Our Impact
Dear Friend,
We navigated a challenging 2020, marked by a global pandemic, record-level job losses, escalating inequality, and the start of a national racial reckoning. Upwardly Global’s community of immigrant and refugee professionals were deeply impacted by these forces, which hit women, Black, indigenous, immigrant and people of color the hardest. Even in the best of times, our community experiences unemployment and underemployment at heartbreaking rates and most live at or under the poverty line. In a survey of our job seekers just weeks into the pandemic, nearly half reported losing “transition” jobs; 70% reported having one month or less of savings; and one in three spoke about mental health challenges and feelings of isolation.
It’s easy to dwell on the challenges. Yet early in the pandemic, one of our job seekers wrote a note that epitomized the courage and perseverance we saw in our community throughout the year and that has motivated us every day since: “I have the potential and ability to serve my country, and I hope there is a chance to do so.” Read More >
Jina Krause-Vilmar
President & CEO, Upwardly Global
Pranav Ramanathan
Chair, Upwardly Global Board of Directors
Investing in Pathways
Faced with extraordinary job loss in 2020, and armed with deep analysis of the quickly shifting labor market, Upwardly Global created career communities in five high-demand sectors: business, engineering, finance, health care, and information technology, integrating cohort-based learning, expert industry volunteers and career pathways mapping. We substantially expanded our skilling and credentialing platforms. And we offered free access to our most popular online courses for vulnerable job seekers, U.S.-born and immigrant alike. Finally, we were able to offer emergency help to job seekers facing dire circumstances and extra support to our entire community so they could continue their search, invest in skills and hold hope.
Our Impact, as Told by the Numbers
Our Impact, as Told by the Numbers
1,454
Program participants
733
Job seekers reskilling + with new credentials (3x more than 2019)
70%
Placements in high-demand STEM fields
2,064
Accessing our free, open online courses
$59,460
Average starting salary
$358M
Added to the economy
Our Impact, as Told by Our Alumni
Our Impact, as Told by Our Alumni
Remy
Healthcare Professional from Rwanda
“When I became a physician back in Rwanda, I took an oath to help people. Now, I’m keeping that promise in my new home, fighting COVID-19 as a Contact Tracer with my local Health Department. I’m proud to be back in my field, and to be keeping my promise. Upwardly Global has helped me every step of the way.”
Zinah
HR professional from Iraq
“I am part of a pandemic task force at my job, understanding how COVID is affecting staff & operations. I am grateful to UpGlo for helping me rebuild my career so I can support my colleagues during this time.”
Alex
IT professional from Hong Kong
“I've always been interested in tech and how it can make our lives easier. I'm proud to be part of the workforce that has allowed so many people to work from home and help us all practice social distancing. It's an honor to give back to my new home during this difficult time, and I’m grateful to Upwardly Global for helping me get there.”
Kasia
Healthcare professional from Poland
“I’m a fully licensed physician in Poland, but haven’t been able to complete the long process to re-license in the U.S. It was hard to watch COVID-19 spread through my community – but it was tougher not to be able to help. I knew my duty was to be on the frontlines, and so, with support from Upwardly Global, I’ve started working at a medical center providing COVID-19 screening.”
Innovating Employer Partnerships
2020 taught us the importance of resilience, innovation, and adaptability—traits that are consistently linked to diversity in our workforce—and reminded us of Corporate America’s role in advancing both immigrant inclusion and racial justice. In response, Upwardly Global redoubled our work with employers, holding virtual job skills events with over 1,600 corporate volunteers, and building new opportunities for work-based learning in key companies and sectors. Corporate listening sessions around equitable recovery and immigrant workforce integration resulted in trailblazing research and catalyzed an ongoing Roundtable with 40 leading companies committed to moving the bar on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and including immigrants and refugees in the discussion.
Our Impact, as Told by our Partners
Our Impact, as Told by our Partners
47
Employer pipeline partners
129
Online volunteer & networking events
1,640+
Corporate volunteers supporting job seekers via online events and networking
40
Companies participating in a formal roundtable on DEI and immigrants
Salesforce
“Resiliency, to me, is the rare ability to take adversity and turn it into opportunity – a common thread I find in the stories of immigrants and refugees. But it is this resiliency – from fleeing conflict to serving on the frontlines – that will be essential to our ability to build an inclusive future where everyone can thrive. This is why Upwardly Global's work to bring more immigrants into the workforce is so important right now, and an effort we fully support”
Ebony Beckwith, Salesforce Chief of Philanthropy
Accenture
“I want to recognize the incredible immigrants and refugees who have helped build America and make us a country synonymous with innovation & opportunity. We are proud & grateful to have hired through UpGlo nearly 50 talented & inspiring people at Accenture. We know that we are a better & more innovative company because of our partnership with Upwardly Global.”
Julie Sweet, CEO, Accenture
O.C. Tanner
“At O.C. Tanner, we work every day to build cultures of respect and appreciation in our workplaces. We made a commitment long ago to hire and promote refugees seeking safety in our country and to welcome them fully and completely. It is one of the best business decisions—and human decisions—we have ever made. It is why we are committed to working together with Upwardly Global and moving from the vision of a more inclusive and welcoming America to the reality O.C. Tanner has been so fortunate to experience over the last few decades.”
Mindi Cox, SVP, People & Great Work, O.C. Tanner
Sharing Stories & Shaping Narratives
Upwardly Global works to shape narrative and shift systems by sharing and centering the stories of our community. In the face of political gridlock, Upwardly Global helped inform a bipartisan bill aimed at advancing immigrant inclusion—one that we anticipate will gain traction in 2021— and supported the streamlining of state healthcare licensing so that immigrants and refugees could more fully contribute to lifesaving efforts. In the process, we created dozens of headlines and, along with national and international partners, advanced a new narrative about contributions of immigrant and refugee professionals, the formidable barriers they face, and the ways we can move inclusion.
Our stories by the numbers
Our stories by the numbers
74%
Program participants from communities of color
46%
Female program participants
5.7M
Impressions on Upwardly Global social media channels
20+
Headlines featuring Upwardly Global leadership, job seekers, and alumni
6
States issuing emergency licensing processes that allow internationally trained healthcare professionals to support the U.S. COVID-19 response
Our Impact, as Told by the Headlines
The pandemic has been hard on the immigrant workforce
Removing Employment Barriers for Immigrant Workers
We can't afford to sideline these essential workers now
Financials
Unaudited 2020 Numbers
Funding Sources
- Earned
Revenue - Special Events & Other Revenue
- Corp./Foundation Contributions
- Government
Grants - In-kind
Contributions - Individual Contributions
Revenue and Expenses
Revenue
$9,001,586
Expenses
$7,616,291
Funding Partners
- Accenture
- African Bridge Network
- Airbnb
- Amazon
- Amazon Smile Foundation
- Anne Arundel Community College
- AT&T
- Autodesk, Inc.
- Baker Hughes Inc
- Bank of the West (BotW)
- BlackRock
- BMO Financial Group
- BMO Harris Bank
- BMW
- BNY Mellon
- Carson Family Charitable Trust
- Catholic Charities of Tennessee, Inc.
- Celergo
- Chanel Foundation
- Chicago Foundation for Women
- Cisco Foundation
- City and County of San Francisco
- City of Takoma Park
- Consolidated Edison (Con Edison)
- Crankstart Foundation
- Dataminr
- Deutsche Bank
- DocuSign
- Eli Lilly & Company
- Elizabeth Morse Genius Charitable Trust
- Euromonitor International
- Full Circle Fund
- Global Talent
- Goldman Sachs & Co.
- Google Charitable Giving Fund
- Greater Washington Community Foundation
- GroupM
- Hunt Lane LP
- Ipsos
- JP Morgan Chase & Co.
- Latter-day Saint Charities
- Leslie Family Foundation
- Levi Strauss & Company
- Madison Performance Group
- McNeil Foundation
- Microsoft
- Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation
- Mother Cabrini Health Foundation
- MUFG Union Bank Foundation
- NEO Philanthropy: Refugee Action Fund
- Nielsen Foundation
- Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR)
- Open Society Foundations
- PagerDuty
- Paul M. Angell Family Foundation
- PayPal
- Polk Bros Foundation
- PwC Charitable Foundation
- Prometheus Real Estate Group
- Pure Good Foundation
- Redmond Mills Trust Foundation
- Refugee Transitions (RT)
- Remitly
- RHR International LLP
- Robert Half International Inc.
- Robin Hood Foundation
- S&P Global Foundation
- Salesforce
- Salesforce Foundation
- Seattle Foundation
- Select Equity Group Foundation
- siParadigm
- State of Illinois
- The D.E. Shaw Group
- The Duchossois Family Foundation
- The New York Community Trust
- Tiger Foundation
- Tipping Point Community
- U.S. Cellular
- UBS
- United Way
- Visa
- Walder Foundation
- Walter & Elise Haas Sr Fund
- Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians
- Wells Fargo
- WES Mariam Assefa Fund
- Western Union
- Workday, Inc.
- Zakat Foundation of America
Top Donors
- $25,000+
- Anonymous
- Rosalyn Chen and Tom Chavez
- $15,000-$24,999
- Anonymous
- Wendy Zimmermann and Steve Cutler
- Joshua Winter and Sandya Rao
- Kathy Taylor and Terry Atkinson
- $10,000-$14,999
- Neeraj Bewtra and Barb Deli
- Tali Farhadian Weinstein and Boaz Weinstein
- Richard and Lynn Voelbel
- The Lipton Family Foundation
- Vivek Vaidya and Pallavi Gupta
- Ganesh H. Betanabhatla
- Pranav and Alexandra Ramanathan
- Nikki Cicerani and Vicente Gonzalez
- Tammi Ling and David Carretero
- Ravi Chanmugam
- Scott Mauvais
- Sy Kaufman
- $5,000-$9,999
- Harit and Reena Talwar
- Will Bousquette
- Vicki and David Craver
- Tony Goncalves and Rosemarie Delgado-Goncalves
- Winita Lau and Gnana Kumar Kanisan
- Alex Lipman and Katherine Lipton
- Jayne Lipman and Bob Goodman
- Justin and Sally Thornton
- Philipp Schumacher and Vanessa Orozco
- Todd A. Harding and David Lassiter
- $2,500-$4,999
- John Stankey
- Frank DeRosa and Janice Roudebush
- Stan and Marion Bergman
- Mike Shehan
- Kaniaru Wacieni
- Evan Guillemin and Ricki Stern
- Michael Kassan
- Michael White
- Amy and Joseph Henry
- Elizabeth Meyer and Bo Huang
- Terri Lynn Cardona
- Jeffrey Waldron
- Brian Chang
- Lalit Balchandani
- Erico Franco Gomes and Laura Frey
- Iliana Quinonez and Brian Rovner
- Suzette Brooks Masters and Seth Masters
- Charlotte Gerstner Bernal and David Bernal
- David Tanner
- Bassem Moussa
- Kamal Shah
- $1,500-$2,499
- Steven Ostler
- Buddy Steves and Rowena Young
- Jamey Shachoy
- Kendra Levine
- Deven and Anjali Sharma
- Janet Leno and Peter Harrold
- Robert Garechana
- Martin McQuade
- Ann Pforzheimer
- James Chen
- Michael and Emily Diamond
- Maya Babla and Ashwin Appiah
- Kanksha and Ishan Gurg
- $1,000-$1,499
- Samir Patel
- Candice Hodson
- Mike Boush
- Evelyn Yao
- Nicolas Roard
- Xavier and Elizabeth Zang
- Nancy Dollar
- Arjan Schutte
- Joey Levin
- Don Ostler
- Nicholas Lashinsky
- Carlos Monteagudo
- Anonymous
- Edward Shapiro
- Zachary Olsen
- Laurentiu Popa
- Mariam Assefa
- Sara Mirza
- Sherazade Langlade
- Shin Lee
- DMJ Casting
- Rachel Kleban
- Susanna Hofmann
- Michael Hirschhorn and Jimena Martinez
- Martha Gallo and Charles Kerner
- Robert W. Glass
- Antonio Argibay
- Jennifer Geissel-Zervigon and Eddy Zervigon
- Tresa and Jim Eyres
- Blaise Basse
- Sameer Shamsi
- Au Nguyen and Khoa Dang
- Katie Deibert
- Paul and Debbie Baker
- Ronnie L. Goldberg
- Rachael Barrett and Patrick Hayes
- Scott Crofton
- Alexander and Tracie Rosen
- Lauren Di Silvio Heinz and Doug Heinz
- Maximilian Gibbons and Andria Cantu
- Vitaliy Levandovskyy
- Veer Bhavnagri
- Navid Afshar
- Elizabeth Dingle
- Adam Edwards
- Samir Mirza
- Andrew Bleiman
- Lucy Walton
- Daniel Garcia
- Francisco A Gil
- RitaSue Siegel
- Lejla Sudar
- Anna Tikhonova
- Jane Leu and Ted Levinson
- Wendy Chan and Patrick McCabe
- Emilie Hyams and Jon Brooks
- Katia Mahiddine
- $250-$999
- Cathinka Wahlstrom
- Robin Boggs
- Laura Temple
- Iuliia Shurygina
- Donna Dobryn
- Paula Gamboa
- Sarah Harden
- Anna Baty
- Saime Konak
- Tadd Wamester
- Diana Sullivan
- Rolando del Rosario Jr
- Judith Featherstone
- Rachel Robbins
- Archana Gupta
- Maria Lacoste
- Briana Belligio
- Markus Schaaf
- Akhigbe Longe
- Seth Rodsky
- Timothy Dundon
- Kris McDaniel
- Susan Thornton
- Julia Verdi
- Scott Karnas
- Tanya Gill
- Troy Jacobs
- Jennifer Lynham Cunningham
- Lisa Hadley Neuberger
- Muhammad Riad
- Anne Kirwan
- Lievin Mwamba
- Camille Ramani
- Marcy and Arnie Roth
- Craig Corbitt and Nancy Stoltz
- Aaron and Nadia Winters
- Winnie Lau
- Jennifer Avery-Emani and Niranjan Emani
- Sujan Guruacharya
- Wilma Longdon-Poku
- Scott Solis
- Gregg Wallace
- Alexander Hoffman
- Alexandra Yeung
- Danil Subkhankulov
- Tina Jovic
- Yongmei Zhou
- Emily and David Grossman
- Harsh Borar
- Devangkumar Jariwala
- Larsen Vojnic Zelic
- Meghan Lewit
- Anuar Zhukenov
- Haitham H Al-Saade
- Nora McCormick
- Andrew Kemple
- Andrew Schaefler
- Nathalie van Ee Leber
- MK Huse
- Gillian Elizabeth Steele
- Rocio Kato
- Christopher J. Sytsma
- Barbara Meislin
- Vijay Ratthinam
- Allison Levinsky
- Anonymous
- Karen F. Newman
- Nicole Krawczewicz
- Laura Guerra
- Mimi Turner
- Kimberly Kadlec
- Mihaela and Charles Zuckerman
- John Giles
- Lyn Irish
- Jennifer Ho
- Dariana Cohen
- Linda and David Levinson
- Alireza Behzadi
- Aura Dortch
- Simone Gourguechon
- Luisa Ortiz
- Mo Achachlouei and Margaret Moody
- Roy Bahat
- Jessica Beller
- Beth Lange
- Stuart Himmelfarb
- Ayesha Ali
- Nancy and Dave Napalo
- Niyati Goyal
- Carl Kocmoud
- Jarrod Lowery
- Lily Chow
- Phyllis Freed
- Yigit Ucar
- Tej Mehta
- William Oseiwe-Williams
- Alex Foucre-Stimes
- Ryan Farnan
- Kasey Morrow
- David Kim
- Justin Fox
- Ryan and Julie Broms
- Ernie Rosales
- Jason Ling
- Patrycja Mazur
- Ramin Khaksar and Solmaz Dehghan
- Sirma Tzoutzova-Hales and Wendy Hales
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anastasia Adam
- Sally Winter
- Sebastian Mejia-Gomez
- Audra Brown and Tal Ariel
- Michael Rhodes
- Lisa Muscato
- Omolara Falusi
- Burke and Karen Brown
- Khaled Al Turkmani
- Devon Maynard
- Dipak Golechha
- Naria Santa Lucia
- Roman Tsunder
- James Donaldson
- Dinesh Jotwani
- Martha Akers
- Brian Carlton and Elizabeth Sumpter
- Steve Krupkin
- Greg Sedlock
- Jacqueline Hayes
- Debra Kadner
- David Petersen
- Jolenta Coleman
- Michael Moreau
- David Mongeau
- William and Laura Poindexter
- Amra Sabic-El-Rayess and Tamer El-Rayess
- Ed and Claire Burdett
- Roopak Gupta
- Greg Layok
- Thomas Hulsebosch
- Scott Utzinger
- Martin and Jenelyn Wyspianski
- Annie Hurwitz and Peter Kucera
- David Applegate and Barbara Chubb
- Renato Amador
- Stacy Witcher
- Jina and Georg Krause-Vilmar
- Juffrey Yanis
- Christian Topham and Melissa Girvan
- Dove Vallender
- Gina Orlando
- Joerg Adams
- Maria and Jim Little
- Cara Peck
- Vimala Santhanam
- Brenda and Kent Carter
- Taimur Khalid
- Elena Andrzejewski
- Ritu and Bharat Khandelwal
- Benjamin Knelman
- Michael Palmer
- Michele Honomichl
- Ashwin Ladva
- Evelyn Rodriguez
- John Kavanaugh
- Alexandra Picerno
- Yacine Benziani
- John Hill Escobar Olmos
- Richard Keen
- Rebecca Neuwirth
- Margaret Hardek
- Puja Sharma
- Kevin Plybon
- Jamie McAuliffe
- Yvonne Ngo
- Karishma Desouza
- Matt Soper
- Mustafa Taqi
- Roxanne Miller
- Scott Shute
- Karen and Rich Niersbach
- Matthew Aucoin
- Anonymous
- Mary and Justin Lee
- Maggie Dimitrova and Harry Ottey
- Mehmet Doner
- Carol Levy
- Kevin Beals
- Kimberly Jew Flores and Ricardo Flores
- Paul Cadario
- Jay Lurie
- Jane Yang
- Shyny Parel
- Scott Reddel
- Sarah Bahrani
- Sitong Shen
- Daniel Kahn
- Marina Kim
- Alyssa and Jesse Rothermel
- Natasha Milovic
- Tatyana Nowicki
- Cynthia Sutton
- Greg Svendsen
- Elena Sukhovnina
- Rhea Kumar
- Kevin Mercurio
- Carolyn Moe
- Sofia Katsaggelos
- Alex Rivera
- Jeffrey Chang
- Gillian Steele
- Jacqueline Gelman
Board
- Ganesh Betanabhatla, Development Committee Co-Chair, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer, Ramas Capital Management
- Rosalyn Chen, Board Vice Chair & Development Committee Co-Chair
- Nikki Cicerani, Partner, SYPartners
- Martha Gallo, Trustee Emerita
- Todd Harding, Trustee Emeritus
- Jina Krause-Vilmar, President & CEO, Upwardly Global
- Winita Lau, Secretary & Governance Committee Chair, Director and Senior Vice President, Wells Fargo
- Jane Leu, Trustee Emerita, Founder and CEO, Smarter Good
- Tammi Ling, Partner and Co-Head of New York Office, Oliver Wyman
- Alex Lipman, Secretary & Governance Committee Chair, Lipman Law PLLC
- Scott Mauvais, Treasurer & Finance Committee Chair, Director, AI and Global Partnerships, Microsoft Philanthropies
- Bassem Moussa, Audit Committee Chair, Senior Manager, Group Internal Audit, Western Digital Corporation
- Pranav Ramanathan, Board Chair, Co-Founder, Coacharya and Ellipsis LLC
- Philipp Schumacher, Partner, Technology Consulting, PwC
- Kathy Taylor, Principal, Taylor Executive Search
- Justin Thornton, Senior Advisor, McKinsey & Company
- Vivek Vaidya, Co-Founder and General Partner, Super{set} Venture Studio
- Joshua Winter, Director, Skills for Employability, Microsoft
Leadership Councils
- Chicago
- Amy Bahrani
- Sarah Bahrani
- Angeline Dañar
- Karishma Desouza
- Simone Gourguechon
- Niyati Goyal
- John Hill Escobar
- Benson Kamary
- Kendra Levine
- Samir Mirza
- Maria Ptouchkina
- Lejla Sudar
- Jane Yang
- Seattle
- Maya Appiah
- Neiha Arora
- Andrew Bleiman
- Allyson B. Davis Eastman
- Aditi Luminet
- Farron McDonald
- Kristin Pankey
- Matthew Quinlan
- Shanthi Raghu
- Rumsha Siddiqui
- Susan Thornton
- Karishma Wadhwani
- New York
- Michael Diamond
- Ishan Gurg
- David Kim
- Maxim Litvinko
- Tej Mehta
- Elizabeth Meyer
- David Nwokonko
- Judy Olivo
- Natalie Perez
- Justin Rucker
- Priyanka Thakrar
- Lucy Walton
- Bay Area
- Anastasia Adam
- Brian Chang
- Eva Marie Costello
- Liza Dingle
- Erico Franco Gomes
- Saba Gebreamlak
- Charlotte Gerstner Bernal
- Supriya Gokarn
- Sofia Katsaggelos
- Rhea Kumar
- Jonas Majewski
- Yvonne Ngo
- Hannah Pace
- Aman Puri
- Sweta Sridhar
- Jeff Waldron
- Sheng-Nan Zhao
- D.C. Region
- Renato Amador
- Bob Bissen
- Mary Donovan
- Faisal Husain
- Emilie Hyams
- Sarah Jackson-Han
- Nidal Khaznadar
- Derek Li
- Maria Little
- Jay Lurie
- Jamie McAuliffe
- Sharon Nwaebube
Thank You
We are grateful to all who support our vision of a United States where immigrants are seamlessly integrated into the fabric of the United States and
the fabric of American life, and are recognized for the value they add to both.