Why We Exist
Big ideas aren't usually held back by a lack of passion.
They're held back by everything that comes next.
Building an organization, launching a community initiative, or growing a mission requires more than a great idea. It requires financial systems, operational structure, compliance, planning, administration, trusted partnerships, and the capacity to keep all of it moving.
For emerging organizations and community-led projects, building that infrastructure from scratch can consume the very time and resources that should be going toward the work itself.
Ignite Empowerment Foundation exists to help close that gap.
We partner with people and organizations doing meaningful work and help build the structure around their vision. Through fiscal sponsorship, organizational support, strategic guidance, practical systems, and collaborative partnerships, IEF creates the conditions for good ideas to become strong, sustainable work.
Our role is not to lead your mission for you.
It's to make sure you have the support to lead it well.
We believe strong communities are built when people with lived experience, local knowledge, and bold ideas have access to the same quality of infrastructure and strategic support as established organizations.
That's why our work begins with listening, adapts to what each partnership actually requires, and stays focused on building long-term capacity—not dependency.
You know the work. We help strengthen what makes the work possible.
The People Behind the Work
Ignite Empowerment Foundation is built around a simple idea: meaningful community work requires many different kinds of expertise.
Our team brings together organizational leadership, strategic planning, nonprofit administration, financial management, compliance, bookkeeping, project coordination, operational systems, and hands-on implementation. We work collaboratively, stepping into different roles depending on what a project, partner, or initiative needs.
That flexibility is intentional.
Rather than asking every organization we support to build an entire administrative infrastructure on its own, IEF brings people, systems, and experience together around the work. Our partners gain more than an individual point of contact—they gain access to the collective capacity of the organization behind them.
Alayna Weimer
Founder & Executive Director
Alayna leads IEF's vision, partnerships, and organizational strategy. She works closely with community leaders and organizations to identify what they need to move forward and brings together the people, resources, systems, and relationships to help make it happen. READ Message from Alayna HERE
Katie Winningham
Nonprofit Administration & Financial Support
Katie supports the administrative backbone of IEF and its work, including nonprofit compliance, documentation, bookkeeping, financial administration, and the behind-the-scenes systems that help organizations remain organized and accountable.
Emily Forster
Strategy & Operations
Donna works across IEF's initiatives and partnerships, helping translate ideas into executable plans. Her work spans strategic alignment, organizational systems, project development, operations, communications, coordination, problem-solving, and the countless details required to move complex work forward.
Bonnie Schraeder
Free Book Day Program Coordinator
Bonnie coordinates Free Book Day, helping manage the relationships, logistics, planning, and implementation that bring this collaborative community initiative to life.
Collaboration is part of our structure.
IEF's work extends beyond any one staff list. We regularly work alongside community organizations, independent professionals, volunteers, businesses, funders, and subject-matter experts.
That network allows us to build the right team around the work rather than expecting every challenge to fit neatly inside a job description.
Our strength isn't that one person does everything. It's that we know how to bring the right people, systems, and resources together to get meaningful work done.