Matt Pierce, CEO, E4E Relief

Invest: sat down with Matt Pierce, CEO of E4E Relief, to discuss how the nonprofit organization is scaling its emergency financial relief model amid rising demand and a widening range of crises affecting working families. Reflecting on a historic year of domestic disasters and surging application volume, Pierce said E4E Relief is sharpening its focus. “It comes down to a trifecta: trust, transparency, and speed. No matter what kind of disaster strikes or when it happens, our goal is to be ready and to move money to people as quickly and reliably as possible,” Pierce added.

How has E4E Relief evolved over the last year, and what changes stand out to you most?

2024 was a defining year for us. We were hit with the largest domestic disaster season we’ve seen since COVID, including several back-to-back U.S. landfalling hurricanes. From an operational standpoint, that level of demand stretched our systems and our team in a way we hadn’t experienced before.

To put the scale in perspective, we typically receive about 100 to 300 requests for assistance each day. In 2024, we had multiple days when we saw 2,000 or more requests come in. As a nonprofit, you’re always operating at the margins of what you’re prepared for, so that volume required us to accelerate our capacity quickly. We issued more grants in 4Q24 than we issued in all of 2023.

Because of that, 2025 was about execution and ensuring the experience we provide to both applicants and corporate clients is second to none. For us, it comes down to a trifecta: trust, transparency, and speed. No matter what kind of disaster strikes or when it happens, our goal is to be ready and to move money to people as quickly and reliably as possible.

How does E4E Relief support individuals and businesses in ways that differentiate it from other organizations?

At the core, we have the ability to give money directly to an individual in the moment they need it most. That crisis might be a disaster like a hurricane, or it might be something personal, such as a death in the family. As long as someone is an eligible class member under a program, they can apply and we can provide assistance directly to them.

We’ve invested heavily in technology to make this near real time. If an application comes in, we make a decision, and when someone is awarded a grant, the funds can reach them within about an hour of accepting the award. We also partner with payment providers so people have options. We’re not just mailing checks — recipients can choose ACH, direct-to-debit, or whatever method is most convenient for getting urgent funds quickly.

There are few organizations that can deliver that kind of direct impact at scale. We believe that when you support an individual in a timely way, the effect ripples outward. Helping one person stabilize their situation ultimately strengthens the community they live and work in. Corporations exist within communities, and when those communities are struggling, businesses feel it. In many ways, we serve as the bridge between corporate support and individual recovery.

I’ve also realized that the phrase “emergency financial relief” doesn’t always land clearly unless you already know our work. So I’ve been leaning more into explaining it simply: We provide money directly to people, in a fast and flexible way, through programs that clients can customize depending on the needs they want to address.

A metaphor I’ve been using lately is that we’re a domino that prevents other dominoes from falling. It’s not just about the $500 someone might receive; it’s what that $500 prevents in the weeks and months afterward. If a person can pay rent and buy food, they gain stability. That stability shows up at home, at work, and in the broader community. The grant is what we execute well, but the deeper value is why we execute it.

In Charlotte, I don’t know of another organization that can provide charitable, direct-to-individual financial relief at the scale we can. Our parent organization, Foundation for the Carolinas, is exceptional in administering unique programs, and our role is being able to distribute relief quickly and equitably — even if that means handing out 1,000 grants in a single day. That kind of reach is powerful.

We’ve been doing this work for 25 years. It started after 9/11 with a call to the foundation, and over the last five to 10 years, we’ve focused on scaling our execution. Even with that history, we still operate like a startup in many ways, but now with the ability to deliver at real scale. I’m incredibly proud of our team. We’re nearly 100 people in Charlotte, serving more than 200 corporate clients, including 55 Fortune 500 companies, and doing this work every day.

What are you hearing from corporate partners regarding workforce challenges, and where can E4E Relief step in?

This is something we wrestle with regularly because the list of events impacting people keeps growing year after year. For example, we just had a government shutdown last month. A surprising number of employed people rely on government support for food and essentials, and we had to think through how we help our corporate partners understand that this can be an eligible occurrence under their programs.

A big challenge is that policies can’t possibly name every scenario. They don’t say “government shutdown,” or “crisis in a city,” but those situations can still create urgent hardship. Even in a year when we prepared for U.S. disasters and didn’t see the hurricane volume we expected, we saw a rise in geopolitical and economic pressures affecting households in unpredictable ways.

Think about the K-shaped economy and how fragile some people’s support systems have become. If a grandparent who helps with childcare suddenly has to relocate, a family may face unexpected daycare costs overnight. That wasn’t part of anyone’s plan, but it’s a real crisis that can destabilize someone’s life quickly.

Every corporation wants its people to be cared for, and they should want to have a program that supports employees when they need it most. The challenge is that you don’t know when that moment will come. There’s also risk in running relief programs in-house because it’s hard to guarantee consistency and equity. That’s where we step in. We administer the program, make the decisions, and treat every application by the same standard without bias. That protects employees and reduces corporate risk.

If we can deliver these programs efficiently and fairly, it becomes a no-brainer for companies to provide this kind of support.

What does proper funding and support look like for the nonprofit sector?

One thing I think about a lot is the difference between being a nonprofit with an earned-revenue model, like we are, versus nonprofits that rely almost entirely on fundraising. We’re fortunate that we can stay focused on executing our mission instead of spending so much time trying to procure funding — and I don’t take that for granted.

I’ve participated in a few SHARE Charlotte sessions, which bring nonprofit leaders together, and I’ve walked away struck by how many organizations are forced to devote huge portions of their energy to fundraising instead of mission delivery. I think we collectively need a better model that allows nonprofits to execute their vision without constantly being pulled away to chase funding.

Just because an organization is a nonprofit doesn’t mean it isn’t a business. It means that everything it generates gets reinvested into bettering the community and serving the people it exists for. If we want nonprofits to be successful, we need to give them the time and runway to execute their mission — not spend all their time trying to find resources to survive.