Emily Bender joined IDC as Development Officer in 2025. She leads IDC's fundraising strategy and development efforts, working to grow individual and institutional support for the coalition's global work to end immigration detention.

Emily brings over a decade of experience in various roles including fundraising, communications, and community engagement in the nonprofit and immigrant rights sectors. Prior to IDC, she served as Associate Director of Development at Church World Service (CWS), where she led the development team tasked with fundraising, volunteer coordination, communications, and strategic partnerships in support of refugee resettlement, children on the move, and legal services programs. Earlier in her career, she worked as a Protection Counselor with UNHCR in Washington, D.C., where she managed a national hotline for asylum seekers in detention, led casework and country condition research, and coordinated with regional offices.

Emily believes in the power of storytelling to shift narratives and mobilize resources for systemic change, and she is deeply committed to ethical, values-based fundraising rooted in equity, dignity, and solidarity.