Who We Are

YES! is a vibrant and dynamic body of people – staff, board, program partners, constituents, and supporters – on a learning journey, seeking to live and work more consciously in alignment with our values.  Some of our current conversations and endeavors include: creating meaningful relationships for true social change, operating internally on principles of collective leadership, and exploring deeper global partnerships that honor local wisdom.

Our organization and program principles focus on restoring balance and sustainability; means-to-end consistency; partnerships across historic divides; and intentional space for the role of love and spirit.  YES! brings these core elements into social change movements worldwide by convening transformational gatherings and building lasting partnerships with diverse social entrepreneurs.

Staff Letter from our Annual Report

Greetings,

This has been a very significant year for us here at YES!.  We entered into our fiscal year and fundraising season as the stock market crashed and a number of our donors lost much if not all of their life savings.  Fundraising numbers were dismal, but our spirits remained strong.  Many people stretched to give generously and keep YES! afloat, as we reconfigured internally to adjust to the harsh budget climate.  Some of our fundraising house parties shifted into support circles for people struggling to weather the storm, maintain their vision, and keep the important work of our times going.  Within YES!, we did our part to figure out how to do more with less, hosting retreats in staff and board homes, personally sharing food potluck style at events, and having family and friends support travel and volunteer efforts.  With our grounding in community, people have pulled and pushed through together.

We have been exploring what it takes for us to co-create a thriving, just and sustainable way of life for all, and how to support partnership for real change.  We have been transitioning from a founder-led organization to one of collaborative leadership.  We have been lifting up the gifts, talents and skills of all the staff and our program partners.  This has allowed our founder to have a more sustainable life, as well as the opportunity for the rest of the YES! team to step more fully into leadership within the organization. 

We would like to share with you some of the notable organizational shifts that illustrate our transition into a collaboratively run organization. Tiffany, after working with YES! for seven years, most recently as Program Manager, has become YES!’s Co-Director. Ocean, our founder, is our other Co-Director. Julie, our National Community Coordinator, has taken on significant programmatic responsibilities to facilitate this transition and is working in tandem with our Development Manager, Nga, to continue to support the organization with a focus on values-aligned fundraising. Our Operations Manager, Lorin, has been taking on the facilitation of many in-house meetings and retreats, and works closely with our bookkeeper, Romy, and both are the “glue” that keeps the office together. And last May, our Program Associate, Jenny, moved on after more than three years of loving, diligent work for the organization.

Shifts are also occurring in our work with our national and international program partners.  Together we have been implementing some of our primary values at YES! including: means-to-end consistency, honoring diverse forms of leadership and perspectives, and matching authority with responsibility, so that the people most impacted by the need to carry out a decision have the most influence in shaping it.  Partners from the main YES! program areas gathered with YES! staff at our Program Committee meeting to allocate YES!’s program budget and identify this year’s related goals and priorities.  At that gathering, we committed to expand local and multi-generational work, engage 18–25 year old potential participants, explore and develop our support of alumni, cultivate future YES! facilitators through our programs and continue to implement challenging and meaningful evaluation or our work and programs.

Finally, on the Board level we have brought on two new members, Cate Coslor and AustinWillacy. Both have had strong programmatic engagement with YES! and are passionate and capable partners to our mission.  And, three amazing Board Members, Kimberly Carter, Laura Loescher, and Richard Glantz, transitioned out but remain committed to supporting YES! in different ways.  We give thanks to them and look forward to their continued involvement. 

Many of you know YES! as being synonymous with our dear friend and founder, Ocean. As our staff and organizing partners step into more responsibility and leadership, we greet spaciousness for growth, development and self-empowerment for all of us, including Ocean.  There is a new face of YES!—it is the many faces of all of us who make this work happen.  And we are committed to transformativesocial change—from the inside out.  As we step into each new stage of our evolution, we invite you to step into it as well.

With gratitude for your partnership, and enthusiasm for all we will yet do together,

Julie Pennington, Lorin Troderman, Nga Trinh-Halperin, Ocean Robbins, Romy Narayan and Tiffany Brown