ygap Newsletter - June 2019


Note from our CEO

Hello ygap community,


It is with great honour and gratitude that I mark my first 12 months as CEO of ygap. It has by no means been an easy year  (we don’t do easy at ygap!) but together with my incredible team and our partners, we are ready to charge in to the new financial year. 

Thank you for your ongoing support and commitment to ygap as we continue to expand and grow our impact in the regions that need it most. We are so proud of the achievements over the past year and look forward to sharing our annual impact report with you shortly.

Many of you would have noticed, we ran our first program based fundraising appeal with an ambitious goal of raising $150,000 towards the launch of the yher 2019 global Program.

This was the first time that we asked our community to support one of our impact programs and we are so grateful to see a strong commitment raising $143,433 for the emerging female leaders in developing regions.

It has also been full steam ahead in all other areas of our work:

  • We ran our third First Gens accelerator in Seymour, with 12 impressive migrant and refugee founders tackling local problems in their communities. 
  • We recruited six of the most promising social impact ventures which are focused on ending violence against children for our first  evac (ending violence against children) accelerator in July
  • We brought the entire impact team, board and impact committee together to start our work on our strategy for the next few years. 
  • We have just wrapped up the first part of the Gender Lens Incubation and Acceleration Toolkit Pilot, where 6 intermediaries from across SEA  appointed Chief Development Officer; Victoria Cosgrove, Campaign Manager; Carolyn Dimech; and Events & Ambassador Manager; Georgia Prescott.

Thank you for being on this journey with us! Until next time, we will be right here Backing Local Change.

Kind regards,

Manita Ray

Support ygap

Our Third First Gens Accelerator

After a thorough selection process, we recruited 12 of the most promising social impact entrepreneurs for the third First Gens Cohort.

It is a unique opportunity to see 12 individuals from all walks of life; different backgrounds, ages, genders and dreams, coming together under one roof to tackle some of Australia’s most prominent problems.

Their visions and ventures ranged from focusing on water sanitation to financial literacy, to employment opportunities. 

These inspiring entrepreneurs showed us the power of unity and collaboration as we dove deep into their business models. As much as we were the facilitators for them, they all worked in a peer to peer feedback and review model, proven to be the most powerful approach for redefining business models focused on social change.

The entrepreneurs have now been matched with mentors as they enter the support phase of the program in preparation for the Showcase Event later this year.

For more information on the First Gens Program, upcoming events and how you can be involved contact adelide.mutinda@ygap.org

First Gens 2019 Gallery

Our Third First Gens Accelerator

The Ending Violence Against Children (evac) Accelerator has been specifically designed to support social impact ventures focusing on trauma prevention and trauma recovery programs for children who are at risk of or have suffered violence.

Through supporting close to 500 entrepreneurs, we have learned that the entrepreneurs within the same sector, leverage from shared experiences, challenges and learnings. By creating an environment where they all come together in a peer-to-peer accelerator model, they have the potential to further strengthen their ventures.

We found six of the most powerful ventures in this sector for our first evac program:

We invite you to meet these entrepreneurs at our ‘Showcase’ on July 18th, to hear about the powerful work that they are leading in ending violence against children here in Australia.

Follow this link for more information about the event or contact sydney.mclennan@ygap.org with any questions you may have.


Meet our Newest Team Members!


What are we looking forward to this month…

– The yher Pacific team will be uniting in Suva, Fiji, talking to our local partners about the upcoming delivery of the program and other collaborative development projects.

– Our first ever evac Accelerator running mid-July facilitated by a long-term ygap friend and internationally renown superstar, Louka Perry!

– Simon Lee, our GM of Impact, coming home from holidays. #HurryUp