Gratitude Network

✊ 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/

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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

🎉 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.

Meet our Finalist Judges. 🏆

Tomorrow, six social changemakers from the Gratitude Network take the virtual stage for the Finals of our 2026 Virtual Changemaker Pitch Competition to tell us the problem they were built to solve, what they've had to survive and unlearn to stay in the fight, and the idea their experience has earned.

Listening closely — and scoring — are five leaders who know what it takes to move an audience:

⭐ CURRENT FELLOW PANEL

▪️ Coste — Former sales leader, Oracle (retired)

▪️ Betsy Dickey — Founder & Executive Director, Ready for Reading

▪️ Trevor Laudate — Co-Founder & CEO, Ecodrive

⭐ ALUMNI FELLOW PANEL

▪️ Heidi Buckhout — Director of Sustainability Communications, Walmart

▪️ Roger Rittenhouse — Retired technology executive; Board Member, Pleasanton North Rotary Club

Between them: decades across global sales, sustainability communications, literacy, nonprofit leadership, and social impact technology. We're grateful for their time and their care.

More than $5,500 in prizes will be awarded, including four audience-voted Superlative Awards and a Best in Show.

🗓️ Friday, August 7 · 12:00–1:30 PM ET · Virtual

🎟️ Free to attend — register here:

https://zoom.us/meeting/register/MGyYLklKTMGKY_gIAG0cHQ

Bring your encouragement to the chat. These six have built extraordinary things against real odds, and they've earned a room that listens. 💙

💡 Meet our Inclusive Learning 2026 Fellows — four leaders making sure no learner is left on the sidelines.

🌍 Rubaihayo Paul Collins, Executive Director, Sapphire Africa Foundation — Uganda & Kenya. Sapphire mission is to restore mobility, expand access to practical education, and create pathways to economic independence for children, youth, and persons with disabilities through sustainable, locally driven solutions.

🌍Koen Deweer, CEO, Brake-Out — Belgium. At Brake-Out, we believe young people with disabilities should not be defined by limitations, but recognized for their talents, ambitions and potential. Our mission is to create inclusive learning and living environments where young people with cognitive support needs can discover their strengths, build meaningful relationships, gain real-life experiences and grow towards greater autonomy and participation in society.

🌍 Sarah Sandelius, Founder & CEO, The Ability Challenge — US. The Ability Challenge partners with schools, districts, and networks to develop and support authentically inclusive school communities and teams that work together to meet the unique needs of all learners.

🌍 Larkin O’Leary, Executive Director, Common Ground Society — USA.
Common Ground Society shares the stories of people’s lives to educate and empower the community to be more compassionate, accepting, and inclusive of people with disabilities, ensuring all families feel a sense of belonging through meaningful connections and local support.

What unites them? A refusal to accept “most” — they design learning where ability, disability, and difference all have a seat.

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

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Congratulations to our 2026 Virtual Changemaker Pitch Competition Finalists! Our semi-finals event was a battle of passion and impact as our 8 incredible fellows pitched their stories and endured live Q&A from real industry experts!

Join us on Friday, August 7th at 12 PM ET (9 AM PT/ 4 PM GMT) as Sapphire Africa Foundation, Music For Every Child, and Pangea Educational Development (PANGEA) compete to win our Current Fellows category, and Learning Initiatives For India, Meghshala Trust, and Omena seek to take home 1st place in our Alumni Fellows category! Grab your seat today!

Register at: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/MGyYLklKTMGKY_gIAG0cHQ #/registration

💛 Coaching doesn’t just build better leaders — it builds leaders who trust themselves.
For Natalie Kwan, a 2025 Gratitude Fellow, that trust didn’t happen by accident. It grew through months of steady, honest conversations with her coach, Sara Scurfield 🤝

“My coach Sara has been a grounding presence throughout my time as a 2025 Gratitude Fellow. She created a space where I could be honest about both my strengths and the areas I still wanted to grow, while gently reminding me to lead with self-compassion. One of the biggest shifts she’s helped me make is moving away from a place of pressure and self-criticism, and instead trusting myself to move with purpose and in alignment with my values. I’m so grateful for her steady encouragement, thoughtful questions, and unwavering belief in me.”

✨ This is what executive coaching can do for nonprofit leaders — not just sharper strategy, but a stronger relationship with themselves. Leaders who are supported like this don’t just run better programs. They run them longer, with more resilience and more joy. 🌱

🙏 In Gratitude Network’s Fellowship, we pair nonprofit leaders with executive coaches because we believe the people doing the hardest work in the world deserve real support too.

Our 2026 Virtual Changemaker Pitch Competition Semifinals are almost here (July 31st 👀 - You Coming?), and we could not be more excited to introduce the panel deciding who moves on to Finals:
✨ Brenda Levis
✨ Kim Poulos Lieberz
✨ Kedar Karkare
✨ Aila Hernandez
✨ Katerina Manoff
✨ Jim Lynch
✨ Randy Coste

And our incredible semifinalists are bringing the 🔥 with their amazing stories:
🌟 Paul Collins Rubaihayo - Sapphire Africa Foundation
🌟 Apeta Brenda - Pangea Educational Development
🌟 Raman Bahl - Learning Initiatives for India (LIFI)
🌟 Richa Shukla - Dost Education
🌟 Jayalakshmi Venkatesan - Meghshala Trust
🌟 Francesca Raoelison-Basso- Omena Inc
🌟 Natalie Kwan - Music For Every Child
🌟 Charles Godfrey Massawe - Simbas Footprints Foundation

Seven brilliant leaders. Eight bold pitches. One incredible day of changemaking. 🌍💙

Drop a 🙌 if you're rooting for our Fellows!

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🛡️ Meet our Child Safety & Protection 2026 Fellows — three leaders ensuring every child has a safe place to grow.

🌍 Kembabazi, Founder & Team Leader, Gufasha Girls Foundation — Uganda The mission of Gufasha Girls is to end child marriage and empower girls and young women in Uganda through advocacy, capacity building and education.

🌍 Rutter, Founder & Executive Director, Project Libertad — USA Project Libertad empowers newcomer immigrant youth and their families in the Greater Philadelphia Area by providing essential, youth-led, and youth-centered legal and social services.

🌍 Eby, Executive Director, Niños con Valor — Bolivia Niños con Valor’s mission is to provide safe, family-style homes for vulnerable Bolivian children, nurturing their growth through individualized care, quality education, medical support, emotional healing, and spiritual development.

What unites them? They stand in the gap for children at their most vulnerable — building safety, dignity, and belonging from the ground up.

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

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Don’t forget to register for our East African Regional Summit: Kujenga Ujima! We hope to see you there!

Open to GN Fellows, Alumni and Community Partners. Grab your tickets today! (1 ticket per person. 1 person per organization)

https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/kujenga-kasi-building-momentum-and-growing-together-across-borders