Building Champions for Equity, One Bold Step at a Time

Sparks

This story is part of the Architects of Impact series, highlighting stories of innovation that demonstrate how our Community is mobilizing to ensure a world that works for all people and the planet.

In a sector often slow to move and risk-averse by design, Next Gen Forward Global Member Sparks brings a different energy: urgent, candid, and deeply grounded in community. Sparks is Executive Director of the Masto Foundation, her family’s foundation which is rooted in the Japanese-American community and committed to promoting diversity, equity, and justice by investing in grassroots social change. Since joining Forward Global, Sparks has become a beacon for the kind of member-led action that defines our Community at its best.

Before leading her family’s foundation, Sparks spent years in philanthropy, closely examining how the field can both uplift and overlook underserved communities. That lens, combined with the Masto Foundation’s roots in a BIPOC community and a history shaped by Japanese-American incarceration, gives her a sharp awareness of how formal philanthropy often reinforces existing power structures.

Inspired by Family Legacy

A trust-based ethos is central to how Sparks operates. She credits her grandfather, the foundation’s namesake, as the origin of her philosophy. A Japanese-American businessman who concealed his identity during a time of intense anti-Asian racism, he built wealth quietly, often partnering with white business owners just to be allowed in the room. 

“My entire life was shaped by a typo—my grandfather’s name was recorded as ‘Masto’ on his birth certificate instead of ‘Masuto,’ and because of that, people didn’t know he was Japanese,” Sparks says. “It gave him access, but he used it to bring others in. That’s my model for philanthropy.”

That sense of responsibility to use her access and platform to shift systems is what makes Sparks such a valued voice within Forward Global. “What I love about this community is there’s no prescribed way to show up here,” she says. “You come as you are, and you’re encouraged to think creatively, to grow, to challenge old models. That’s what keeps me excited. And the accountability is real—it’s not performative.”

Changing How Power Moves

Sparks’ key catalytic contribution to date is the creation of the Champion Fund, an initiative that emerged through Forward Global’s Women’s Power and Influence (WPI) Matching Grant program. The Champion Fund’s origins trace back to a moment of both personal resonance and broader structural critique.

Sparks had just joined Forward Global in 2022 after learning about the first round of the WPI matching grant through a fellow Asian American Pacific Islander funder. “I didn’t know about Forward Global before that,” she says. “But someone told me I should look into the matching grant, and once I did, I was floored. We matched over half of our grantmaking budget through that initiative. For a small family foundation, which almost exclusively funds BIPOC-led organizations with budgets under $1 million, that was a game changer.”

At the 2025 Forward Global Summit, when the second iteration of the WPI Initiative was announced, Sparks saw a deeper and timely opportunity for the Community to take action. “When I looked at the broader landscape, I realized that without some kind of intentional push, these matched funds—though well-meaning—could end up replicating the same inequities we say we want to change,” she says. “So I raised my hand.”

That instinct to step up, as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and LGBTQ initiatives were increasingly under attack, became the momentum for something bigger. Sparks worked closely with Forward Global staff, advisors from Masto’s Trust Black Women Initiative, and peers in the WPI community to design what would become the Champion Fund: a pooled fund eligible for the WPI match, which is intentionally responsive to urgent community needs, prioritizing organizations under threat of systemic exclusion or being targeted based on their identities, social justice advocacy efforts, or commitment to DEI.

“We called it the Champion Fund because underserved communities that have been denied access to wealth-building opportunities need more champions in philanthropy. People inside our networks are willing to stand up, to fight the systemic inequities, and put their resources behind it,” Sparks says. “This is about shifting how power moves in philanthropy.”

Since its launch, the Champion Fund now supports several organizations led by those most impacted by injustice and best positioned to drive systems change. Grantees include the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the Asian American Women’s Political Initiative, the Urban Indian Health Institute’s Protecting the Sacred initiative, and the trans-led Action for Transformation Fund—each advancing equity through legal advocacy, political power-building, public health, and grassroots organizing.

“These are a perfect example of what’s possible when you trust people who are proximate to the issue—and get out of their way,” says Sparks.

A Guide for the Future Generation of Innovators

Looking ahead, Sparks is doubling down on making philanthropy more accessible, inclusive, and equitable, especially for the next generation. “A lot of Next Gen folks are opting out of philanthropy altogether because they’re turned off by the current state of capitalism in our country,” she says. “But I want to get them excited. If I can encourage just one or two Next Gen folks, people with new ideas and fresh energy, to lean into their giving—that’s the real multiplier effect.”

With the Champion Fund now serving as a blueprint for member-led, equity-driven innovation, Sparks is hopeful that others will follow suit. If she can lead a movement for gender equity funding, there’s no doubt that she can rally other young wealth holders to step into their power to tackle the challenges they care about most, too. “This isn’t about creating something for ourselves to feel good about,” she says. “It’s about redistributing power. It’s about showing up. And it’s about building a future where champions aren’t the exception—they’re the norm.”

She sees Forward Global as uniquely positioned to support that shift of courageous giving. “The people here don’t get stuck in analysis paralysis. They act,” she says. “And that’s what communities like mine need right now—people who move beyond words and take a stand.”

How will you take a stand in your community?