Empowers Africa is a U.S. public charity under IRC Section 501(c)(3) that supports programs in the areas of human empowerment, wildlife protection and land conservation in sub-Saharan Africa. OUR FOCUS IS ON: 1. funding programs supporting the protection of wildlife and land conservation 2. funding programs in communities living next to protected conservation and wildlife areas or World Heritage Sites, and 3. funding programs in urban communities where tourism is a strong source of development We support community-led, measurable and sustainable programs bolstering communities by improving access to education, healthcare and business opportunities. We also support programs that protect wildlife and land conservation because we believe safeguarding Africa’s natural wealth is critical to the empowerment of the surrounding communities. Additionally, Empowers Africa serves as a fiscal sponsor to 24 non-governmental organizations in Africa organizations working on the ground in Africa.

Africa is one of the only regions in the world where youth population is increasing. This growth presents tremendous opportunities. Key to those opportunities is economic empowerment, arming the continent’s youth with entrepreneurial tools and removing obstacles to progress. We are committed to supporting local projects doing just that, not by parachuting in with boilerplate solutions, but by empowering the expanding youth population with skills and education. Simultaneously, Africa's wild areas are under threat from poaching, destructive land management and global warming. Some of Africa’s most iconic species could be extinct in our lifetime. We believe conservation can be a key contributor to human empowerment, as such, protecting Africa's wild places and wild animals can also benefit Africa's people. Projects we support tackle issues of education, economic empowerment, wildlife protection and land conservation with the understanding that all are inextricably linked to one another.

Source: Nonprofit submitted responses

Goal One: We are looking to expand our fiscal sponsor program. COVID forced NGOs to look at more efficient ways to operate. This program allows that. We want to meet the increased demand for this service.

Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.

Goal Two: We would like to produce additional films about anti-poaching and species protection efforts. Our films have been incredibly effective at raising both awareness and advocacy for vital causes.

Goal Type: This goal reflects our commitment to further our advocacy work for our organization and or cause area.

Goal Three: We are looking to expand our COVID relief program in Africa by providing food and emergency medical relief. Vaccination rates continue to be very low in Africa and extended relief is needed.

Goal Type: New program(s) based on observed changes in needs among our constituencies/communities served.

Describe an investment in leadership

Conservation and wildlife protection in Africa are ever changing environments. In order to be an effective leader in this space, it is vital to stay current and also to establish relationships with other leaders in the field as collaboration remains a key strategy for success. As such, we send our Executive Director to three leading wildlife, conservation and tourism conferences annually. The Business of Conference is an African Leadership University initiative convening leaders from conservation and the sectors it intersects with, to promote best practices, strengthen networks and unique partnerships, and collectively tackle these challenges. We are Africa is a tourism-based conference whereby leaders in the field gather to network, address issues and learn. Empowers Africa has a direct tie to ecotourism so this conference remains a key learning experience. Finally, Conservation Lab builds bridges leaders from the key sectors of conservation, travel, philanthropy and government.

This organization mobilizes for mission in the following ways:

• Strategic Partnerships

• Networks of Collective Impact Efforts

• Thought Leadership

• Raising Awareness

• Community Building

What are this organization’s external mobilizaton efforts?

Empowers Africa engages in strategic partnerships with 24 non-governmental organizations (NGO) in Africa by serving as their fiscal sponsor. Through our 501(c)3 status, we are able to efficiently collect and grant donations to some of the most effective changemakers on the continent, allowing them to focus on what’s most important—the work being done on the ground. We also host educational community film festivals (the next one is August 8th, 2021) in order to provide the public with an insight into important issues affecting the African continent, such as, human wildlife conflict or species protection. Our organization is very active raising awareness about issues impacting Africa. We accomplish this through our social media channels, newsletter and through our film festivals. We frequently post current issues and re-post our partners' content. Finally, we have granted to over 50 NGOs in Africa in over 15 countries since inception building a wide network of shared goals.

We held our annual event and travel auction one day before events were banned in New York City due to COVID (March 5th, 2020). The fear over COVID negatively impacted our attendance and also forced us to remove our travel auction from the online platform Charitybuzz. We were unable to run our annual event and travel auction in 2021 and may also be limited to do so in 2022. All of this forced us to either find other revenue sources and/or employ cost cutting measures. We started immediately with two very effective cost saving changes. Firstly, we eliminated our office space as of April 1st, 2020 and we started working on a remote basis. This will be a permanent change as we have found we are just as productive. We also decided to reduce salaries by having our Chair of the Board of Trustees be reinstated as our Executive Director. She served as our ED for many years upon inception and has the background to run Empowers Africa. She also does not draw a salary. This will also be a permanent change. These cost cutting strategies enabled us to reduce operating expenses significantly. As you can imagine, with the tourism industry at a complete standstill in Africa, people who relied on salaries from the industry are suffering greatly. In addition, salaries for jobs such as anti-poaching efforts are often paid for by tourism funds. Finally, with schools closed, children were not getting their daily meals from attending classes - this is often their only daily meal. We worked with our donors to raise funds for COVID relief to help with these sorts of issues. We ran campaigns to raise awareness and funds to combat the extreme hardships. We also interviewed and filmed top conservationists in Africa to learn how COVID was impacting both community members and the wild animals living along side of them. These interviews were featured at our August 9th, 2020 film festival and on our social media channels and newsletter. COVID made us more efficient and more creative!