Y2Y’s new director of philanthropic partnerships brings big-hearted energy to our team and our growing community of supporters.
There’s a 70-year-old man in the northeast United States who has designated Y2Y as a beneficiary of his estate. He doesn’t live near the Rockies, so why would he choose to support Y2Y? His father took him to Yellowstone National Park as a child, where he saw his first grizzly bear, and the region has since had a special place in his heart.
That story of a memory creating a lifelong love of nature is one of the reasons why Cathy Kerkam joined Y2Y as our new director of philanthropic partnerships.
Behind the scenes with Cathy
Cathy is based near the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C. She is a dedicated outdoor enthusiast who enjoys hiking, fly fishing, gardening, and exploring beautiful landscapes.
She comes to Y2Y with decades of fundraising experience at some of North America’s most respected conservation organizations. She enjoys inspiring people, growing communities of support, and finding the thread of connection that causes people to care about nature and give generously to conserve it.
“You don’t have to live in the Yellowstone to Yukon corridor to love it and the extraordinary wildlife found there,” she says. “In fact, many people who live far away, even on the east coast, are passionate about this region and have connections to it. It is exciting to be part of something this hopeful.”
“You don’t have to live in the Yellowstone to Yukon corridor to love it and the extraordinary wildlife found there.”
Cathy joined Y2Y because she was impressed with the organization’s bold goals, its steady leadership and scientific approach, and its concrete and measurable conservation successes.
And now Y2Y has recently been named a finalist for the 2026 Earthshot Prize, further demonstrating Y2Y’s leadership! Read more about the Earthshot Prize at: y2y.net/earthshot.
Cathy’s goal? To share her love of the region and to inspire more people to learn about and support our work. It’s all about fueling Y2Y’s important conservation work to ensure that wildlife and people can thrive in this wonderful mountain region.
We’re thrilled to have her join our team, and even more thrilled to introduce her to you. Welcome, Cathy!
Explore the many ways to show how much you love nature: y2y.net/donate/ways-to-give
Learn more about this amazing region
The journeys that inspire Y2Y’s work, seen from space
Researchers across the Yellowstone-to-Yukon region combine high-resolution animal tracking with NASA satellite imagery to map the movements of wildlife across western North America.
Nature’s vacuum cleaner
Natural ecosystems are powerful climate tools, pulling carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the atmosphere, and locking it away in forests, soils, and peatlands. This reduces the greenhouse effect and keeps the planet cooler. With this in mind, Y2Y’s science team set out to measure how powerful the Yellowstone to Yukon region really is.
Y2Y honors 94 years of cross-border collaboration
This handshake follows in the footsteps of Rotary Clubs on both sides of the border who created the world’s first Peace Park in the Crown of the Continent, a 10-million-acre transboundary ecosystem. The Rotarians cross-border partnership continues to inspire conservation across boundaries to this day.
