Elevate Prize winners gain more than $300K in funding

They learn to better tell their own stories

Published on Feb. 19, 2026

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The 10 winners of the 2026 Elevate Prize will receive $300,000 in unrestricted funding and support to increase the visibility of their organizations. The Elevate Prize Foundation believes that helping these social impact leaders better tell their stories will be key to driving more attention and support for their work.

Why it matters

The Elevate Prize aims to empower leaders of nonprofits and social impact organizations, especially those working with marginalized communities, by providing both financial resources and training to help amplify their voices and missions. In a time of political polarization and threats to civil society, the Elevate Prize is seen as an important way to counter the 'retraction' in support for immigrant and migrant communities.

The details

Each of the 10 Elevate Prize winners will receive $300,000 in unrestricted funding as well as support and training from the foundation on organizational growth and increasing their public profile. The foundation is launching a 'Good Is Trending' initiative that will include taking over the NASDAQ's Times Square billboards to shine a spotlight on the winners. The foundation believes that helping these leaders better tell their stories, and connecting their personal narratives to the issues they work on, will be key to driving more attention and support for their work.

  • The 2026 class of Elevate Prize winners was announced on February 17, 2026.

The players

Mónica Ramírez

The founder and president of Justice for Migrant Women, a nonprofit that advocates for the rights and needs of migrant women and other marginalized communities.

Carolina Garcia Jayaram

The CEO of the Elevate Prize Foundation, which awards the annual Elevate Prize.

Mara Fleishman

The CEO of the Chef Ann Foundation, which brings made-from-scratch meals to schools.

Imran Ahmed

The CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a 2025 Elevate Prize winner who was briefly barred from entering the United States.

Marco Rubio

The U.S. Secretary of State who called Imran Ahmed's work 'organized efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize and suppress American viewpoints they oppose.'

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What they’re saying

“As immigrant and migrant community members are being threatened and attacked around our country, it's really important to have shows of support like the Elevate Prize is providing because we've seen a retraction — a big retraction — in support.”

— Mónica Ramírez, Founder and President, Justice for Migrant Women

“It's more important than ever to double down on leaders like Monica.”

— Carolina Garcia Jayaram, CEO, Elevate Prize Foundation

“People pay more attention to people than they do to issues. So when you can ground an issue in the story of a person, of a community, of a neighborhood, suddenly the whole world can start to engage and relate to that because it's not that different from a community and a neighborhood and a family somewhere else.”

— Carolina Garcia Jayaram, CEO, Elevate Prize Foundation

“I really think that the Elevate Prize is going to help us give a microphone to the people that we serve. That's my hope.”

— Mónica Ramírez, Founder and President, Justice for Migrant Women

What’s next

The Elevate Prize Foundation is launching a 'Good Is Trending' initiative that will include taking over NASDAQ's Times Square billboards on Tuesday to shine a spotlight on the 2026 prize winners.

The takeaway

The Elevate Prize is providing critical support to leaders of nonprofits and social impact organizations, especially those working with marginalized communities, by empowering them to better tell their stories and amplify their missions. In a time of political polarization and threats to civil society, this initiative is an important way to counter the 'retraction' in support for immigrant and migrant communities.