Our History
Empower Fund is a national leader in non-partisan friend-to-friend relational programs. This is a proven model of community driven civic engagement that prioritizes trust, connection and shared values.
Since our founding, we have worked with hundreds of organizations—ranging from grassroots groups to national networks—providing strategic support and cutting-edge technology to drive meaningful civic participation and community-centered education.
Our commitment is rooted in the understanding that lasting change starts with relationships. Empower Fund doesn’t just mobilize people—we help them connect, educate, and inspire those around them. Through our flagship tools and programs, we equip individuals to lead transformative conversations that bridge divides, inform communities, and encourage active participation in public life.
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In 2011, our team was looking for a new way to find and engage hard-to-reach people to help them register to vote. We revived the age-old idea of relational organizing with a modern twist to get in touch with the people that weren’t listed on the voter file, but their friends and family knew how to get to them. It soon became clear that a tool was needed to track these efforts so we built the first version of what would eventually become the Empower App - the first relational organizing tool in the industry. Empower remains the most tested relational organizing tool with a world-class development team to back it up.
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After seeing the success of these programs grow, we initiated a research partnership with an independent research firm, Analyst Institute, to quantify the efficacy of this style of communication. The first experimental returns prove very promising.
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By 2018, we conducted eight more experiments to test the efficacy of relational programs and found that a relational approach had a particularly significant impact on youth, BIPOC, and highly mobile communities.
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In 2020 alone, we reached 1 million people using relational organizing, forever transforming the way the progressive movement organizes.
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In addition to providing tech and training to our partners, we engaged 13,000+ volunteers to promote vaccine access and education, resulting in 55,000 confirmed relational organizing connections.
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We ran successful non-partisan paid relational friend-to-friend programs in Pennsylvania and Kentucky, resulting in hundreds of thousands of conversations. Our programs in Pennsylvania and Kentucky are the first of their kind and size to happen in each state.
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In 2024, Empower Fund activated thousands of Community Mobilizers across the country, each working within their own friends and family to foster informed conversations around issues that matter most. These individuals engaged family, friends, coworkers, and neighbors in discussions about public services, local priorities, and the broader importance of participating in civic life.
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Empower Fund continues to work with groups in all 50 states to plan and implement effective friend-to-friend programs while we continue to spearhead the largest and most successful direct relational programs in history.