Impact Priorities
Our Impact
Since the Fund launched in 2019, we’ve already begun to see the impact of our efforts.
Our Work in 2023
In 2023, we funded a total of 84 organizations across the United States and Canada, both deepening existing relationships and reaching 40 new partners. Over US$7.5 million was awarded through grants, impact investments, and partnerships, supporting leaders who are increasing access to opportunity, building wealth, shifting power, and advancing justice for immigrants and refugees.
We continue to find new ways to deepen our trust-based approach and support our grantee partners “beyond the check.” For example, in 2023, we launched a capacity strengthening opportunity for partners to request additional funding for operational needs and awarded 40 capacity strengthening grants to partners, totaling USD $700,000. We also brought partners together for in-person convenings in San Francisco, Toronto, and Washington, DC.
Our 2024 Priorities
As a young philanthropic funder launched in 2019, we are still refining our processes and practices and on a path of continuous learning. In 2024, we are continuing to advance our justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI ) efforts and deepening our participatory practices. This includes:
- Awarding 40 percent of total dollars to organizations by using participatory practices
- Building on our efforts to provide flexibility through offering long-term, general operating support funding
- Expanding our “beyond the check” support through technical assistance, partner convenings, capacity strengthening opportunities, and uplifting of partner voices
- Developing a JEDI framework in Requests For Proposals and funding agreements
- Bringing an Indigenous lens to our work focused on supporting immigrants and refugees
Impact Themes
Philanthropy can help ensure immigrants and refugees thrive amidst these changes and create the careers and lives they desire. To move toward this outcome, the WES Mariam Assefa Fund’s seeks to drive impact by building inclusive economies that provide equitable access to:
Meeting Our Partners Where They Are
We provide grantee partners with long-term, general operating funds and “support beyond the check.” This includes technical assistance, virtual and in-person partner convenings, and uplifting partner voices.
Our History
Since 1974, WES has helped nearly three million individuals achieve their academic and career goals. But 45 years later, systemic barriers to immigrant success and economic inclusion remained stubbornly in place.
In 2019, the WES Mariam Assefa Fund launched with an initial US$30 million commitment from WES. The Fund is named after the organization’s former CEO, Mariam Assefa, who led WES for 38 years, making it into the leading social enterprise it is today. Through our funding, we expand the ways that WES helps people learn, work, and thrive in new places and helps society recognize the value of people’s education and experience.