Why we built Emberway.
Fifteen years ago, I started Portland Community Squash, a community center in Portland, Maine. We grew quickly. But growing a mission is not the same as funding one, and demand always ran ahead of what we could afford.
Underneath every campaign and every lean budget sat a question I could never fully solve: How does a staff of a few tend the thousands of relationships that make up a community?
By 2026, demand for our programs had reached an all-time high, and I found myself holding hundreds of donor relationships so our staff could stay focused on program delivery. The alternative – pulling them away from programs and into development – felt like a last resort.
It was not just us. As I helped other community centers get off the ground around the country, I saw the same challenge everywhere. I would leave each one thrilled for the families gaining a place of their own, but aching for the handful of people left behind to carry every relationship and raise the money needed to keep the doors open.
And yet, the help was already there.
Every organization – nonprofit or for-profit – is surrounded by people who would gladly serve as ambassadors for something they believe in. They would make the calls, open the doors, and strengthen the relationships. But coordinating them one by one, on top of everything else, creates more work than most small teams can carry.
So we built Emberway: a system that helps organizations recruit ambassadors, equips them to manage real relationships, and ensures every relationship is tended consistently and carried toward a clear resolution – without the work falling back onto the same few people.
I believe distributed engagement can strengthen an organization's bottom line and its culture at the same time. Every relationship tended represents potential support – and one more person meaningfully invested in what you are building.
I look forward to helping you harness the people power already around you. In a noisy world, relationships remain the most powerful way to move an organization forward.
