Emma Relle

Associate Manager, Assessment and Advisory Services

Emma analyzes data, develops reports, and leads relationships with funders using CEP’s assessments. She is also an experienced project manager and earned her Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification in 2025.

Before joining CEP in 2021, Emma contributed to academic research projects focused on the cognitive and affective aspects of sleep. She holds a degree in Neuroscience with a minor in Education from Boston College. Emma also serves on The Granite YMCA Overnight Camp Advisory Board.

Outside of work, Emma enjoys camping and hiking in the White Mountains, testing new recipes (and perfecting her meal prep routine), and spending time with her family and friends.

Emma Relle's Blog Posts

What Are You Bringing to 2025 and Leaving Behind in 2024? Here’s What Your Grantees Are Saying
Emma Relle Associate Manager, Assessment and Advisory Services, CEP

A new year is often a moment to pause and reflect — about what we’ve been doing well that we’d like to carry forward into 2025, and some things that we’ll be glad to leave behind in 2024. But reflecting on ourselves in an objective, productive way can be difficult —...

‘Words Matter’: An Interview with Houston Grantmaker Long Chu
Emma Relle Associate Manager, Assessment and Advisory Services, CEP
Bao-Long Chu Program Director, Arts and Parks, Houston Endowment

A funder’s choice to collect grantee feedback by partnering with CEP on the Grantee Perception Report (GPR) signals a commitment to learning, improvement, and ultimately, effectiveness. This is particularly true of the many funders who repeat the GPR and observe their...

Prioritizing Grants Management: An Unsung Key to Effective Funding
Emma Relle Associate Manager, Assessment and Advisory Services, CEP

Often, when I hear talk about funders and the ways they can achieve impact, the conversations tend to revolve around the same few groups: program staff, senior leadership, and boards. No doubt, these roles are essential for driving impact in philanthropy. But, in my...

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Contact Emma Relle

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617-492-0800 x312

Recent Blogs

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An Urgent ‘Passing Gear’ Call to Action: Leveraging Foundation Grantmaking in a Landscape of Retrenchment
Jon Pratt Senior Research Fellow, Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, Nonprofit Financial Commons
Ruth McCambridge Director of Content, Nonprofit Financial Commons

by Jon Pratt, Ruth McCambridgeChloe Heskett | May 28, 2026

In CEP’s latest research report, “The State of Nonprofits 2026,” one of its three major findings is that “despite ongoing financial challenges, many nonprofits are making strategic adaptations to their work in order to survive.” That is absolutely right — but is...

Nonprofits Keep Showing Up — Now We Must Show Up for Them
Angelique Power President and CEO, The Skillman Foundation

by Angelique PowerChloe Heskett | May 26, 2026

There is always that part in the superhero movie when the superheroes themselves are beleaguered. Emergencies are burning all around them, while the rhetoric has been manipulated against them. They’ve never been needed more, yet they simultaneously have never been...

What If Philanthropy Hoarded Uncertainty, Not Money?
Katya Fels Smyth Senior Fellow, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Indiana University

by Katya Fels SmythLauren Chan | May 21, 2026

“Our biggest challenge is higher volatility in giving. More foundations than we would expect in a typical year have reduced or dropped their support." – A nonprofit leader This statement, included in CEP’s unflinching report on the state of the nonprofit sector,...