We launched YANA in 2011 with an ambitious vision that united, and excited, all of us: to organize and leverage the collective power of Yale’s nonprofit alumni network for the greater social good.
How big is this network? We estimate that at least 2 out of 3 Yale alumni (that’s over 100,000 alums!) are involved in the nonprofit and social enterprise sectors as executive directors, practitioners, board members, donors or volunteers. In a little over 5 years, YANA has already grown to include more than 1,700 participants.
YANA members live and work around the world, and YANA is closely involved with current students and campus life through our Fellows Program. We also have a Nonprofit Mentorship Program. We are a diverse group, but we have both Yale and a passion to improve the world in common. We share our wisdom and experience, exchange ideas and learn from collaborators. We are creating scalable, replicable models for many things that we do, especially chapter formation and growth.
Our all-volunteer organization has been recognized as Yale’s Outstanding Alumni Shared Interest Group for 2013, and received Yale’s Outstanding Alumni Shared Interest Group award for Volunteer Engagement and Leadership for 2014, 2015 and 2016. YANA has enhanced countless lives through our innovative programming, including the YANA Roundtables, YANA Fellows, and its recent social enterprise conference, “Turning Vision into Reality.”