Empowered Girls was the first to take the journey with the Ally Funder Alliance. As the inaugural Ally Organization, they helped define what allyship could look like. Three years later, they have grown on their own terms and shaped the Alliance along the way. Today, they mark a new milestone: Empowered Girls is graduating from the AFA.
The journey began with extraordinary potential—and real barriers.
When they joined us three years ago, Empowered Girls’ promise was already clear. They were smashing gender-based barriers and helping underserved girls not just enter school but stay there, navigate their circumstances, and imagine different futures. They had vision, grit, and evidence of impact. What they lacked were the resources and networks to realize their potential.
As the AFA’s inaugural Ally Organization, they became a living example of what happens when bold local leadership is met with flexible funding, timely introductions, and partnership that clears a path without getting in the way.
Their growth in three years speaks volumes.
Between 2022 and 2025, Empowered Girls’ revenue grew fourfold—from $56,000 to $231,000. They secured multi-year partnerships with Imago Dei Fund, Dovetail, and Segal Family Foundation, and their founder, Kellen Msseemmaa, was named a Skoll Fellow, reaching the global stage.
On the ground, they scaled and deepened their work: engaging families, training teachers in nonviolent communication, launching climate-resilient gardening initiatives in schools, and creating an Alumni Project now mentoring 442 younger girls—a powerful model of girls supporting girls.
“One of my greatest moments of joy is witnessing the girls in our Empowered Girls program celebrate the completion of their secondary education.” Kellen Msseemmaa, Empowered Girls Founder & Executive Director.
(Photo credit: Aron William / Shutter For Impact)
The AFA’s role has been one of allyship.
We know not all of this is the direct result of our allyship—nor should it be. Empowered Girls’ leadership is the engine of their success, and they’ve also built trust with other funders who share their vision.
Yet the evidence shows the AFA mattered: we made pivotal introductions at the right time, recommended capacity-building opportunities that proved transformative, and provided flexible funding that gave them space to act boldly.
Allyship is accompaniment, guided by three pillars: flexible funding that allows leaders to act on their own terms, thought partnership and networks that open doors at pivotal moments, and lean processes that reduce the burden of managing grants. In practice, that has meant recommending convenings where Kellen first connected with a leading funder, a communications course that directly strengthened a major application, and providing references through our network that supported major funding applications. In Kellen’s words:
“Your unrestricted funding allowed us to be responsive, courageous, and bold in our programming. You have shown us grace, trust, and humility. Beyond the financial partnership, we are incredibly grateful for the spirit of accompaniment you brought to our journey.”
Empowered Girls scaled their impact in both depth and breadth through alumni programs that reach more girls across the country (top left), Nonviolent Communication programs for teachers (top right), permaculture training to expand sustainable gardening programs in partner schools (bottom left), and wellness support for their staff and mentors (bottom right)—along with other forward-thinking, needs-based initiatives.
The nuance: success isn’t a blueprint, it’s a signal.
Empowered Girls’ trajectory will not—and should not—be a universal blueprint. The real lesson lies in the signal: allyship, when done with trust and timing, can unlock what local leaders already have within them.
And today, Empowered Girls is not only advancing their own work, but supporting others. They recently visited SHEEO (another Ally Organization of the AFA) to exchange on girl mentorship programs and fundraising strategy. Where once we passed opportunities to them, now they are sharing them with peers. That is the legacy of a true ally—leaders who become connectors in their own right.
Empowered Girls’ Next Chapter: Breaking Through.
Empowered Girls’ results, leadership, and influence speak for themselves. They will continue to deepen and scale their impact, strengthen partnerships, and step further into thought leadership on the global stage—bringing community-rooted experience into spaces where it’s too often missing.
For us, it’s a moment of pride: to see an organization we’ve walked alongside take their next steps with confidence and vision.
For others, it’s a call to notice and engage—because few philanthropic opportunities are as powerful as standing with leaders at the very moment their work is breaking through.
Visit Empowered Girls’ website to learn more about their work, and follow their Instagram –it’s lively!