California · Nonprofit
EMERGE ACTION FUND
EMERGE ACTION FUND (California) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $778,800 to it, the largest being HOPEWELL FUND ($500,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 96% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.2M
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $779k
- Net assets
- $651k
What Emerge Action Fund does
Mission
Emerge Action Fund elevates and amplifies the impact of women in office, in their communities and encourages greater participation in underrepresented communities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
In 2025, Emerge Action Fund (EAF) continued its educational programming, Step Forward and Emerge Rising, both designed to support and develop women leaders at every stage of their political journey. Step Forward serves as the entry point for women exploring political leadership. By laying the foundational knowledge and confidence needed to consider a future run, Step Forward helps demystify the process and open the door to political engagement. In 2025, 12 sessions were held virtually with nearly 60 sign-ups per training and approximately 20 participants in each. Emerge Rising offers a deeper dive into civic leadership and political action. This three-part training series guides women from civic engagement to appointed and elected positions, with sessions focused on seeking board and commission appointments, engaging in city and statewide policymaking, and taking the first steps towards running for office. With 16 sessions held in 2025, Emerge Rising drew over 100 sign-ups and trained 15 women in each session. Participants represented a broad, diverse cross-section of the New American Majority from across the country. Through these complementary educational programs, EAF equips…
$80,243 spent$63,000 earned by the program32% of program spendingIn 2025, Emerge Action Fund (EAF) hosted its signature program, Leaders Emerge Gathers, with one in-person program in Dallas, TX. There were a total of 8 fellows that attended, with 90% identifying as POC, 1% identifying as nonbinary, 40% identifying as LGBTQIA+, and 1% were under the age of 36. EAF is the place for leadership development of self-identifying women and nonbinary people within the New American Majority (NAM). This means people from a wide range of identities, backgrounds, experiences, and geographic regions of the country. EAF works to shift the narratives about leadership, setting boundaries, self-investment, self-care, and bringing these knowledge bases to communities that are often underserved and underrepresented. Leaders Emerge Gathers met the needs of Belonging, Empowerment, Transformation, and delivered services of Leadership Training, Mentoring, Continuing Education, and Affinity Circles of Connection.
$70,091 spent28% of program spendingEmerge Action Fund's Gavel In program was created to train jurists who want to serve in judgeships to run successful and strategic political campaigns. This program covers basic campaign skills and tactics, while also sharing content specifically developed to meet the unique needs of those running for judicial roles. In 2025, 20 women signed up to be in the program and 10 women participated in the 7 total sessions and graduated the program. Of the 10 graduates, 95% of them were Women of Color and 3 had immigrant backgrounds. The cohort represented 7 states: Washington, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Wisconsin, New York, and Maryland.
$33,394 spent$3,050 earned by the program13% of program spendingOn May 2, 2025, Emerge Action Fund held its second annual National Women Talk Politics Day with a successful social media focused campaign. The strategy for success included paid ad strategy, unpaid media partnership strategy with FEMINIST and Persist, 1:1 outreach to key alums, women political Instagram creators, email blasts, an Instagram Live series, and big name supporters. The activation reached over 1.3 million users, up 354% from last year, and our Instagram Live strategy got us in front of new audiences, with promotional ads for the lives was the highest performing, partially due to a boost from VP Kamala Harris. Partnerships with FEMINIST, Persist, and RaeShanda Lias paid off with over 135k views of the carousel post (a 74% increase over last year) and over 1 million stories, up 352% from last year with over 221k users.
$18,228 spent7% of program spendingPolitical Contribution.
$50,000 spentof which $50,000 as grants20% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $251,956.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $520k to $743k (+43%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
94% of EMERGE ACTION FUND’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
A'shanti Gholar
President & CEO, Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2022 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income held at $250k.
2 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 96% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of EMERGE ACTION FUND’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 4 of 5 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
EMERGE ACTION FUND leans on a few funders — its largest provides 64% of grant income and the top three 99%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund EMERGE ACTION FUND.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2022 100% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Where its funders are
96% of EMERGE ACTION FUND's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $29k that is directly attributable, 65% of it comes from funders outside California, across 2 states.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $750k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
EMERGE ACTION FUND runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 6,891 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,891 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like EMERGE ACTION FUND
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
25% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Emerge America · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for EMERGE ACTION FUND: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds EMERGE ACTION FUND?
- EMERGE ACTION FUND (California) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $778,800 to it, the largest being HOPEWELL FUND ($500,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 96% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does EMERGE ACTION FUND have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $778,800 in grants to EMERGE ACTION FUND, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of EMERGE ACTION FUND?
- HOPEWELL FUND is the largest funder on record, with $500,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like EMERGE ACTION FUND find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 5 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing