Alumni Reflections: Laura Loescher

I attended my first week-long YES! event in the Summer of 2002.  It was a facilitation training held in a Jam-like setting.  What a gift that experience was in my life at that time, as the young co-founder of Changemakers, a national foundation working to change the culture and practice of philanthropy.  It was there that Ocean Robbins, YES!’s Founder/Director, and I began a conversation about collaborating to host a “philanthropy jam” for young people involved in the field. This idea later evolved into the first Leveraging Privilege for Social Change Jam (LPSC) in the spring of 2003. I had the great privilege of co-facilitating or being on the leadership team for the first four of the LPSC Jams. After my Jam involvement, I served on YES!’s board and also worked closely with the staff on developing and growing the organization. 

The connections I formed in the container of safety and trust of the Jams have been some of the most profoundly influential relationships of my adult life.  This is true for me both personally and professionally, in lasting friendships and strong collaborative work relationships.  In addition, my ongoing relationship with YES! as an organization and alumni community has shaped and clarified my purpose, broadened my sense of what is possible, and given me courage to build bridges across the difficult divides of race and class, as well as philosophy and strategy for change.

I am currently the Executive Director of a small foundation that supports artists, healers, activists and movements that are linking ecological, cultural, economic, and social transformation to create the conditions for all people and the planet to thrive.  The YES! community is part of my organization’s developmental story.  Soon after starting the foundation, one of my colleagues and I attended an LPSC Jam together.  The deepening of our relationship and the network of people we met at the Jam has been impactful on our organization.  We take an informal, relationship-based approach to our work.  We are conscious of the power dynamic inherent in the philanthropic relationship between grant giver and grant seeker.  What I explored at the Jams around privilege, race and class has been very influential in how I maintain relationships with colleagues and grantees.  I try to offer an authentic, respectful, kind, flexible way of relating to people.

Another takeaway from the Jams has been the growth in my capacity to have awkward or difficult conversations, and to speak directly to challenging dynamics as they arise. Having the experience of being fully received and accepted has enabled me to show up with that courage and presence outside of the Jam setting.  The experience of developing really deep loving connections with people in a short amount of time has raised the bar for me on what’s possible in relating to people across historical divides.  An 18-month training with Be Present, which I joined as a result of being exposed to the work at the Jam, also helped deepen this capacity.

My experience at the Jams and in the YES! community has also shaped my belief that in order to create truly healthy systems, transformation must take place on the individual, community, and societal levels.  It is a fundamentally organic and integrated process.  Change on one level is valuable but incomplete.  Without change on all levels, we lack the ability to truly transform the world.  This understanding is central to how we decide what to fund and support.

My involvement with YES! as an organization, outside of the Jam context, has influenced all my work.  YES! has taken on the difficult but rewarding task of operating in alignment with a set of principles that aren’t particularly conventional in the nonprofit world.  From a shared leadership structure, to consensus decision-making, to a commitment to openly and honestly working through challenges as they arise, YES! has experimented with and modeled for me the possibility of doing things differently.  I’ve learned how to establish the minimal amount of conventional structure to keep things workable for everyone, but then to be very experimental within that. This learning is integrated into all aspects of how my organization is structured, how we do our planning, what we choose to fund and how we make decisions.

The network of friends and colleagues that I met through the Jams is a core part of my social change community.  I have consistent ongoing connection with at least 25 Jam alumni, and periodic communication through work or play with at least that many more.  Our foundation has supported at least ten organizations founded by or run by Jam alumni, and we have made individual awards to several others.

Knowing that there is a substantial global YES! community just an email away, and that in a moment’s notice I could tap into the wisdom and support of hundreds of people around the world, is an incredibly valuable resource.  Seeing how members of this community show up for each other is so inspiring.  When times get dark we need that sense of community, friendship, and kinship to keep us buoyed and hopeful.  This helps us stay standing in the place of possibility rather than shrinking in despair.

Laura Loescher is the Executive Director of Aepoch Fund, a foundation supporting artists, healers, activists and movements that are linking ecological, cultural, economic, and social transformation to create the conditions for all people and the planet to thrive. Laura was co-founder and former director of Changemakers. She is also a leadership coach and philanthropic/investment advisor to individuals who are devoting their lives and resources to inner and outer transformation.