E Pluribus Unum

What E Pluribus Unum does

E Pluribus Unum (EPU), legally E Pluribus Unum Institute, is a New Orleans-based 501(c)-style nonprofit founded in 2018 by former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu following his tenure as Mayor and Lt. Governor of Louisiana, and incubated at Emerson Collective. The organization operates across 13 Southern states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia) with a portfolio of programs aimed at advancing racial and economic equity in the American South.

Its core offerings are (1) the Unum Fellowship Program, which runs multiple year-long cohorts for local elected officials, state legislators, college students (Youth Cohort), and climate/environmental justice practitioners; (2) the Survey of the South, an annual public-opinion research series begun in 2019 that surveys Southerners on race, class, and equity; (3) the 'Big Ideas for Racial Equity' policy guidebook covering 13 policy issues; (4) Narrative Change initiatives, including partnerships with The Bitter Southerner and an EPU Substack; (5) Policy and Advocacy resources; and (6) the Eminent Scholar Program supporting racial-equity scholarship. Research outputs include the 2022 Survey of the South (1,800 respondents, 600 Black / 600 Latino / 600 white) conducted with Allison+Partners and a 2022 joint study with PRRI on Confederate monuments and inclusive public spaces funded by the Mellon Foundation.

EPU generates revenue through grants and donations from foundations (including Emerson Collective and Mellon Foundation) and individual donors; fellowship participation is offered at no cost. The technology footprint is a standard WordPress-based web platform with social-login, MailChimp, and Google Analytics integrations. The team is small (11-50 employees), led by Founder and President Mitch Landrieu and Executive Director Scott Hutcheson, with a distributed leadership structure across policy, programs, communications, and operations.

Name

E Pluribus Unum

Legal name

E Pluribus Unum Institute

Website

https://unumfund.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

E Pluribus Unum is a New Orleans-based nonprofit founded in 2018 by Mitch Landrieu that advances racial and economic equity across 13 Southern states through multi-cohort fellowships for public and civic leaders, an annual Survey of the South research series, and policy and narrative-change programming funded by foundation grants and donations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Racial Equity Nonprofit Programs

NAICS

Human Rights Organizations (813311), Educational Services (611)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Education Equity, Access & Inclusion Policy Research (EDADADAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Education Partnerships for Equity, Inclusion & Gender (EDADALAF)

Keywords

• Racial equity programs
• Leadership fellowships
• Policy research
• Narrative change
• Civic leadership development

Headquarters

HQ city

New Orleans

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Grant Funding and Donations: As a nonprofit organization, E Pluribus Unum Fund generates revenue through grants and donations from foundations and individual donors. The organization was incubated at Emerson Collective and has received support from organizations such as the Mellon Foundation for survey research initiatives.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

E Pluribus Unum (EPU) is a nonpartisan nonprofit that equips Southern public and civic sector leaders with resources, training, and technical expertise through its Unum Fellowship Program across cohorts of local elected officials, state legislators, college students, and Climate and Environmental Justice leaders. The organization produces the annual Survey of the South, a proprietary research series on attitudes toward race, class, and equity across 13 Southern states, and publishes policy guides such as Big Ideas for Racial Equity. Core activities also include narrative change initiatives and support for scholarly work via the Eminent Scholar Program.

Product overview

E Pluribus Unum (EPU) is a nonprofit organization offering a portfolio of programs focused on building a more equitable and inclusive South. The core offerings include the Unum Fellowship Program (which encompasses multiple cohorts: local elected officials, state legislators, youth/college students, and issue-specific tracks like Climate and Environmental Justice), the annual Survey of the South research series, the Big Ideas for Racial Equity policy guidebook, Narrative Change initiatives including media partnerships and publications, Policy and Advocacy resources, and the Eminent Scholar Program. These offerings work together to cultivate courageous leadership, advance racial equity research, and drive transformative policy change across the American South.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Unum Fellowship Program A multi-cohort fellowship program equipping Southern public and civic sector leaders—including local elected officials, state legislators, college students, and Climate and Environmental Justice leaders—with resources, training, and technical expertise to develop and execute projects addressing racial and economic disparities within their communities. Cohort VI (2025) consists of 10 local elected leaders from 7 Southern states.
• Survey of the South An annual proprietary research series capturing attitudes on race, class, and equity—along with pertinent national issues and policies—across the 13 Southern states, including Black, Latino, and white respondents. The 2022 wave surveyed 1,800 participants (600 Black, 600 Latino, and 600 white respondents) and was conducted in partnership with Allison+Partners.
• Big Ideas for Racial Equity A published policy analysis guidebook and roadmap that assesses 13 policy issues—including early childhood investments, education finance reform, environmental justice, free college, guaranteed jobs, and voting rights expansion—for their potential to advance racial equity, intended for use by state and local leaders.
• Eminent Scholar Program A program supporting scholarly work on racial equity and narrative change in the American South, engaging eminent scholars to advance research and public scholarship that informs EPU's mission.

Named customers4 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration9 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Allison+PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAllison+Partners conducted the 2022 Survey of the South research in partnership with E Pluribus Unum, surveying 1,800 consumers across 13 Southern states on attitudes toward race, class, and equity.
• Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPRRI and E Pluribus Unum jointly conducted a national survey on Confederate monuments, structural racism, and inclusive public spaces in 2022, surveying over 5,000 adults.
• The Bitter SouthernerminorGTM or Marketing PartnerE Pluribus Unum partners with The Bitter Southerner for storytelling content featuring local leaders addressing injustice across the South through the 'Seeds of Change' initiative.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• PolicyLink: National racial equity research and advocacy institute producing policy analysis, equity frameworks, and leadership programs; closely comparable in the policy-research-plus-equity-advocacy mix, though not regionally limited to the South.
• Race Forward: National racial equity nonprofit producing research, publications (Colorlines), and leadership programs; directly comparable to EPU's research-plus-leadership model, though Race Forward operates nationally rather than regionally.
• Southern Education Foundation: Atlanta-based nonprofit focused on educational equity and racial justice specifically in the American South; the most direct geographic and thematic peer to EPU, with overlapping Southern-state focus and equity mission.

Emerging players

• Forward Together: Multiracial organizing and policy nonprofit focused on equity, family economic security, and narrative change; comparable narrative-change and policy-advocacy orientation, though smaller and concentrated in Western U.S. states.
• The Praxis Project: National racial-justice intermediary supporting community-based organizing and narrative change; comparable in movement-building and equity-advocacy model, though operates at the funder-intermediary layer rather than directly running fellowships.

Broad incumbents

• The Aspen Institute: Large established think tank running leadership fellowship programs (e.g., Ascend, RISE) and policy research on equity; comparable in the leadership-fellowship-plus-policy-research combination, but at much larger scale and broader scope.
• Center for American Progress (CAP): Large progressive think tank producing racial equity policy research and analysis; comparable as a policy-research-driven equity organization, though much larger and ideologically adjacent rather than identical.
• New America: Public policy institute with fellowship programs and equity-focused research portfolios; comparable as a hybrid research/fellowship/policy advocacy nonprofit, though it operates nationally across many issue areas.
• Faith in Action: Large national faith-based network running leadership development programs aimed at low-income and communities of color; comparable to EPU's civic-leader fellowship model, but with a faith-rooted organizing approach.
• NAACP Legal Defense Fund: Long-established civil rights legal organization operating across the American South on racial justice litigation and policy; comparable mission and Southern footprint, though its primary lever is legal advocacy rather than fellowships and polling.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about E Pluribus Unum