2010 Montreal Congress, NABIG was co-sponsored by USBIG and the Basic Income Canada Network (BICN) and alternated annually between Canada and the United States. In 2021, Income Movement joined as a key organizing entity, and the conference moved to an annual event in the United States. By 2023, the in-person convening grew to more than 350 community participants across dozens of interactive sessions, reflecting the rise of pilots across the county and the growth of basic income as a legitimate policy.
Conferences have been supported by hosts such as the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, New York City, Centre for Research in Ethics at the University of Montreal, the University of Toronto, the University of Manitoba, and McMaster University, with financial support from foundations such as the Economic Security Project, Gerald Huff Fund for Humanity, Income Movement, Aidkit and with the cooperation of other organizations including the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction, Low Income Families Together, the Roosevelt House, and the Basic Income Earth Network. As the conference has grown in recent years, it had cemented itself as a critical strategic place for building the national movement for basic income in the US.
