Abigayle Clymer: Tell us a little bit about how and when your career with E4E Relief began.
Julie Caldwell: I was fortunate to be employee number five. In 2014, E4E Relief was launching as a subsidiary of Foundation For The Carolinas rather than operating as an internal department. Part of that expansion was hiring someone focused on growing the business — and that was the start for me. I actually accepted the job the night before they announced it publicly, so it was really special to show up the next day at a large event where they formally announced the formation of E4E Relief.
Abigayle Clymer: What period of growth or change stands out most to you, and how did it affect you personally?
Julie Caldwell: When I started, we were receiving faxed, phone and email applications. Each one lived in a physical blue folder that moved along the process. One of the first big changes was moving to an online application and streamlining everything from there.
But the most transformational period for me was 2017. Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria hit back-to-back-to-back and really changed the landscape of disaster philanthropy. With Hurricane Maria, in particular, the entire infrastructure of Puerto Rico was destroyed. That forced us to rethink how we received applications and got cash directly to people in real time, so we stood up our first bilingual disaster command center to support employees in their native language. One of the grant specialists working with us had just evacuated from Puerto Rico herself, came to Charlotte and ended up helping Puerto Ricans through the application process. That was a pretty special moment.
Abigayle Clymer: Around the same time, E4E Relief began expanding internationally. What did that transition look like?
Julie Caldwell: Some of our first international grants were in India in 2015. Our clients had a global footprint, so the desire to help employees outside the U.S. was always part of the picture, even though employee financial relief is rooted as a U.S. concept from an IRS standpoint. We built strong partnerships with organization leaders who were already doing this work internationally, which allowed us to start converting grants into local currencies and navigate the legal complexities. Once we began making grants to individuals internationally, the need just expanded from there. It's everywhere. And to this day, I still talk with corporate leaders who are trying to figure out how to support their employees around the world with the same equity they offer domestically.
Abigayle Clymer: Was there anything that surprised you about delivering employee financial relief on a global scale?
Julie Caldwell: There are always surprises when you're doing something for the first time, and there’s always opportunities to learn. What gives me the most pride is seeing that global infrastructure in action when COVID hit. By then, we were well-established and had policies and processes embedded to navigate international grantmaking with integrity, so we were one of the very first organizations to support people across a truly global footprint. Being part of that immediate solution — knowing you had something that could genuinely help — was meaningful in a way that's hard to describe.
Abigayle Clymer: What first drew you to E4E Relief, and what has made you stay?
Julie Caldwell: I had built a career in public accounting and marketing and was ready for something different. E4E Relief was brand new; a startup environment with a lot of trailblazing ahead. That drew me in, along with the mission. I don't think I fully understood how hands-on or transformational it would be until I was in it.
My role started with building new client partnerships, and then it kept expanding. I ended up launching the first disaster command center, which was something I never imagined would be part of my job. That's the beauty of coming in early at an organization’s ground level: you find the gaps, you lean into where your skills are needed and you grow in ways you didn't plan to grow. From disaster response to international expansion to community relief programs like the Brave of Heart Fund for frontline healthcare workers during COVID, I've been fortunate to stretch into all of it.
Abigayle Clymer: E4E Relief is now celebrating 25 years of relief. Our slogan is Swift Relief. Real Impact. What does that mean to you?
Julie Caldwell: Hurricane Helene is the first thing that comes to mind. I got a call over the weekend from a CHRO whose company headquarters sat right in the heart of where Helene hit. She didn't know how her employees were doing. There was just this immense, urgent determination to make sure they were taken care of.
We were able to stand up a program quickly and help hundreds of their employees right away. That's Swift Relief. Real Impact. in action; being an extension of company leaders’ care for their own people, in near real time, when it matters most. And it's not just episodic. For companies with programs already in place, we're part of their readiness plan. For others, we meet them in the middle of a disaster and stay with them for what comes next. That end-to-end support is at the heart of what we do every day.
Abigayle Clymer: Is there anything else about E4E Relief's culture you'd want people to know?
Julie Caldwell: The sabbatical program really speaks to who we are. Working in disaster philanthropy means showing up every day energized to help people, while also carrying the weight of the hardship stories you hear constantly. That's a unique space to inhabit. The concept of a sabbatical here is about restoration. I'm honored to be in the sabbatical-eligible group and, looking around, we have five or six colleagues either preparing to take one or coming back from one. Every month we celebrate anniversaries and more people are getting there. It's a real expression of what it means to be a compassionate organization; not just for those impacted by disaster, but for the people doing the work.