Yaël Ouzillou
Yaël is the Founder of Y’alla Collaborative – a development and fundraising consulting firm. Y’alla Collaborative partners with clients to provide a wide range of services from building deep and lasting relationships with investors and allies, front-line fundraising, a full development department assessment, recommendations and action plans, creating and implementing plans for a major donor program, onboarding and mentoring staff, filling short-term and urgent capacity needs, and more.
In the last few years, Yaël has worked with progressive C3 and C4 groups across the country. The portfolio of work has ranged from creating a development plan, helping launch new organizations by building out the structures for sustainable growth, building capacity within the development department, creating a major donor plan, board and staff development, hiring and mentoring staff, and more.
Prior to launching Y’alla Collaborative, Yaël served as a Deputy Finance Director for the South-Central region for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. In that capacity, Yaël created, implemented and led an 18-month fundraising strategy for a five-state region. Yaël hired and mentored a diverse team of six to drive financial and donor related activities that ultimately raised over $40 million in the region. Prior to joining the Hillary for America campaign, Yaël was a partner in RYLO Consulting where clients included Texas Organizing Project, William Jefferson Clinton Foundation, Share Our Strength, Marc Veasey for Congress, and others.
Yaël started an eight-year stint in Washington, D.C. working as part of the development staff for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) where she supervised and implemented direct mail campaigns along with national events. She later worked for the Democratic National Committee, EMILY’s List, and then as the National Finance Director for Senator Jean Carnahan.
Yaël and her family returned to their home state of Texas where her career began working with the Texas Democratic Party and the late Governor Ann Richards. Today, Yaël continues to help progressive candidates, causes, and non-profits light a lasting fire to fuel their cause. Her guiding philosophy is based on the understanding that successful development depends on strong planning and strategic marketing. This means no two clients are alike, because you build off the strengths of the candidate, the appeal of the cause, while at the same time building strong relationships and maintaining a tight organization.
