SVP and Chief Development Officer, Neighborhood Centers, Inc.
Emelda Douglas is a veteran leader in the local philanthropic community.Her passion is to ensure that young people have the resources, education and connection to build better lives for themselves and their families. She is living her dream at the crossroads of this passion and her profession as a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE). Douglas is Senior Vice President and Chief Development Officer of Houston’s largest nonprofit organization: Neighborhood Centers Inc. She informs charitable giving decisions of high-net worth individuals, corporations and private foundations. These investments are allocated strategically to deserving projects, including early childhood education initiatives, after-school youth programs, senior citizen health initiatives and financial literacy classes at sites such as Ripley House in east Houston, Baker-Ripley Neighborhood Center in southwest Houston and Harbach-Ripley Community Center near Sunnyside, as well as 67 other service sites across southeast Texas.
Douglas and her professional staff also organize the annual TXU Energy Houston Turkey Trot, a 10K run on Thanksgiving morning with more than 12,000 participants. Proceeds from the event support local senior citizens programs, including an Alzheimer’s day care center. She is always humbled by such a large turnout of committed people who show up at dawn on this holiday to be a part of a movement that transforms lives for good.
Prior to joining Neighborhood Centers, she was Vice President of Community Investment for the Greater Houston Community Foundation and facilitated the distribution of annual grants of more than $34 million to local charities. The previous decade of her career was in the corporate sector in business development for a natural gas liquids pipeline company.
Douglas is most influenced by her parents, who were her heroes: the late Cleopatra and Joseph Robinson. Their lives exemplified the ideals of faith, family, and a good work ethic. In her spare time, Douglas enjoys international travel, reading romance novels, and having long dinners with family and friends.
Douglas holds a BBA in accounting from Stephen F. State University. She sits on numerous local nonprofit boards and advisory councils. She is married to Roy Douglas and they are the proud parents of Alicia and Alexander.
One of Douglas’ favorite quotes is “A community is like a forest. When you are outside it seems dense. When you are inside, you see that every tree has its place.” – African Proverb
