Joel Embiid left Yaounde, Cameroon at 16 with a basketball dream, and he has never stopped sending opportunity back in both directions. In Philadelphia, the city he now calls home, his foundation backs the small neighborhood organizations doing the daily work with young people, and in 2026 that work comes home to Cameroon.
A Foundation That Carries His Brother's Name
Embiid's foundation work honors his younger brother Arthur, who died in a car accident in Cameroon in 2014, the year Embiid was drafted. Through his initiative, In Memory of Arthur, he makes grants to grassroots, community-led organizations in Philadelphia, with a deliberate focus on smaller nonprofits led by people from the neighborhoods they serve.
A Million Dollars for the City's Youth
The In Memory of Arthur Initiative is granting $1 million over three years to organizations serving Philadelphia's young people. The funding focuses on youth development, education, violence prevention and pathways to opportunity for underserved communities.
Showing Up in the Pandemic
When COVID-19 shut the city down in 2020, Embiid donated $500,000 toward relief efforts in the Philadelphia community. He also teamed up with the 76ers' owners to give $1.3 million to Penn Medicine in support of the frontline health care workers fighting the virus.
All-Star Winnings, Given Away
In 2021 Embiid committed his $100,000 in All-Star Game winnings to three Philadelphia organizations fighting homelessness: Project HOME, Sunday Breakfast Mission and Youth Service Inc. The money helped provide some 15,000 meals along with clothing, health care and summer camp for young people, and the 76ers matched his donation.
Bringing the Work Home
In 2026 the foundation expands into Cameroon, a multiyear effort built with the African Collaborative to back Cameroonian-led organizations. Its focus areas are youth and education, women and girls' empowerment, community health and entrepreneurship; more than 200 local organizations applied, with 44 meeting the vetting criteria.
Telling African Stories
Through Miniature Geant, the production company he launched in 2023 with LeBron James's SpringHill Company, Embiid tells authentic stories about sports and Africa. Its projects include a documentary on Cameroonian player Nkwain Kennedy, whose homemade workout videos carried him toward a professional career.
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