Foreword: The Impact of Stories
"When you understand the story of which you’re part and the roles you are capable of playing, you can heal wounds within yourself and others.”
Edgar Villanueva, Decolonizing Wealth: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance
At EMA Foundation, we are dedicated to shifting power and resources to small social impact organizations, nurturing a dynamic network, and centering dialogue as a catalyst toward equity. We know that relying on numbers alone doesn’t fully capture the breadth of our work. While statistics can show scale, they often miss the heart and soul of our efforts to understand our partners’ stories, meet them where they are, and deeply support their missions through the multifaceted ways we touch people’s lives.
Through stories, we can forge the connection and empathy that drive our care-based, human-centered approach to partnership. We believe that amplifying underrepresented voices
and exchanging stories builds community. Stories are the heartbeat of our work, and we stand firm in our belief that they are integral to centering trust, compassion, and a true sense of humanity in qualifying our impact. Through these stories, we can understand our role in conversations and collaborative efforts toward equity.
As a foundation rooted in the practice of trust-based philanthropy, we recognize evaluation is an important means of continuous learning. EMA and our partners are excited to learn and grow together to ensure our collective efforts rank high in quality and high in humanity.
Letter from the Executive Director
The last two years have been an exciting period of evolution for EMA Foundation. While we knew that the trust-based approach EMA has championed since our inception in 2001 has been critical to all that we do, insights from our research and our practice led to three realizations that convinced us that we can –and, in fact, must – do more for our partners.
• Far too many people working in the nonprofit sector are experiencing exhaustion and burnout because they are trapped in cultures of scarcity. If our goal is to help organizations thrive, then we must do more to support the well-being of the humans who work there. That sparked the question: How can we move from trust-based to care-based philanthropy?
• Traditional philanthropic practices –complicated funder applications and reporting processes and the unwillingness of most funders to fund operating costs like rent, salaries, and all the expenses associated with running an organization outside of the costs of the programs they provide for those they serve — are often prohibitive for small non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
• Our senior leadership is a team of career educators, who intrinsically understand the extraordinary capabilities of young people and their desire to work towards a better world. That perspective has uniquely positioned EMA to merge philanthropy and education, driving greater impact and equity.
strategic planning.
We are beyond excited to share this report and illustrate the transformational impact our approach has had for both our partners and our young staff over the last year. EMA is harnessing the phenomenal skillsets, energy, and vision of young people while training them as the next generation of champions for equity. Anchored by our Partner Relationship Managers and Communications team, our
The most exciting news, though, is that we are just getting started. We invite you to read on and also learn about rhizōma, the communication platform we are building to share stories from our partners and host live events, courses, resource centers for teachers and students, and interactive offerings to engage people and move them beyond donation to action.
Executive Director
What We Do
Mission : We shift power and resources to our partners and nurture a dynamic network for people to learn together, bridge differences, and work towards equity.
Vision : We believe that amplifying underrepresented voices creates a vital space for empathy, in which we can recognize our shared humanity and build pathways toward understanding.
Care-Based Philanthropy: Reimagining Support Beyond the Check
Collective Purpose: EMA’s Impact Network
EMA is organized as an impact network because the issues our partners address are too complex for any organization to tackle alone. We work with ten organizations across various issue areas including: migration, education and storytelling, and decolonization and indigenous healing. Since our partners are deeply values-aligned and share similar goals, we facilitate regular communication amongst them in order to coordinate actions and meet shared objectives. These collaborations allow our partners to effectively leverage each other’s strengths and networks.
This impact network model is central to our communications strategy as well. We create spaces where our partners can
share their stories and connect with one another. Through rhizōma, we help elevate these voices, allowing our partners to shine while contributing to a broader narrative of empathy and action. Each partner’s story enriches and fortifies our collective mission, amplifying the network’s power and impact beyond what any individual organization could achieve alone.
Our partners are all relatively small organizations that share common needs which we can address more efficiently. For example, bringing in one consultant to work with multiple partners, has the added benefit of a built-in peer support cohort. This network approach maximizes efficiency in use of resources across different organizations and issue areas.
Our Process
trust
The intersection between Foundation (grantmaking) rhizōma (storytelling) by our cross-journey demonstrating that together on our collective making a more equitable
We trust our partners as experts in their work and follow their lead to best meet their needs.
engage
We engage our intergenerational staff in our partners’ work and continuously develop our team’s skill sets.
between EMA (grantmaking) and (storytelling) is illustrated cross-journey symbol, that both entities work collective journey of equitable world.
amplify
We amplify voices from our partners and the people they serve and share their stories through our rhizōma platform.
activate
We activate our online community with opportunities to turn learning into action.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are currently 117.3 million forcibly displaced people around the globe, and that number is likely much higher with so many people uncounted. In response, we have four partners in the migration space working tirelessly on what is becoming one of the biggest crises we face as a global community. The following pages highlight some of their accomplishments and EMA's support in our collaborations this year.
Migration
Asylum Access
Asylum Access’s mission is to support forcibly displaced individuals and communities as they reclaim their rights, agency, and power. Through legal empowerment, policy change, and global systems change programs, Asylum Access advocates for a world where refugees everywhere can live safely, move freely, work, feed their families, send children to school, and contribute to their communities.
Asylum Access is a powerful resource for those experiencing forced migration, providing direct legal support for more than 25,000 people each year in Mexico, Malaysia, and Thailand. In February 2024, they published a position paper on equitable partnerships in an effort to highlight the effectiveness of refugee-led responses and provide guidelines for International NGOs to form effective working relationships with grassroots groups. Through the Resourcing Refugee Leadership Initiative, Asylum Access has shifted nearly $3 million to 17 refugee-led organizations in Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia, Lebanon, and Uganda, which provided comprehensive support for more than 600,000 people.
EMA has worked alongside Asylum Access in a variety of ways over the last year, starting with $25,000 in unrestricted financial support. We co-designed several social media campaigns, including a year-end fundraising package, and provided long-term coaching support for several members of Asylum Access’s senior staff as they navigate leadership transitions. Additionally, members of our Partner Relations team researched and produced a comprehensive overview of shared leadership structures to guide their conversations around how to best organize their team.
Refugee Participation Lead, Asylum Access
Children of the Forest
Children of the Forest’s (CoF) mission is to provide protection, education, and healthcare to migrant Karen and Mon children living in the Thai–Burmese border region of Sangkhlaburi to help break the cycle of disadvantage and poverty.
CoF’s protection center currently houses 66 children and supports 25 mothers, many of whom have part-time employment through the organization. The school is experiencing a surge of new arrivals, sponsoring the education of nearly 800 students from kindergarten to university. Over 300 children are enrolled in the onsite K-2 program that prepares them for the Thai elementary school entrance exam, which is critical for stateless children to get on a path to citizenship. CoF’s medical program treated more than 700 people in the first six months of 2024. Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, CoF’s clinic has become a critical resource, particularly since the people it serves are not eligible for state-run healthcare.
EMA has underwritten CoF’s medical program since 2008. Given the recent spike in needs, we have increased that support by 33% to $60,000 this year. We are currently working on a series of collaborations designed to raise CoF’s profile with donors and to catalyze their fundraising, including redesigning branding materials and creating a new website to showcase their programs more effectively. EMA also sent filmmaker Henry Kinder to Thailand to produce two promotional films for outreach purposes, which will be key elements in a coordinated fundraising campaign.
"Together, the beneficiaries, COF staff, and EMA have developed a partnership that is truly life-changing and often life-saving."
Daniel Hopson, Founder Children of the Forest
Lighthouse Relief
Lighthouse Relief’s (LHR) mission is to address the immediate and long-term needs of refugees and asylum seekers in Greece, with a focus on providing safe housing, essential supplies, information support, and psychosocial services.
Lighthouse Relief has helped thousands of people experiencing migration to access social services and legal assistance with immigration issues. They also provide food and other essentials as well as youth sports programs for the Ritsona Refugee Camp, providing hundreds of children with psychosocial support and an opportunity to play together and build community.
EMA has been deeply involved with Lighthouse Relief this year, providing $30,000 in unrestricted funding and offering multiple levels of leadership support. EMA Executive Director Bill Meyer has served on the LHR Advisory Board for the last two years, working closely with leadership to co-design campaigns and plot the future course of LHR in the midst of a changing environment for migrants on the ground in Athens. EMA also brought in consultants to support their board and staff in succession and strategic planning processes.
"Partnering with EMA has been a dream come true!"
Chloe Esposito, Co-director, Lighthouse Relief
SafePlace International
SafePlace International (SPI) cultivates ecosystems of safety, healing, and collective growth with and for an intersectional community of LGBTQI+ displaced persons to affirm the leaders that only they can be.
The Dream Academy, SPI’s community-led, 10-week intensive virtual course, focuses on leadership development, socio-emotional learning, and job skills training for LGBTQI+ displaced persons that paves the way for their healing, growth, and leadership that will lead to sustainable social change. Through The Dream Academy, over a thousand graduates have been equipped to
SafePlace International
EMA provided co-design support towards the SafePlace NEXT campaign and an unrestricted $100,000 matching grant. In addition, EMA provided leadership coaching for senior staff and worked alongside SPI’s teams to co-create templates for a series of campaigns.
Education & Storytelling
EMA’s Education & Storytelling partners are working to revitalize education by re-centering the stories and agency of young people, co-creating resources with teachers, and providing schools with hands-on support for sustainable change.
BALANCE: A Perimenopause Docuseries
BALANCE is a groundbreaking documentary/docuseries aimed at shedding light on a critical but often overlooked and misunderstood phase of a woman’s life: perimenopause. Healthcare disparities in access to information about perimenopause and treatment, particularly among underserved communities, highlight the need for education initiatives like this film project to ensure all women receive accurate support during this transitional phase of their lives.
Co-directors and Jain monks Sadvhi Siddhali Shree and Sadhvi Anubhuti completed the fine cut of the first episode of the series in September. They are currently shopping the project to potential streamers and distributors while simultaneously building grassroots awareness and audiences through a series of “Peri Parties” around the country and around the globe.
EMA has supported the BALANCE team through $50,000 in unrestricted production funding to date. We are also providing staff support with fundraising research and campaigns, advising the filmmakers on distribution and visibility strategies and in outreach efforts to pre-build an audience for the film in order to secure the best possible distribution deal. BALANCE will air in 2025.
BYkids
BYkids mission is to produce inspiring youth-created documentaries about pressing global issues to use as catalysts for empathy, connection, and change.
BYkids season four has been a tremendous success this year with the release of four powerful new films:
• Beekeeper—15-year-old Kentucky filmmaker Keith Griffith III shares the healing power and ecological importance of beekeeping.
• Another World Is Possible—20-year-old climate activist Helena Marschall takes us into a youth-led movement in Germany to get political leaders to act.
• Return Date: Unknown—17-year-old Ukrainian refugee Tymur Tsapliienko shares his views on the cost of war and the price of the world’s dependence on fossil fuels.
• Seeds of Life—14-year-old Indian filmmaker Diya Payal explores how biodiverse farming keeps us in harmony with our environment and ourselves.
The films premiered on PBS’s flagship New York station WNET, and BYkids Executive Director Holly Carter brought the films to enthusiastic audiences across the country. In March, Carter and Tsapliienko screened his film in a packed session at SXSW EDU. In a first for BYkids, Beekeeper was nominated for a 2024 Emmy award by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Ohio Valley Chapter. Four new films for season five are currently in production.
storytelling connected to the films. EMA created and continues to underwrite the BYkids Community of Learners (CoL) as a way to engage teachers in integrating BYkids films into their curriculum. After a successful summer of pilot workshops, the CoL teachers are currently completing integration guides for every film in the BYkids library. BYkids will host a series of online events this year with the goal of bringing a thousand teachers into the BYkids universe by the end of 2025.
"It is wind at our back as we scale our impact to have the generosity and support of the EMA Foundation."
Holly Carter, Founder & Executive Director, BYkids
Filmbuilding
Filmbuilding’s mission is to organize filmmaking experiences that allow people to connect and learn from one another in fun and transformative ways.
A powerful resource in our increasingly polarized world, Filmbuilding’s programs are designed to bring people together to bridge differences by telling stories collaboratively. In the spring of 2024, Filmbuilding launched the Belonging project, partnering with Lincoln-Sudbury High School outside Boston to bring together students to co-create three short films exploring the meaning of community and belonging.
Over the summer, Filmbuilding Malden: Our City in Motion worked with 20 youth from Malden, MA to explore their local community
EMA Director of Education David Grace with three students from the Belonging Project
EMA collaborated with Filmbuilding to help the Lincoln-Sudbury Belonging Project and
"We have yet to reach the peak of our goals - but we now have every belief that we can get there with the guidance, support, and overall positive culture that EMA brings"
Tom Flint, Founder/Executive Director, Filmbuilding
World Leadership Foundation/World Leadership School
World Leadership School’s (WLS) mission is to partner with K-12 schools to reimagine learning and create next-generation leaders. WLS helps schools bring purpose to learning in two main ways: taking students out into the world and coaching teachers to bring purpose to learning.
EMA was thrilled to bring WLF/WLS into our impact network this year, starting with $50,000 in unrestricted support for the K-12 Change Lab, a new initiative that invites diverse schools to join in a yearlong, close-knit learning community organized around a focused area of school change. Together, we are actively exploring ways to integrate the rest of EMA’s network into their programming.
"EMA funds projects but, more importantly, builds a network of like-minded, socially-conscious organizations committed to making the world a better place"
Ross Wehner, Founder, World Leadership Foundation/School
Our Decolonization & Healing partners aim to address the damage of colonial legacies and past injustices. They provide resources for healing and help people understand and access support, enabling us to collectively recognize and dismantle harmful systems and replacing them with more equitable alternatives.
Decolonization & Indigenous Healing
In-Sight Collaborative
In-Sight Collaborative’s mission is to provide a range of resources for humanitarian actors, individuals experiencing forced displacement, and those interested in learning more about displacement issues.
In-Sight Collaborative has had another remarkable year supporting aspiring and existing humanitarian aid workers through their six-week and ten-week Mentorship programs and their evolving suite of introductory courses for the public. This summer’s Mentorship cohort engaged 74 participants from 36 different countries, and In-Sight was able to offer sessions in Spanish and Arabic (along with English) for the first time.
EMA provided $25,000 of unrestricted support to In-Sight for the translation of the Mentorship program and other expenses, with a plan to add two more languages to the program next year. In addition, EMA and In-Sight are collaborating on new courses that will be hosted in the Learning Center on rhizōma, EMA’s educational resource hub.
EMA and In-Sight will also continue to co-produce live and virtual panels and events for anyone interested in learning more about migration and humanitarian work.
"As allies in trust-based philanthropy, EMA has proven to be true collaborators, valuing and recognizing our unique strengths and perspectives."
Nadirah Saraswati, Chief Operating Officer, In-Sight Collaborative
Haa Tóoch Lichéesh Coalition
Haa Tóoch Lichéesh envisions a socially just community in a reciprocal, healthy relationship with the land and with each other. Guided by the wisdom of their ancestors, Haa Tóoch Lichéesh reckons with injustice and commits to healing and liberation, while honoring their interdependence. Together, they are imagining and creating a community free from violence.
Haa Tóoch Lichéesh is in their first year as an independent nonprofit after spinning off from a larger organization, and are continuing their critical work in sharing opportunities for healing through culture and advocating for healing justice. They help community members throughout Southeast Alaska build healthy relationships and connections through free Indigenous language classes, coordination of gift-making gatherings in honor of cultural events, and supporting the respectful teaching of traditional plant medicine as a pathway to socio-emotional wellness.
Haa Tóoch Lichéesh also implements several middle and high school safe space programs for
EMA is thrilled to support Haa Tóoch Lichéesh as they establish themselves as an independent organization, contributing $50,000 in unrestricted support this year. EMA’s leadership, coaches, and consultants have worked extensively with Haa Tóoch Lichéesh staff to develop organizational policies and handbooks, create sustainable infrastructure and practices, and craft a development strategy.
"EMA Foundation's dedication to transferring wealth, resources, and privilege in ways that disrupt power imbalance born from generations of oppression and violence is leading us closer to the world we dream of for our grandchildren."
Ati Nasiah, Co-Director, Haa Tóoch Lichéesh
Rhizōma: The Transformative
that was launched in May, rhizōma is a hub for sharing stories and resources related to the work of our partners and the people they serve. It is designed to amplify the voices of global storytellers through blogs, articles, podcasts, films, panels, events, courses, and more. Across our overwhelming media landscape, it is often hard to find the stories that matter. Rhizōma will be a place to connect with organizations on the frontlines of pressing issues, engage with a community of learners, and get inspired to act.
We envision rhizōma as a nexus for learning, where educators, learners, funders, and individuals from all walks of life can connect with each other through diverse narratives, live events, and transformative courses designed to move people beyond
content, all providing the living narrative of our work and our partners’ work.
• Learning Center, the next stage of rhizōma’s development, is a series of free interactive courses and resources that will enable community members to dig even deeper into the work of our partners.
• Speakers Bureau will provide ongoing opportunities for members of the EMA network to engage with students and other community members to share their insights and experiences through the power of personal storytelling. From refugees and asylum seekers to humanitarian aid workers and youth filmmakers from around the world, this will be an invaluable resource for dialogue, empathy, and awareness building.
Coaching & Care-Based Philanthropy
In 2024, EMA Foundation invested over $25,000 in leadership coaching with our partners, tailored each session to meet current and future needs, provided resources and consulting partnership (finance, board growth, role transition, administration, and strategy), and launched co-leadership coaching sessions. EMA has also invested dozens of hours of coaching time for 75% of our internal team members, including Partner Relationship Managers, Directors, and the Executive Director.
Led by our Director of Partner & Network Thriving, Devon Davey, coaching offers valuable time and space to walk with the gifted leaders of our organizational partners who seek to grow in their leadership. In collaborative hour-long
meetings held weekly or monthly, they work to reframe perspectives and use visualization to strengthen skills and muscles. To augment these practices, EMA provides additional coaching resources to our partners and our team members, including a seven-week positive intelligence training and a three-month network leadership training.
The strengths coaching witnesses and hopes to deepen within our partners’ leaders include:
• Clarity and deeper belief in knowing their path
• Depth of understanding of the complexities and oppressive systems they are navigating
• Adaptation to global and local contexts simultaneously
Devon Davey, Director of Partner & Network Thriving
• Cultivation of strong teams characterized by trusting decolonized relationships
• Big dreaming (financially and strategically) while planning for reality
• Identification of where they are holding themselves back and hope to shift perspectives and practices
We know that time is a social justice issue. Scarcity, or deficit, frames are ever perpetuated at the self, organizational, and systems levels. Coaching is one of many ways needed to navigate complexity and address burnout, hyper-achieving, systemic oppression, urgency, perfectionism, and intense self-critique. The relationship and deep trust needed to navigate these complexities together is hard-earned and grows with each conversation in partnership.
Youth Leadership: Catalysts for Change
Nearly 70% of EMA Foundation team members are under the age of twenty-five. Most are still in university pursuing degrees in subjects ranging from public health to art history to international affairs. They are students, artists, jokesters, athletes. Above all, they are the next generation who are ready to revolutionize philanthropy. They are catalysts for change.
Youth agency and leadership are vital to EMA’s mission because young people bring unique perspectives, experiences, and skill sets that are invaluable to supporting the
work of our partners and addressing systemic issues. Through the trust- based relationships they build with our partners— and with each other—our young team members are able to turn their desire to change the world into tangible action.
When young people are valued, it is not in spite of their experiences and perspectives, but because of them. At EMA, we are committed to the belief that the empowerment of young people through meaningful work will positively change the nonprofit sector and the world at large.
Team members from left to right (bottom row): Cedrick Gustave, Julia Minassian, Erika Cao, Nathan Doughty, Tracy Tran Team members from left to right (top row): Olivia Reibel, Rachel Grace, Jalen Walker, Anna Crawford
Team Perspectives & Learnings
“The environment [at EMA] is really authentic, and it's safe. It's been really safe to learn and also to challenge myself with responsibilities that might have not been given to me in previous experiences… It's super authentic because we all just care about the work and we care about each other.”
—Tracy Tran, Partner Relationship Manager
“In my time at EMA, I’ve learned that creating impact is not about following static plans or staying within organizational silos. It’s about fostering connections, trusting the network, and working together across boundaries to navigate complexity and drive meaningful, lasting change.”
—Cedrick Gustave, Director of Design & Communications
“I've done some important work at EMA and things that are meaningful. I sort of take that as a continual reminder to myself that I'm super capable and super able to do all these things that people do not expect me to be able to do.”
—Jalen Walker, Director of Operations
“The mix of trusting myself to be able to do things and knowing that I have the space to learn and grow within EMA has been really helpful… Standards for a place to work have been lifted for the rest of my life. That’s a really big deal for me”
—Anna Crawford, Communications Associate
—Zack Cohen, Financial Development Lead (former)
“I feel that I am challenged in my perspectives and beliefs, but also trusted in my own vision and experience. Since working at EMA, I've grown to trust myself a lot more. In previous jobs, I've felt I had to work a lot harder to be taken seriously, especially as a woman, being more afraid to mess up or not say something that I wasn't 100% sure of.”
—Julia Minassian, Partner Relationship Manager to find and then come out the other end having built the infrastructure to sustain what we're doing. That was massively impactful. If I had to sum it up, it would be a recognition that we are very powerful as learners, as doers… like there really isn't any task that can't be done. I think to have that recognition at this age, at this point in my life is beyond valuable and it has certainly translated to me as a student. I don't feel like there's anything that's beyond my reach. There's nothing that I can't figure out.”
“I manage teams, projects, facilitate meetings and manage relationships with partners… I feel like I'm capable of learning things on my own and partners and team members are given a lot of agency and room to dream, to create, to realize our visions.”
—Erika Cao, Senior Project Manager
Partner Testimonials
“EMA walked along with us. They accompany us in the same way that we seek to accompany the communities that we serve. And in that way, there is a very direct line between the community that we serve and EMA Foundation and EMA volunteers and Bill himself are sitting on committees with people within our community, sitting in various places around Africa. It's highly collaborative and it's very respectful. I think we have a lot of trust that we all know what our roles are and we support each other in those roles. The fact that the EMA funding was unrestricted, the application process was incredibly easy, we could just say, ‘Hey, this is what we need,’ and EMA was there for us.”
—Rachael
LeClear, Executive Director, SafePlace International
Partnering with EMA has been a dream come true! More so than any other NGO funding partner I’ve worked with over the past 15 years, they deeply care about the work we do and listen attentively to what we actually need to do our work better. Ego and personal preferences never get in the way and this gives us the freedom to concentrate on delivering the best possible results for the people we endeavor to serve rather than catering to the funder’s whims. The partnership works brilliantly because it is based on mutual trust and respect. I turn to Bill and the EMA team constantly for advice, when I want a sounding board for an idea, when I need a contact in a particular field, and for so many other forms of support in addition to funding. I am eternally grateful for this and proud of the partnership.”
—Chloe Esposito, Co-director, Lighthouse Relief
"As a new partner of the EMA Foundation, Asylum Access felt an immediate and meaningful connection with EMA’s values and innovative funding approach. For me, it was truly “love at first sight.” Unlike traditional funders, EMA fosters genuine collaboration, asking, “What do you need, and how can we support you?” without imposing rigid applications or strict deadlines. As Bill mentioned in our first meetings, “There is no application, no deadline. You’re already 'approved'—only your needs matter here.” EMA’s flexibility and trust allow us to focus on what matters most: advancing our mission of making refugee rights a reality and ensuring their inclusion in decision-making. In a sector that often prioritizes bureaucracy over impact, EMA’s approach is a breath of fresh air. As an organization that strongly advocates for Equitable Partnerships and Funding, we see EMA’s
"Since 2008, EMA has enabled Children of the Forest to assist thousands of stateless mothers and children along the Thai-Myanmar border. EMA’s unwavering support has ensured access to nutrition, medical care—including the safe delivery of hundreds of babies—counseling, empowerment, and life choices. EMA's openness and patience in understanding the genuine needs of our beneficiaries have allowed us to respond effectively to the ever-changing border environment. Together, the beneficiaries, COF staff, and EMA have developed a partnership that is truly life-changing and often life-saving."
—Daniel Hopson,
Founder, Children of the Forest
"It is wind at our back as we scale our impact to have the generosity and support of the EMA Foundation. Their transformational philanthropy means that we are spending this year working with a group of high school teachers and students to determine what assets and scaffolding we can add to our library to help make our BYkids films most useful to teachers and students. We are particularly excited about students working with teachers to co-create new material."
—Holly Carter, Founder & Executive Director, BYkids
"Before EMA came along, our journey of trying to build a sustainable organization from the ground up was like trying to summit K2 all on our own. EMA came into the picture like a group of experienced sherpas to support our initiatives and help guide us to the top. It immediately felt like we'd been given a compass, plenty of oxygen, and all the other resources we'll need as we continue onward. We have yet to reach the peak of our goals with Filmbuilding—a discovery-based filmmaking program that builds bridges for change— but we now have every belief that we can get there with the guidance, support, and overall positive culture that EMA brings. The difference has been completely game-changing. "
—Tom Flint, Founder/Executive Director, Filmbuilding
"EMA’s support was like a bolt of lightning. It energized us to move toward our biggest and most impactful idea without hesitation. EMA understands that change-making organizations exist in an ecosystem and that meaningful connections make us stronger and increase our impact. EMA funds projects but, more importantly, builds a network of like-minded, socially-conscious organizations committed to making the world a better place. We don’t need to fit a template because EMA creates space for our mission and values. EMA is relentlessly curious about our unique challenges and needs and helps us to consider new possibilities. We feel that EMA is truly committed to our organization and its unique mission and team."
—Ross Wehner, Founder, World Leadership Foundation/School
"The EMA Foundation exemplifies trust-based philanthropy, partnering with heart and innovation to truly uplift their collaborators. Their unwavering support and visionary approach have been instrumental in driving the BALANCE Docuseries, fostering creativity and impact with genuine dedication."
—Sadhvi Siddhali Shree, Producer/Co-Director, BALANCE Docuseries
"Our experience with EMA has been transformative, demonstrating unwavering dedication and fostering genuine connections. As allies in trust-based philanthropy, EMA has proven to be true collaborators, valuing and recognizing our unique strengths and perspectives."
—Nadira Saraswati, Chief Operating Officer, In-Sight Collaborative
"Healing Justice invites leaders to stand firmly on the soil of truth, honoring the complex relationship that exists between peoples, their lands, their ancestors, and future generations. Recognizing our paths are intertwined in the complex histories of colonization, wealth and health disparities--together we choose healing through accountability. EMA Foundation's dedication to transferring wealth, resources, and privilege in ways that disrupt power imbalance born from generations of oppression and violence is leading us closer to the world we dream of for our grandchildren. We are creating a world that promotes equity, reciprocity and justice. We are healing together as we honor these difficult truths, and choose love and a libratory future for all. EMA has forever impacted Haa Tóoch Lichéesh Coalition. We hope you will join EMA in this incredibly important work."
—Ati Nasiah, Co-Director, Haa Tóoch Lichéesh
Our Impact in Numbers
The team at EMA Foundation would like to extend our gratitude to the community that supports us. We could not continue to do the work we do, supporting our partners and disrupting traditional philanthropic models, without you! Thank you for the valuable advice, donations, engagement, and so much more. Together, we drive change!
We hope to continue advancing our mission and that of our partners in the coming year. Your continued support is integral and life-changing. If you would like to get involved in supporting these transformational initiatives, please reach out to hello@ema-foundation.org.
Ways to Give
Supporting EMA Foundation amplifies our mission to drive empathy and education into action for social change. We offer flexible donation options, making it easy for individuals, families, and organizations to contribute in meaningful ways.
Each donation directly supports our work and empowers our partner organizations. Choose to give a general donation to benefit all partners and support EMA Foundation’s operations, or select a specific partner through our donation dropdown menu. Here are the many ways to give:
Our donors trust us to manage their financial contributions responsibly, ensuring they are used efficiently and with meaningful impact. We have been recognized for our commitment to transparency at the highest level by Candid's Platinum Seal of Transparency.
1. Online Recurring or One-Time Donations: Visit www.ema-foundation.org/donate to set up a recurring donation in an amount of your choosing or to make a one-time gift.
2. Mail in your donation: Mail your check, made payable to: EMA Foundation and mail to: P.O. Box 118, Mill Valley, CA 94941
3. Gifts of Stock:
We accept donations of stocks, bonds, mutual funds or other securities. Please contact David Feiferis at davidfeiferis@ema-foundation.org
4. Corporate Giving:
We invite businesses to join our work by making corporate gifts. Whether through a one-time donation, corporate sponsorship, or matching gift program, these contributions help us expand our reach and deepen our impact. Please contact David Feiferis at davidfeiferis@ema-foundation.org to explore corporate giving options.
Every gift furthers our mission, strengthens our partners, and builds a foundation for lasting change. Thank you for considering a contribution to EMA Foundation.
Re-centering Purpose & A Call to Action
Our experience as educators in formal and informal learning environments has led us to a critical realization–if EMA’s ultimate goal is equity, then revitalizing education needs to be an integral part of our mission—both externally, in the substance of our partners’ work, and internally in the infrastructure of our organization. Schools must help students navigate the increasingly complex moment of right now, and EMA is in a unique position to leverage our philanthropic relationships to bring the real world into the classroom by connecting our NGO partners with classrooms and conferences.
We are dedicated to creating informal learning opportunities so that anyone can educate themselves about the work of our partners and find ways to engage directly. We hope you will join EMA Foundation and our partners in shaping a more equitable future. Through transformational philanthropy and liberatory education, our collective efforts and the cultivation of empathy, we can create lasting change that uplifts all communities.
Empathy Motivates Action