FWCC Welcomes Sarah Katreen Hoggatt as Advancement Coordinator

Sarah Katreen Hoggatt, Advancement Coordinator at FWCC
Sarah Katreen Hoggatt, Advancement Coordinator at FWCC

Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) is pleased to announce that Sarah Katreen Hoggatt has joined our team as the Advancement Coordinator. In this role, Sarah will focus on fundraising, communications, and strengthening connections within the global Quaker community. With a deep commitment to Quaker values and extensive experience in communications and nonprofit leadership, Sarah brings a wealth of expertise to FWCC’s mission of fostering unity among Friends worldwide.

Quaker Experience

A direct member of Sierra Cascades Yearly Meeting of Friends, Sarah was born and raised in Salem, Oregon, of the US Pacific Northwest, on lands of the Kalapuya peoples.

Sarah earned her bachelor’s degree from Oregon State University and went on to complete a Master of Arts in Christian Ministry, a certificate in Spiritual Formation, and a certification as a spiritual director at George Fox Evangelical Seminary (now Portland Seminary).

In 2008, Sarah was selected for the editorial board of Spirit Rising: Young Quaker Voices (English and Español). Working with fellow editors and learning about their diverse Quaker experiences deepened her appreciation for the many ways Friends around the world live out the Light within them. To promote the book, Sarah traveled throughout the Pacific Northwest, across the United States, and internationally, speaking about it in Europe and Kenya. While in Europe, she first connected with FWCC at the Europe and Middle East Section conference in Switzerland—an experience she treasures. Around the same time, she also became involved with Quakers Uniting in Publications, a community she continues to value today.

Sarah has served in many leadership roles within Quaker communities. At Freedom Friends Church, she worked as recording clerk and helped write its Faith and Practice. She later joined Northwest Yearly Meeting (NWYM), serving on its Board of Christian Education. When NWYM decided to cut off LGBTQIA-inclusive meetings, Sarah helped found Sierra Cascades Yearly Meeting of Friends (SCYMF). She initially served on the Faith and Practice Committee before being named co-presiding clerk from 2018 to 2022. One of her greatest joys in this role was looking out at all the faces during business meetings—”the best view in the house.”

During her time as co-presiding clerk, SCYMF recorded Sarah in ministry for writing, speaking, and spiritual direction. Since then, she has continued serving Quaker communities, including working on the planning committee for the 2023 FGC Gathering. She also enjoys organizing conferences and participating in clearness committees when called.

A Writer and Graphic Designer

At her core, Sarah is a writer. Since childhood, she has used writing—especially poetry—to express herself and share her perspective. Last summer, she published her sixth and seventh books: When the Ink Runs Dry and When the Questions Come, with an eighth book currently in progress. Her work (both articles and poems) has also appeared in Friends Journal and Western Friend.

Beyond writing, Sarah is a professional book designer and publisher, as well as an experienced editor. She is eager to bring her skills in publishing, design, and communications to FWCC’s work.

Welcome Sarah to FWCC!

Sarah will be working remotely from her hometown of Salem, Oregon. In her spare time, she enjoys drawing in pen and ink, hiking with her dog, learning classical guitar, reading, and Irish dancing.

We invite you to greet Sarah and welcome her at our Section of the Americas meeting in March. She is looking forward to spending time with our community and working alongside Friends worldwide.

FWCC Americas announces new Executive Secretary!

“I am honored for this opportunity to continue to serve the Religious Society of Friends on an international level, recommitting myself to be accountable, faithful and principled in seeking continuing revelation together in our global family.”
Evan WelkinNorth Pacific Yearly Meeting
Evan Welkin

The Friends World Committee for Consultation, Section of the Americas—the global fellowship association for the Religious Society of Friends—is pleased to announce that Evan Welkin, from North Pacific Yearly Meeting, has been appointed as the next Executive Secretary, starting July 15, 2024.

“Evan Welkin impressed us with his grasp of the breadth of Quakerism, his administrative capabilities including project management, fundraising, and grant-writing, and most importantly, his spiritual grounding and rootedness in Quaker process. The search committee relied heavily on the leading of the Holy Spirit during the entire process and we felt the prayers of many who are devoted to our very important work in FWCC. On behalf of the search committee, we thank you for your prayers and let us continue in prayer for Evan as he begins his new role.”
Brenda McKinneyFriends Church of North Carolina
Brenda McKinney

Evan Welkin is a member of Olympia Monthly Meeting (North Pacific Yearly Meeting), born and raised in the Cascadia region of the US Pacific Northwest on lands of the Siuslaw, Squaxin Island and Nisqually peoples. His grandparents Jack and Judy Brown (University Friends Meeting) became convinced Friends through their work with AFSC camps after the end of WWII. 

He holds a BA from Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA and Masters from Schumacher College in Totnes, Devon, UK. He is a graduate of the Guilford Quaker Leadership Scholars Program (QLSP) where he served as a Sojourning member released from Olympia MM to study theological diversity among evangelical, conservative, programmed and unprogrammed Friends in Guilford County. While in QLSP, he offered ministry at local meetings and churches, supported development of the QLSP Service Committee and received a Clarence and Lilly Pickett Fund for Quaker Leadership grant to survey meetings along the Eastern Seaboard. He participated in several service learning projects with the North Carolina Friends Disaster Service, advocated for graduates of the Ramallah Friends School targeted by campus violence at Guilford and received a Lyman Fund grant to join a Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) delegation to Israel and Palestine in 2008. While on the CPT delegation, he met his Italian future wife, Federica Faggioli, as she served as project coordinator on a EU-funded human rights monitoring project in the South Hebron Hills of the West Bank. Returning to the Pacific Northwest, Evan served as Clerk of Olympia Monthly Meeting’s Finance and Worship & Ministry Committees while beginning a career in management and community organizing with the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice, TOGETHER! of Thurston County and the Squaxin Island Tribe.  

He married Federica in 2012 under the care of Olympia Monthly Meeting and her Catholic community, the Pope John XXIII Association. From 2012 to 2015, Evan and Federica tested a leading to move to Italy while connecting with the FWCC Europe and Middle East Section and supporting Quakers in Italy to host an annual gathering of Italian Friends, held each year on the Faggioli family farm from 2016-2023. Their first son, Oliver, was born in 2014 as Evan founded a private consulting practice focusing on support for nonprofit development and network facilitation for clients including the Global Ecovillage Network, Climate Action Network-International, PEN America, the European Network of Community-Lead Climate Initiatives, the Global Fund for Children, and Permaculture for Refugees.

From 2016-2017, Evan completed the Young Adult Leadership Programme at Woodbrooke Learning and Quaker Study Centre in Birmingham, UK and served as Elder and Trustee of Europe and Middle East Young Friends.  In 2018 after the birth of their second son, Gabriel, the family found way open to move definitively to the farm and found an ecovillage, learning center and permaculture project called “Borgo Basino.” From 2020 to 2024 Borgo Basino served as a living, learning community connecting education, networking and wellness on a small multifunctional farm. Nestled in the hills outside of Bologna, Borgo Basino offered a hub for agricultural innovation, community wellness, and sustainable hospitality. Despite facing significant challenges caused by the COVID pandemic, Evan continued his work as a lecturer and administrator at the Spring Hill College Italy Center while leading activities with groups, interns and community members on the farm. In 2022, he began work for the FWCC in the Europe and Middle East Section (EMES), supporting communications and development of the EMES Peace and Service Network. He also served the FWCC World Office facilitating the Global Quaker Sustainability Network. In Spring 2023, massive landslides caused extensive damage to the farm and its only access road, provoking difficult discernment about the sustainability of the farm after many setbacks. In early 2024, Evan and his family made the difficult decision to leave the farm and return to the United States, trusting again that way would open to new possibilities. The opportunity to continue his vocation and career with the FWCC Americas Section is truly the continued realization of a personal dream, connecting Friends around the world in faith, spiritual formation and a deeper connection with all life on earth.  

In his spare time, Evan keeps bees, makes artwork and sails (and repairs!) wooden boats.

“It seems God is at work with loving and caring ways in FWCC Section of the Americas! I am so pleased Evan Welkin has agreed to join us to serve as Executive Secretary. I believe he will bring gifts to enhance our vision for the future of our Section. For this I am grateful.”
LaVonna LoeschGreat Plains Yearly Meeting, Presiding Clerk of the Section of the Americas
LaVonna Loesch

Evan's favorite verses

For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
- 2 Timothy 1:7 (NIV)

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
- Micah 6:8 (NIV)

Search for new General Secretary for the World Office

Gretchen Castle, FWCC General Secretary, steps down after eight years of service.

It’s with heavy hearts that we are sharing the news that Gretchen Castle, who has been FWCC’s General Secretary in the World Office in London since 2012, is stepping down.

Read Gretchen’s reflection on her time at FWCC to Friends worldwide.

Read the FWCC Clerk’s, letter of acknowledgement of Gretchen’s resignation.

To find the job description, and application process for the next General Secretary, see our General Secretary Search.

Introducing Heather Gosse, New Operations Manager

Heather Gosse, our new bilingual Operations Manager, began October 3, 2018!  She brings a wide variety of experiences from the business, educational, and Quaker worlds.  Heather is a member of Monteverde Friends Meeting in Costa Rica, where she lived for almost ten years and where she was highly involved in the life of the Meeting.  She is particularly interested in the different ways people express their experience of Quakerism, and worked within Monteverde Meeting to help people connect with and use their own authentic religious language.

Previously, she was a member and clerk of the Finance Committee for Goshen Monthly Meeting in Pennsylvania. She has a degree in economics from Oberlin College and has taught middle school science at Friends Select School, Monteverde Friends School and Wilmington Friends School.  She was previously a small business manager and an economics research analyst.

She will take over scheduling our Zoom calls and Doodle Polls. In addition to the regular donation processing, financial management and newsletter, she will be managing the Representative Engagement survey and preparations for the Nominating and Representative Engagement committee meetings next month.  Please join us in welcoming her to the FWCC office.

Heather has been back in the Philadelphia area of the U.S. for a few years now, readjusting to tall buildings, lockdown drills instead of earthquake drills, and the Northern seasons.  She enjoys folk dancing, making music, and spending time outside.