Positive Futures Network is an independent, nonprofit organization supporting people’s active engagement in creating a just, sustainable, and compassionate world.

The Positive Futures Network (PFN) and its publication YES! magazine start with the belief that we need deep change if we are to avoid the breakdown of society and the natural world.

Our hope lies in the fact that millions of people around the world are creating the needed changes in their homes, communities, work places, and nations. Powerful innovations are taking hold within agriculture, businesses, criminal justice, schools--virtually every sector of society.

The work of the Positive Futures Network is to give visibility and momentum to these signs of an emerging society in which life, not money, is what counts; in which everyone matters; and in which vibrant, inclusive communities offer prosperity, security, and meaningful ways of life.

YES!
We are best known for YES! magazine. Our quarterly magazine invites readers to be part of a global community of change makers.

Each issue focuses on a theme, showing the possibilities and practical steps that can lead us all to a more positive future. In each issue you also find book reviews, practical advice for living more sustainably, the page that counts, special features, columns, and short "indicators."

Education Outreach
The YES! Education Connection Program supports educators and students in creating a more just and sustainable world. Educators can inform and inspire students by using positive YES! stories about solutions to real world challenges in class.

Teachers can apply online for a free one-year introductory subscription and find curricular resources and links to educational organizations working to shape a better future on the Education Connection's Resources for Teachers. The YES! Earth Charter Curricular Module ties YES! stories to the Earth Charter's principles and includes discussion questions, glossaries, and resources. The YES! Peace and Justice Curricular Module offers YES! stories of people solving tough problems nonviolently and includes discussion questions, glossaries, and resources. Teachers can also sign up to receive the YES! Education Connection News monthly email newsletter to get a dose of good news to use in class.

Outreach to journalists and leaders
The strong message of vision and action found in each issue of YES! makes it a valuable tool for activists and journalists. YES! is widely distributed at conferences and study groups, in faith-based settings, among elected officials, as background for stories in newspapers and magazines and on radio and television programs.

Our Website: www.yesmagazine.org
Our Website amplifies the reach of the stories we publish in YES! to hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world, many of whom may not have access to the hard-copy publication. We also use the Web to respond quickly to events such as the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the war in Iraq. We post discussion guides to each issue of YES! and links to relevant events and organizations readers can draw on to make change happen.

Books
In 2003, we published Making Peace: Healing a Violent World. In turbulent times, this book shows the power and practicality of alternatives to violence, hate, and domination. Making Peace presents alternatives through stories told by some of the world's great thinkers and activists, including Joanna Macy, Jamal Rahman, Michael Nagler, and others.

In 2000, we published Saying Yes! Conversations on a World that Works for All, a collection of some of the best interviews by Sarah Ruth van Gelder. The book features some of the most visionary contributors to YES!, providing a glimpse into exciting possibilities for social transformation.

Networking
How can we overcome the fragmentation of our social movements to generate real momentum for transformational change? One way is to bring together social change leaders from diverse movements and backgrounds in a space where they can develop trust with one another and discuss the best of the possibilities that lie ahead. That is what we at YES! did from 1999 to 2004, when we held 10 "State of the Possible" retreats for over 200 leaders.

In 2006, we published a booklet Movement Building for Transformational Change: Bringing Together Diverse Leaders for Connection and Vision by Fran Korten and Roberto Vargas. They tell of strategies used at the retreats for helping people open themselves to one another and see the underlying common basis of their work in a long historical context.

Speakers Bureau, conferences, and information sharing
A new speakers bureau, now on line, draws from the State of the Possible retreat participants to help conference organizers find diverse, positive speakers for their events.

Our staff and board members also frequently speak at conferences designed to inspire and engage people in creative change and we co-sponsor many of these conferences.

Through each of these activities the Positive Futures Network helps build the momentum for change so needed at this critical time of danger and opportunity.

Radio
Board chair David Korten, executive editor Sarah Ruth van Gelder, and executive director Fran Korten are all regularly interviewed on radio programs across the nation about current crises and possibilities for positive change.