What Imago Dei Fund does

Imago Dei Fund is a privately funded grantmaking foundation headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, with a mailing address at PO Box 170025, Boston, MA 02117. The foundation provides flexible, multi-year, unrestricted grants to organizations centering the rights, needs, and agency of women and girls, with a particular focus on combating sexual and gender-based violence and on faith-rooted approaches to social transformation. As of 2025, the foundation supports 185 grantee partner organizations across four geographies: the Greater Boston Area, East Africa (Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi), Haiti, and Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia). Ninety-eight percent of partners are community-driven and 40% focus on gender-based violence.

The foundation's portfolio includes a general grantmaking program, the Deacon's Fund (faith-based humanitarian assistance in Greater Boston), the Contemplative Fund (bridge-building and reconciliation work), and the joint 'Girl Child & Her Long Walk to Freedom' initiative with the Institute for Faith and Gender Empowerment. Imago Dei also operates a Salesforce-based grantee partner portal for reporting and engagement. Its 2025 strategy calls for distributing 25% of corpus annually — substantially above the 5% IRS minimum — with an additional 5% increase in response to global challenges.

The organization is co-founded and governed by Emily Nielsen-Jones and Ross Jones as Co-Founders & Trustees, with a small staff of 11–50 that includes a Communications Manager and a Program and Research Associate. Unlike commercial enterprises, Imago Dei does not generate revenue from product or service sales; its funding flows from endowment investment returns deployed through grantmaking. Endowment size, investment returns, and total annual disbursements are not publicly disclosed. The foundation communicates to stakeholders via a website, monthly newsletter, a 'Reflections & Resources' blog, webinars, and a LinkedIn presence, and publishes original research such as the 'Good Faith Approaches to Gender Equality' report.

Name

Imago Dei Fund

Legal name

Imago Dei Fund

Website

https://imagodeifund.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Imago Dei Fund is a Boston-based private grantmaking foundation providing flexible, multi-year, unrestricted grants to 185 community-driven organizations advancing gender justice and human dignity in Greater Boston, East Africa, Haiti, and Southeast Asia.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Boston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Others, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Imago Dei Fund is a private grantmaking foundation that provides flexible, multi-year, unrestricted grants to locally-led organizations working to address gender-based injustice and centering the rights, needs, and agency of women and girls. The foundation supports partners across Greater Boston, East Africa, Haiti, and Southeast Asia through its main grantmaking portfolio and specialized programs including the Deacon's Fund (faith-based humanitarian assistance in Greater Boston) and the Contemplative Fund (bridge-building and reconciliation work). It also operates the Grantee Partner Portal and the joint Girl Child Long Walk initiative with the Institute for Faith and Gender Empowerment.

Product overview

Imago Dei Fund is a grantmaking foundation offering a unified set of grant programs and resources rather than a technology product platform. Its core offering is grantmaking to organizations addressing gender-based injustice, primarily supporting women and girls. The foundation operates a partner portal for grantee management, maintains the Girl Child Long Walk initiative with the Institute for Faith and Gender Empowerment, publishes research through its Good Faith Approaches program, and communicates with stakeholders via a monthly newsletter. Grant programs include the general grantmaking portfolio, the Deacon's Fund for faith-based humanitarian organizations, and the Contemplative Fund for bridge-building and reconciliation work.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• The Girl Child & Her Long Walk to Freedom: A separate joint project of the Imago Dei Fund and the Institute for Faith and Gender Empowerment that engages people of faith from around the world to examine the intersection of faith and gender.

Products and services

• Grantmaking Program Imago Dei Fund's primary offering: flexible, multi-year, unrestricted grantmaking to locally-led organizations working on gender-based injustice, women's and girls' rights, and related causes. The foundation supports 185 grantee partners (98% community-driven) and plans to distribute 25% of its corpus in 2025.
• Grantee Partner Portal A partner login portal (hosted on the Salesforce platform) enabling grantee partners to access resources, submit reports, and manage their partnership with the foundation.
• The Girl Child & Her Long Walk to Freedom A joint project with the Institute for Faith and Gender Empowerment that engages people of faith from around the world to examine the intersection of faith and gender, working to transform deep roots of patriarchy through love.
• Deacon's Fund A grant program supporting faith-based organizations that serve as anchors of hope and support for their neighbors and congregations through immediate humanitarian assistance in the Greater Boston Area.
• Contemplative Fund A grant program supporting organizations bridging divides through spiritual growth and reconciliation work in faith and social contexts, including partners focused on contemplative practices and bridge-building.

Quantifiable outcome

• 185 grantee partners supported in 2025
• +2 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• The Action FoundationcoreOthersThe Action Foundation works to end exclusion, discrimination, and violence towards children, women, and girls with disabilities in marginalized communities in Kenya. Imago Dei Fund has supported The Action Foundation for several years. The organization, led by founder Maria Omare, focuses on enhancing access to health, education, social protection, and community care through direct service provision, system strengthening, and capacity building.
• Amplify GirlscoreOthersAmplify Girls is a network of 40 community-driven organizations in Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda that drives change for adolescent girls. Imago Dei Fund is a founding partner. The network supports members through organization strengthening, individualized capacity assessments, and regional learning opportunities.
• Girl Up Initiative UgandacoreOthersGirl Up Initiative Uganda is a Ugandan-led and community-driven organization that provides young women and girls with opportunities to succeed as leaders through holistic education and economic empowerment. Focuses on access to formal and non-formal education, economic inclusion, skills-building, and sexual and reproductive health services.
• The Bridge ProjectminorOthersThe Bridge Project seeks to eradicate childhood poverty through one of the nation's largest unconditional cash programs for babies. Imago Dei Fund is one of the lead donors launching the program in Boston in 2025, which will provide direct cash to 250 low-income expectant and new mothers.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Ms. Foundation for Women: US-based public foundation funding women and girls of color, with multi-year unrestricted grants and a community-centered approach. Comparable grantmaking philosophy and target population, though larger and longer-established.
• Global Fund for Women: US-headquartered foundation providing flexible grants to women's rights organizations worldwide. Directly comparable mission, target beneficiary base (women and girls), and grantmaking model centered on trust-based, locally-led funding.
• Wellspring Philanthropic Fund: Private grantmaking foundation with gender equality and women's rights among its priority areas. Comparable as a similarly-sized private foundation making multi-year grants to international partners.
• Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights: Global feminist fund providing rapid-response grants to women human rights defenders. Directly comparable as a women-focused grantmaker serving activists in overlapping geographies (East Africa, Southeast Asia, Caribbean-adjacent).
• Foundation for a Just Society: Private foundation funding movements for gender, racial, and economic justice with a focus on community-led organizations. Directly comparable as a peer-scale gender/justice grantmaker with similar unrestricted, multi-year grant practices.
• Mama Cash: Amsterdam-based feminist grantmaking foundation funding women, girls, and trans people's rights globally. Closely comparable as a dedicated gender-equity grantmaker offering multi-year, unrestricted support to community-driven partners, with overlapping geographic reach.

Broad incumbents

• Ford Foundation: One of the largest US private foundations with gender, racial, and economic justice as core programs. Comparable as a grantmaker in overlapping thematic areas, though vastly larger scale and broader portfolio than Imago Dei Fund's focused niche.
• Open Society Foundations: Large global foundation supporting human rights, gender equity, and civil society worldwide. Comparable in supporting women's rights and gender-justice work in overlapping geographies, but operates at vastly greater scale with broader thematic remit.

Others

• No Voiceless: Note: 'No Voiceless' is included as a placeholder representing faith-motivated grantmaking ecosystems that intersect with Imago Dei Fund's space; more directly comparable entities include faith-rooted gender justice funders such as American Jewish World Service and Auburn Theological Seminary's gender programs.

Emerging players

• FRIDA | The Young Feminist Fund: Youth-led fund providing small grants to young feminist organizations in the Global South. Comparable mission and community-led partner orientation, though operates at smaller grant scale and is itself a grantee-type organization.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/imago-dei-fund

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Imago Dei Fund