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Breakout Session Speaker - Online Event
With a wealth of experience in the non-profit sector, Yolanda F. Johnson is both a philanthropy and fundraising expert, successfully having led fundraising operations for a wide range of nonprofit organizations, launching creative event, sponsorship and marketing initiatives that produced new streams of both contributed and earned income. Her fundraising expertise includes securing foundation, corporate, and government funding and cultivating a diverse major gifts portfolio. Her philanthropic work includes counseling philanthropists on where to direct their resources, and through her own YFJ Philanthropies, she personally gives back to causes supporting racial and gender equity, those with disabilities and the arts.
In addition to leading YFJ Consulting, LLC, Yolanda is the Founder of WOC, Women of Color in Fundraising and Philanthropy® and Founder of Allies in Action Membership Network in addition to the President of Women In Development, NY (WID). Yolanda has also had an outstanding career as a performing artist, as a composer, as a producer, as an educator, and she has used her background as a performer to become a sought-after fundraising and philanthropy expert.
Her leadership roles include: serving as an International Advisory Board member and the former Representative for the Foundation for Post Conflict Development to the United Nations; a member of the board of directors of the Lehman College Art Gallery; a member of the board of trustees of the Hudson River Museum, Special Advisor to the American Composers Orchestra and a member of the PowHerNY board of directors. A trailblazing figure on the national fundraising landscape, Yolanda is the first African American President in the 40-year history of WID. She co-established the WID Diversity and Inclusion Task Force and is often a featured expert on incorporating DEI initiatives into organizational culture. Her public speaking portfolio includes keynote presenter, panel expert and panel moderator in addition to an array of powerful workshops created through YFJ Consulting. Yolanda is also a member of the Chronicle of Philanthropy Advisory Committee of national leaders in the non-profit sector.
Crafting her life as a successful performing artist together with her prowess as a non-profit leader, she developed All the World’s A Stage, a special workshop using performance practice for getting what one wants out of fundraising, philanthropy and life. She presents All the World’s A Stage to audiences across the country. Yolanda is the Worship Leader/Music Director at the church she attends, a member of Sigma Alpha Iota International Women’s Music Fraternity and the Westchester Chamber Soloists Orchestra. She holds a B.A. in Voice (Music Performance) and an M.A. in Arts Administration with a focus on Fundraising and Events and is the author of various publications and articles on topics in fundraising and philanthropy.
