Emerson Collective is an organization focused on education, immigration reform, the environment, media and journalism, and health. Founded by billionaire philanthropist

Laurene Powell Jobs Laurene Powell Jobs ( Powell; born November 6, 1963)United States birth records is an American billionaire businesswoman executive and philanthropist. She is the widow of Steve Jobs, who was the co-founder and former CEO of Apple Inc., and she m ...

, the collective, which operates under a

limited liability company A limited liability company (LLC) is the United States-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of ...

(LLC) model, uses philanthropy, impact investing, advocacy, and community engagement as tools to broadly spur change in the United States and abroad. The organization is considered to be one of the leading groups engaged in philanthrocapitalism. One of its most high-profile acquisitions was its majority interest in ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...

'' magazine in 2017.

History

Emerson Collective was founded in 2004 by Laurene Powell Jobs in

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

. Named after transcendentalist writer

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of th ...

, the organization says its mission is to do the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people. In 1997, Powell Jobs had co-founded, together with Carlos Watson, the

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

College Track, a college completion program to combat the achievement gap among students of color. When Emerson Collective was established in 2004, grants and investments largely focused on the education sector. When Powell Jobs began learning more about the challenges plaguing immigrant students, particularly those whose undocumented status made it difficult to attend college, Emerson Collective broadened its portfolio to include immigration reform and advocacy. Powell Jobs and Emerson Collective were strong advocates of the creation of President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and have continued to push for permanent legislation to provide "Dreamers" with a path to citizenship. In October 2016, she wrote the article "Immigrants Fuel Innovation. Let's Not Waste Their Potential" for ''

WIRED Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...

''. In 2015, Emerson Collective's Managing Director of Education Russlynn H. Ali launched the affiliate XQ Institute, a

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

dedicated to rethinking American public high school. In 2015, Emerson Collective became the lead investor in education technology company Amplify. In 2016, Andy Karsner joined Emerson Collective to launch Emerson Elemental, a practice dedicated to investments in the environmental and clean energy space. Karsner previously served in the

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production, the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear w ...

as Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. In 2016, former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan joined Emerson Collective to launch Chicago CRED, a

committed to curbing gun violence in Chicago through counseling, training, and matching young men with jobs. In 2017 and 2018, Emerson Collective supported the immigration-focused work of the artist JR, and helped bring Alejandro González Iñárritu's

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-winning, virtual reality experience '' Carne Y Arena'' to Washington, D.C. In 2019, Emerson Collective led a round of funding for Boom Supersonic, an aerospace company that aims to make supersonic commercial flight a realization again, and its proposed 55-passenger business-class transport. In April 2025, it was reported that the company invested in io Products, which was founded by Jony Ive and Sam Altman, to create a new

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

hardware device.

Media investments and donations

* Invested in Ozy, and was one of its first backers. *On September 1, 2016, invested in series A funding for Axios Media, a news website focusing on business, technology, politics and media trends. *On July 28, 2017, became the majority owner of ''

'', purchasing the majority stake from Atlantic Media's David G. Bradley. The outlets owned by Emerson Collective include ''The Atlantic'' magazine and its digital properties along with its standout events line, AtlanticLIVE, and its consulting division, Atlantic 57. ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' reports Emerson Collective plans to move to full ownership of ''The Atlantic'' in "three to five years" after their investment. *In 2017, invested, along with the Stripes Group, in Gimlet Media, the podcasting startup behind the shows '' StartUp'', '' Reply All'' and '' Homecoming''. *In 2018, acquired the parent of '' California Sunday'' and '' Pop-Up Magazine''. *In 2021, invested, along with others, a total of $12 million in WaitWhat. WaitWhat is a podcast and media company founded and led by former TED executives June Cohen and Deron Triff. *Has donated money to '' Mother Jones''.

References

External links

* {{Official, http://www.emersoncollective.com/
Official Twitter Account
Organizations based in Palo Alto, California Foundations based in the United States Organizations established in 2004