Meet Emily Bild

GoPhilanthropic Regional Development Manager, India/Nepal

Meet Gemma Marshall

GoPhilanthropic Regional Development Manager, SE Asia

What a match! Gemma has extensive experience working with NGO’s and a strong background in fundraising and communications. Having lived overseas and worked closely with grassroots programs for over five years, she has a profound understanding of their sensitivities and needs. Joining us last August, Gemma’s first step was to get to know our existing partners in the region, many of whom are based in Siem Reap where Gemma lives. We are thrilled to have this luxury of “proximity” to our partners, allowing us to be more in tune and in sync with their work and needs.   

Gemma has been directly responsible for the recent expansion of our portfolio in SE Asia — and what a bang up job she has done.

Strengthening Families

Gemma has spent the past 6 months mapping and identifying grassroots organizations aligned with important news campaign centered around family strengthening and human trafficking. The confluence of so many current global issues (child labor, abuse, human trafficking) seem to flow around the general health and stability of the family unit. Gemma has conducted extensive research on organizations providing families and communities with the basic tools they need to thrive as a healthy unit — from educational workshops that improve knowledge and skills on topics like financial literacy, job ready and soft skills, family care, women’s health and gender issues, to social issues such as domestic violence and substance abuse. This research and NGO identification has also deepened our knowledge of the issues surrounding trafficking and institutionalization of children (into orphanages and shelters).

“The challenge was that there are so many NGOs in Cambodia — I knew it would take time to identify those who fit our criteria. I sourced near one hundred NGOs working on job ready skills and / or trafficking through online research, word of mouth and networking. After a more thorough look at their work and ethos, I personally met with around ten of them. From here, the GoPhil team selected three to vet more deeply to ensure our synergies were aligned. GoPhil has a robust vetting process guided by strong ethics. We select grassroots organizations who have their beneficiaries at the center of their mission, programs that show particular innovation, and show transparency in all that they do. In addition, we source NGOs who have a natural desire to share their learnings as we believe this is how impact and ideas are spread most effectively.”

Learn more about what Gemma has been up to in SE Asia.