Emily (LoSavio) Jonas

Emily Jonas has been leading global, national, statewide and local philanthropic organizations for almost 20 years. After a brief corporate career in financial services, she spent a decade fundraising – launching innovative education start-ups and scaling social movements nationally.

In 2007, Emily founded and grew her own nonprofit to a multi-site $2 million program that now serves more than 250 children each day in San Francisco’s Fillmore community. She handed the organization over to her successor in 2013, in order to stay home with her first child.  The organization has continued to blossom, serving children and families from public housing communities with high quality programs.

Since leaving the entity she founded, Emily served as an Executive Director and Interim Executive Director to various multi-million dollar organizations.  Emily currently serves as the Chair of the Board for One World Children’s Fund, a foundation supporting global grassroots leaders. She previously served on the Board of Directors for the Leo T. McCarthy Center at the University of San Francisco, Spark a global women’s foundation, and the Booker T. Washington Community Center.

Emily has been honored by AT&T and 92.7 FM as a local “Community Hero” and awarded the President’s Volunteer Service Award. She was featured as the case study of a “Visionary Leader” in the 25th Anniversary Edition of The Leadership Challenge book, its training materials and in their nonprofit edition.  Emily was interviewed for her humanitarian relief work in Somalia by CNN’s International Correspondent.  She has also been interviewed on the nationally syndicated Sirius radio program “the FoxxHole,” as well as locally on Comcast’s “Newsmakers” and the “Black Renaissance” TV Show.  She has served on committees for the Department of Human Services Family & Children Services and the Department of Children, Youth and their Families.

Emily graduated early from UC Davis with honors in both her degrees, Sociology and Communications.  Since college, she completed yearlong post graduate fellowships with Coro and Wellesley’s National After-School Matters Initiative at UC Berkeley.  She’s a committed lifelong learner and absorbs lessons most effectively by taking action.  She is a proud mother of two and wife who currently lives in Lafayette. In her spare time, she loves to hang out with her family, experiencing the same Bay Area outdoor beauty she grew up enjoying. She had the privilege of mentoring a now grown woman who is a teacher in Boston. Emily is an active Response Team member for ShelterBox, deploying globally to deliver humanitarian aide to victims of disaster at least once per year.