Gratitude Network

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Gratitude Network

The Gratitude Network is a leadership development org for social impact leaders around the 🌍

https://linktr.ee/gratitudenetwork and abroad.

The Gratitude Network is a non-profit global leadership network, whose mission is to identify, nurture, mentor and fund highly innovative and scaleable organizations focused on impacting the lives of children and youth in the U.S.

09/02/2026

🎉 Springboard Fundraising has officially wrapped!

Over the past two months, 11 incredible youth-serving organizations came together to sharpen their fundraising strategy — using AI to work smarter, utilizing frameworks for stewardship and prospect tracking, creating communication guidelines, implementing planning tools, and leveling up grant writing, relationship building, and major gifts.

After this course, 100% of participants felt more confident and better prepared to fundraise for their organizations

Huge congrats to our Springboard cohort: Rosie the Riveter Trust, COROAT, Milaan Foundation, Casa Gallina, Self-eSTEM, Washington Urban Debate League, POLYCOM GIRLS, Act To Change, ConnectED / Conectando Educación, Ready for Reading, and PAUTA. Your energy and openness to dig into your own fundraising strategies made this cohort what it was.

And a huge thank you to Shoshana Grossman-Crist and Social Impact Compass for facilitating with such clarity, warmth, and expertise from start to finish.

Onward to bolder fundraising strategies! 🚀

ProfessionalDevelopment GratitudeNetwork

09/01/2026

🌱 A new chapter for Gratitude Network
Friends — big news: after two incredible years, Lauren Reilly has stepped down as our Executive Director (she’s staying close as a Board member — this isn’t goodbye 💛).

That means we’re on the hunt for our next leader — someone to help carry GN into what’s next: more NGOs served, more programs, a more connected global alumni network 🌍, and a more sustainable way to fund it all.

We need someone who can hold that big vision and still show up, person to person, the way our community always has for each other. A builder. A connector. A storyteller. Someone globally minded who believes in leaders the way we believe in ours. ✨

We’ve partnered with Treehouse Partners on this search and applications will go through their team.

📄 Read the full JD here:https://gratitude-network.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Executive_Director_JD_Gratitude_Network_2026.pdf

Know someone who fits? We’d love an introduction — referrals matter enormously. 🙌

Thank you for being part of this community — we couldn’t do any of this without you. 🙏

08/28/2026

One question hung over Segal 2026, and it’s stayed with us since Nairobi:

“What, apart from funding, can a funder offer the next generation of leaders?”

So much of the week answered it anyway. In Power in Connection, Isabelle Kamariza spoke about building Solid’Africa through years of being told it would fail. The next day, a stage full of leaders imagined how the next beat looks and feels for their own communities; not in the abstract, but for the people they serve.

The gap isn’t ambition; the continent’s leaders have that in abundance. It’s everything that surrounds the money: the tools to scale, the peers who’ve walked it, the reassurance that you’re not carrying it alone. That’s the question we’re building to answer at Gratitude Network: a curriculum that helps leaders scale their organizations, together rather than alone.

The best answers were already in the room, running the organizations we came to Nairobi to learn from.

08/26/2026

♀️ Meet our Girls’ Empowerment / Gender Equity 2026 Fellows — four leaders advancing a world where every girl decides her own future.

🌍Astha Sharma, Co-Founder & Co-Managing Director, Shequal Foundation — Nepal Shequal Foundation’s mission is to accelerate mindset shifts toward gender equality by equipping, empowering, and creating opportunities for girls and women to have their individuality recognized, respected, and included across Nepal.

🌍 Elizabeth Hunt, Executive Director, Career Girls — USA Career Girls is founded on the dream that every girl around the world has access to diverse and accomplished women role models to learn from their experiences and discover their own path to empowerment.

🌍Pamela Jacobsen, Co-Founder & CEO, Girls Soccer Worldwide — US & Paraguay Girls Soccer Worldwide is empowering girls to rise out of poverty through sports, education, and leadership opportunities.

🌍Grace Ongong’a, Founder & Executive Director, Asembo Skills for Hope — Kenya Break the generational cycle of poverty in Asembo by equipping women with skills to prosper.

What unites them? Across five countries and many strategies — sport, role models, skills, family ties — they share one goal: every girl, equal and empowered.

👉 Learn more about the 2026 Gratitude Network Fellows: https://gratitude-network.org/who-we-support/2026-organizations/

Changemakers Nonprofits NonprofitLeadership CapacityBuilding LeadershipJourney

08/25/2026

Last chance to register for tomorrow’s free session: “Year-End Fundraising is Just the Beginning, Part 1” at 8 AM PST with Kim Bottom from Velora. Learn the strategy that sets up your organization for sustained giving through 2027. Register here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/uGQd0S_zQcuPM0YpdtYHdg

08/19/2026

🔤 Meet our Childhood Education 2026 Fellows — five leaders laying the foundation in a child’s earliest, most formative years.

🌍 Eden-Fleig, Founder & Programs Director, Just.Childhood — Lebanon. Just.Childhood’s mission is to empower underprivileged children and youth through educational, psycho-social, and sports for development, enabling them to overcome challenges and build brighter futures.

🌍 Gautam Gauri, Co-Founder & Executive Director, Diksha Foundation — India. Diksha’s mission is to enable children, adolescents, and communities from marginalized backgrounds to develop their full potential through holistic education, creativity, leadership, and community engagement.

🌍 Aramide Kayode, Executive Director, Talent Mine Academy— Nigeria Talent Mine Academy’s mission is to raise children in low-income communities to solve problems and rise out of poverty.

🌍 Ushree Roy, Executive Director, Vicente Ferrer Foundation US — Indi Vicente Ferrer Foundation USA works to create sustainable opportunities for vulnerable communities through education, healthcare, inclusive development, and rural transformation initiatives in partnership with long-standing grassroots programs in India.

🌍 Dorothy Dulo, Founder & CEO, Sawa Africa — Kenya. Sawa Africa works in Western Kenya to provide resources and skills for families to thrive in education and community development.

What unites them? They invest at the beginning — where a single early advantage compounds across a lifetime.

👉 Learn more about the 2026 Gratitude Network Fellows: https://gratitude-network.org/who-we-support/2026-organizations/

Changemakers Nonprofits NonprofitLeadership CapacityBuilding LeadershipJourney

08/18/2026

🌍 A Journey of Gratitude: Some leaders open doors. Others rebuild the pathways so girls and women can walk through them with confidence.

Meet Adamaka Ajaelo, Founding Executive Director of Self-eSTEM and a 2025 Gratitude Network Fellow. ✨

Adamaka saw a truth too many girls and women were forced to navigate alone: a STEM world that wasn’t built with them in mind. Instead of accepting that reality, she chose to redesign it.

Self-eSTEM was born from a powerful belief—that pride, purpose, and possibility grow when girls and women see themselves as innovators, builders, and leaders. Through hands-on STEM training, digital skills development, and leadership coaching, Self-eSTEM strengthens STEM identities that last.

Today, Adamaka leads a movement that doesn’t just teach STEM; it transforms who gets to thrive in it. Her work reminds us that equity isn’t a destination. It’s a daily commitment to ensuring every girl and woman knows she belongs.

🎥 Watch Adamaka’s Journey of Gratitude interview: https://youtu.be/ouU-qa4A6gM

👉 Learn about other Gratitude Network Fellows: https://gratitude-network.org/who-we-support

-eSTEM NonProfitLeadership LeadershipDevelopment Education Fellowship STEM STEMtraining Impact

08/12/2026

✊ Meet our Youth Leadership / Empowerment 2026 Fellows — five leaders putting young people in the driver’s seat.

🌍 Jennifer Maddox, Founder & Executive Director, Future Ties, NFP — USA. Future Ties, NFP is dedicated to empowering youth and strengthening families through education, workforce development, and community engagement.

🌍 Benoy Stephen Devanesan, Co-Founder & Director, Y-Ultimate — India. Y-Ultimate’s mission is to use the sport of Ultimate Frisbee to enable societal change.

🌍 Richard Reyes, Executive Director, PLUS ME Project — USA PLUS ME Project activates the art of personal storytelling to build confidence in youth as they pursue their college, career, and life goals.

🌍 Nshimba Elvis, Founder & CEO, Umoja Sport Foundation — Democratic Republic of the Congo Umoja Sport’s mission to use sport as a tool for education, skills development, and economic empowerment within communities.

🌍 Geanna Williams-Davis, Founder & President, EleganceXtreme Inc — USA. EleganceXtreme’s mission is to empower and uplift youth and seniors by providing educational resources, trauma-informed care, and community support in a safe and equitable environment.

What unites them? They don’t just serve young people — they hand them the mic, the ball, and the lead.

👉 Learn more about the 2026 Gratitude Network Fellows: https://gratitude-network.org/who-we-support/2026-organizations/

Changemakers Nonprofits NonprofitLeadership CapacityBuilding LeadershipJourney

08/10/2026

GivingTuesday can spark donor action, but what happens after? Join us for “Year-End Fundraising is Just the Beginning: Part 1” on August 26th at 8 AM PST with Kim Bottom from Velora.

Learn how to approach holiday giving with stronger messaging, segmentation, and strategic campaign moments that move donors to give. Plus, set a foundation for sustained giving through 2027.

This is a free online session for nonprofit leaders ready to think beyond the holiday rush.

Save your seat: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/uGQd0S_zQcuPM0YpdtYHdg

08/07/2026

🎉 And that's a wrap on the 2026 Virtual Changemaker Pitch Competition! 🎉

Six incredible Fellows and Alumni took the (virtual) stage today, sharing the problems their organizations were built to solve — and the vision for a world where their models win. Huge congratulations to all of our winners:

🥇 1st Place, Current Fellow Track: Paul Collins Rubaihayo — Sapphire Africa Foundation

🥈 2nd Place, Current Fellow Track: Natalie Kwan — Music For Every Child

🥇 1st Place, Alumni Track: Francesca Raoelison — Omena Inc

🥈 2nd Place, Alumni Track: Raman Bahl — Learning Initiatives for India (LIFI)

🏆 Best in Show: Paul Collins Rubaihayo — Sapphire Africa Foundation

Superlative Awards (voted by our Semifinals audience):

💪 The Resilience Award — Simbas Footprints Foundation

🚀 The Future Is Now Award — Meghshala Trust

🌟 The Unsung Hero Award — Pangea Educational Development

🌊 The Ripple Effect Award — Dost Education

Every single competitor — finalists and semifinalists alike — showed up with courage, honesty, and a fierce belief in the communities they serve. Thank you to our judges, our donors, and everyone who tuned in to support these changemakers. This is what's possible when we invest in the people closest to the problem.

Address

349 Main
Pleasanton, CA
94566

Telephone

+19254619600

Website

http://gratitude-network.org/

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