About Proximity
proximity [prok-sim-i-tee] noun: nearness in space, time, or relationship
Leveraging decades of expertise, deep roots, and broad networks, Proximity helps organizations engage in social impact with confidence by helping them grow their knowledge, develop clear goals and strategies and implement plans that ultimately lead to greater impact.
About Yvonne Thomas
Yvonne has spent more than two decades working in and across philanthropy, communities, nonprofit organizations, and the private and public sector. Proximity is centered in the most important learnings she gained over two decades working with people and communities around the world: you can only truly be a good partner when you get close and develop an understanding of the issues, causes and communities you care about and then determine how you can uniquely make an impact.
Yvonne has worked with people and organizations across more than 60 countries. She has deep expertise in strategy, program design, relationship and partnership management and capacity building. She has a unique ability to bring together diverse stakeholders, solicit input, and design strategies, partnerships and programs that are authentic, clear, responsive to the needs of the community and deliver results that create meaningful impact with measurable outcomes. This knowledge and experience makes Yvonne well suited to support a wide range of social issues and geographic interest areas.
Prior to launching Proximity, Yvonne was the director of global programs for Microsoft Philanthropies, responsible for global strategy, programs and partnerships across more than 60 countries. Throughout her tenure at Microsoft, she developed and led high-impact, global and national initiatives and teams spanning a range of issues areas.
Before joining Microsoft, Yvonne worked in the nonprofit sector with a focus on youth development.
Yvonne has served on a variety of committees and boards including the boards of The World Bank Solutions for Youth Employment Initiative, the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA), the Central Area Community Festival and the King County Play Equity Coalition. She’s currently a member of the board of directors of the Auction of Washington Wines and the King County Parks Levy Oversight Board.
Yvonne lives in the Seattle area with her family.
“When you get proximate to the excluded and the disfavored, you learn things that you need to understand if we’re going to change the world. Our understanding of how we change things comes in proximity to inequality, to injustice. Proximity will empower you.”
-Bryan Stevenson, Founder, Equal Justice Initiative; Author, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption. Excerpt from Bates College 152nd Commencement, May 2018