About Us
How We Do It
We envision a world in which all agricultural ecosystems are managed for health, diversity and long-term sustainability.
To those ends, the #NoRegrets Initiative is an integrated relationship-centered approach to land and asset management that uses a variety of capital – ecological, investment, philanthropic and social – to grow the health of agricultural lands and the communities that steward them. This work is done through Paicines Ranch, Cienega Capital, Globetrotter Foundation and the Paicines Ranch Learning Center.
Managing land in partnership with nature and livestock to build healthy soil, restore biodiversity, and grow nutrient-dense food and wine.
Investing in individuals who are most deeply in relationship with land–-farmers, ranchers and practitioners--and the businesses they own.
Catalyzing the greater ecosystem of soil health by funding the non-profits that work with agricultural communities.
Educating, inspiring and connecting people with new ideas and networks that advance soil health.
Why NoRegrets?
#NoRegrets Initiative founder Sallie Calhoun grew up in the American South. She saw the damage inflicted when society forgets that people and resilient communities are the foundation for land stewardship and regeneration. This informs all of our work and why we believe so strongly that our relationship to land is a partnership, and we must invest in the communities that maintain and grow that partnership.
Working with soil is non-linear, just like working with people: you don’t always know exactly where you’re going when you start, you just know you’ll end up somewhere good if you have the right approach. We value curiosity, a willingness to learn, and comfort with constant change in our investing. We invest in the people who are most responsible for our relationship to land – farmers, ranchers and practitioners who are often under-resourced. We knew we must understand soil ourselves – we can’t be true partners to practitioners if we don’t have real context for their struggles and triumphs. Our Beautiful Portfolio puts joy and delight into investing, combining philanthropy, lending, social capital and our own ecological base at Paicines Ranch using an integrated-capital approach.
Sallie & Esther explain why we are working with NoRegrets.
Meet the NoRegrets Team
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Sallie Calhoun
Founder, #NoRegrets Initiative, Cienega Capital, Globetrotter Foundation and Paicines Ranch
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Esther Park
CEO, Cienega Capital
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Elaine Patarini
Director, Paicines Ranch Learning Center
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Avery C. A. Sponholtz
Directing philanthropy for Globetrotter Foundation and the #NoRegrets Initiative
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Megan Mendenhall
Marketing & Communications Director, #NoRegrets Initiative
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Karla Urata
Chief Administrative Officer for Cienega Capital, Globetrotter Foundation, Paicines Ranch & #NoRegrets Initiative
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Martha Skelley
Livestock and Farm Manager, Paicines Ranch
More Resources from the NoRegrets Team
If you want to dig in even deeper, here are resources, frequently asked questions, decision-making frameworks, videos & articles and how we think about the world.