Celebrating Five Years!

Building community power has always been our north star here at Emergence. Five years into our work, it’s still the heart of everything we do. Because within communities are the building blocks of equity, justice, and peace. In this video, take a look back at our journey so far. We are so deeply grateful you’re a part of it.

A Message from Our Founder Liz

Hey Y’all. I can not believe I am even writing this today, Emergence is turning 5!!! Five years ago when I started Emergence I had one thing in mind, supporting community led organizations to become resilient and thriving organizations. In those early days, sitting at my kitchen table experiencing working from home on my own for the first time ever, I never would have imagined that this idea turned into a national serving company still holding true to that same goal.

I won’t lie and say the last five years have been easy. Any small business owner will tell you there are challenges and days that feel impossible. Anyone working in community led work will also tell you, the days are long and the pressure is immense to develop work that you know the community deserves and will be proud of. Despite these challenges, doing this work makes me feel so hopeful in a world that over the last five years has felt chaotic and heartbreaking. I am inspired every day through the work we have done with nearly 40 Indigenous led organizations across the country.

We have done work in everything from community development, to food systems, to education, to landback campaigns, to buffalo restoration, and so much in between. I know now more than ever, as we grapple with immense global challenges, that it is essential to support Indigenous leadership in every sector of community work. I am proud of the work that our team at Emergence has done over the last five years to do just that. Over the last five years we have:

Raised over $70 million

for the organizations we work with, many of them growing from small organizations to organizations with a budget of at least $1 million

Led Strategic Planning

and annual planning efforts for 10 organizations including Alliance for Felix Cove

Supported Makoce
Agriculture Development

to go from $0 and a team of 1, to an organization with a 10 year plan, 15 staff,
and an annual operating budget of $5 million

Managed Bookkeeping

for 6 organizations, often developing the financial systems from the ground up

Launched a LandBack Campaign

with Yuchi Language Project for them to be able to get their homelands back

Raised Nearly $10 Million

for the return of the buffalo to Indigenous communities in South Dakota and
Texas with Texas Tribal Buffalo Project and Tanka Fund

Supported the Launch of Seven

new Indigenous led organizations

Directed Advancement

for four large organizations to sustain their fundraising efforts while they took their time to hire the right person for their team

Raised $4 Million

for two brand new schools in the NACA Inspired Schools Network, Endazhi Nitaawiging and Oceti Sakowin Community Academy

Supported over 40 Indigenous CEOs and Executive Directors

through thought partnership in the development of their organizations

Led Evaluation Efforts

for a tribal home visiting program and developed out our evaluation services for Indigenous led evaluation

Created Infrastructure Systems

to support our clients’ long term resilience

Partnered with the Kalliopeia

Foundation to provide capacity building services to 5 of their grantee partners

Supported NDN Collective

to further build out their Advancement team and provide organization development support for annual planning

What these statistics don’t show though, is the way we do our work. We do our work with so much care and respect for the relationships we have developed through this work. We remain true to our guiding principles:

  • Chaos is essential to achieving justice and equity.

  • Connections drive community led change

  • Building resources shifts power to communities

  • Sharing knowledge leads to growth

We also stay committed to developing relationships in the field and with our own team. As a staff of 8 we have spent time together participating in field building work and learning at national conference, developing ourselves throughout the years. We have also spent time together dreaming about what comes next for Emergence. Over the next month, we will get to share with you what is coming next for our company. We are excited to share some tools we’ve used and developed over the past five years and provide new ways to engage with our team. Our services will also continue to develop as we dive deeper into evaluation and spend more time partnering more deeply with the organizations we work with.

I’m so grateful for the trust shared with me throughout the last five years. It has been an honor to work side by side with so many of you as you share your dreams for the future of your communities. I’m so grateful that our team has been able to provide behind the scenes support, often quietly, making sure that we truly are living into our value of showing up for Indigenous led, community driven organizations who are advancing justice in the world.

Looking forward to the next five - with hope for the future,

Liz