Emma Hoagland strengthens nonprofits

 

By Kaye Hult

When Emma Hoagland joined the Idaho Community Foundation (ICF) in November 2025 as the community engagement associate for North Idaho, it was the answer to a prayer.

"This is a job I've been waiting for, for a long time, three years of searching for the right job," she reflected.

Her work is three-pronged.

First, she supports nonprofits in North Idaho through the Nonprofit Center, formerly the Idaho Nonprofit Center, which merged into ICF in 2024, to build strong relationships with nonprofits and businesses in this region.

Second, Emma also leads efforts to expand ICF's collective giving programs for regional affiliates and giving circles.

Third, she helps local nonprofits learn about and participate in ICF's Idaho Gives, a four-day fundraising event in May that connects the state's nonprofits with donors throughout Idaho.

When the Idaho Nonprofit Center merged into ICF, they created a new vision that "Idaho is a place for possibility where everyone contributes to thriving communities."

Their mission is "to strengthen communities through philanthropy, elevating nonprofit impact and connecting Idahoans."

The theme for Idaho Gives from May 4 to 7 is "When Idaho Gives, Idaho Thrives!"

Created by the Idaho Nonprofit Center in 2013, Idaho Gives "allows us to show up for the organizations that show up for us," she said.

Emma invites people to imagine their communities without nonprofits.

"Who would keep the children fed, for example, through Backpacks for Kids? What about the Music Conservatory? Or those who keep the trails in the area open through the Trails Association? How about all the services for seniors?" she asked.

"Without those entities, what does the community look like? It's pretty grim," she said.

"I help nonprofits learn about Idaho Gives," she continued. "I help them register. We provide toolkits for them, and we help them with aspects of implementing the tools.

"For example, if a nonprofit seeks to raise $25,000, I may ask them, 'How many donors do you plan to have visit your Idaho Gives page? Who are they? How do you make your company visible to them?' I deal with funding strategy, marketing strategy and donor engagement," said Emma.

Idaho Gives is not simply about receiving big gifts. It's about broadening participation in the program, which helps with funding, but also fuels the nonprofits' realization that they are part of ICF. They are part of and supported by their communities and supported statewide. They are not alone.

Early Giving for Idaho Gives opens on April 14, but the main fundraising campaign takes place from May 4 to 7. Community members can access nonprofit donation pages through idahogives.org, she said.

The nonprofit support Emma makes available includes advocacy for nonprofits, as well as several levels of education—from baseline introductory webinars on how to be an exemplary board member to marketing or fundraising, the nonprofit middle-management leaders program, the leadership development program and an in-person cohort for executive directors.

"The programs run a membership model," she said, "which offers reduced rates to participate, as well as providing opportunities for community-building."

The Nonprofit Center also helps build relationships with business affiliates helpful to these organizations.

As Emma straddles the line between the work of the Nonprofit Center and that of the foundation side of ICF, she helps manage collective giving programs and affiliates.

Two affiliates are the Greater Coeur d'Alene Community Foundation (GCCF) and the Women's Gift Alliance, a membership organization that pools fees and shares them for different projects through annual grants.

"ICF partners with the affiliates to offer support to them with strategic planning and implementation of their grant cycles for which we receive a management fee," she said.

In addition, ICF supports affiliates and fund holders with the accounting management and investment of their charitable funds so the organizations can focus on the fund part of distributing grants in the community.

"I come alongside these groups as a way to give back to the community," she continued. "I care about the community and the nonprofits here."

The passion Emma expresses for supporting nonprofits developed out of a dramatic change in her understanding of the challenges so many people experience that she had no idea existed.

"I grew up in a Christian bubble," she reminisced. "I was born and raised in the small town of Shelton, Wash., by Puget Sound.

"My parents both were teachers at a small Christian school for K-8 grade there. Dad was my teacher from fifth through eighth grade.

"My whole world was school and church. My grandfather and my uncle were pastors. My dad is an elder. I sang in the choir, taught Sunday school and led mission trips," Emma continued.

"Growing up in the school and church taught me the divine importance of people and caring for them. Caring for them was the best thing I could do. I took that seriously. I now realize we helped the same people all the time. I was sheltered," she said.

Emma attended Northwest University in Kirkland, Wash., a small private Christian university, where she earned a bachelor's degree in secondary education in English in 2008. She began teaching at a private Christian school, Cedar Park Christian, near Mountlake Terrace.

"I loved my upbringing and was strong in my faith," she said. "It was my whole life. I felt competent in my faith."

However, that Christian bubble had to burst, she said. In 2018, she and her husband moved to Coeur d'Alene and she took a break from teaching to focus on raising their three children.

"When I returned to work, I began working at Safe Passage as an advocate at the domestic violence and sexual assault shelter," she said. "For the first time, I saw real pain perpetrated.

"I remember sitting across from a woman brought into the shelter when her life was threatened," Emma said. "She had left the house with nothing but her children, but she felt she had to go back to her husband because she belonged to him."

Emma began to realize the Bible and faith can be weaponized.

"Nonprofit space allows us to care for everyone. At Safe Passage, I could do impactful work with people who really needed it. That was it for me," she said. "Now I will always be in a place where I can help someone.

"Through ICF, I'm able to support people who sit across from that woman every single day," she explained. "I get to care for the nonprofits doing that kind of work and do my best to ensure they have everything they need.

Her focus on strengthening nonprofits was not a move away from her faith but grew out of her growing awareness of marginalized communities.

Emma realized that helping nonprofits strengthen board members, raise financial support and find volunteers were means to show up for neighbors.

"One way I made it through having my bubble burst was to focus on the work of nonprofits and all they give," she said. "Being a part of that nonprofit community allows me to focus on the good that's in each of us who are here on the ground."

Emma sees people at their best, trying their best. She sees how they live that out through justice, mercy and service.

"The Idaho Community Foundation has been faithfully supporting nonprofits for nearly 40 years," she said. "Money comes in and goes back out. We make more possible for our communities. I'm honored to serve and support those who are doing nonprofit work every day."

 

For information, call (208) 342-3535, email emma@idahocf.org or visit idahogives.org.