Anne Symens-Bucher: Building Community Through Trust, Not Transactions

I’m thrilled to bring you a conversation with Anne Symens-Bucher, co-founder of Canticle Farm and former executive assistant to Joanna Macy. We explore her 15-year journey of fundraising for Canticle Farm, an intentional community in Oakland.

Anne shares how the realization "I can't do this alone" became the foundation for a completely different approach to money—one rooted in relationship, gift economy, and the courage to receive. We talk about unhooking the exchange between giving and receiving, the intimacy required to truly ask for support, and what it means to practice faith in abundance even when the path forward isn't clear.

Meet Our Guest

Anne Symens-Bucher was Joanna Macy's executive assistant for 20 years before Joanna's death in July of 2025. Prior to that Anne worked for 25 years for the Franciscan Friars of the St. Barbara Province, primarily as co-director of their Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation Office. In the 1970s, she lived at the New York Catholic Worker with Dorothy Day, and subsequently founded the Oakland Catholic Worker. She co-founded the Nevada Desert Experience, organizing events at the Nevada Test Site and serving on the NDE Board for 3 decades.

Anne and her husband, Terry, are the founders of Canticle Farm in Oakland, an intentional community experimenting at the intersection of faith, social justice, and Earth-based nonviolent activism. Canticle Farm is rooted in Franciscan spirituality and the Work That Reconnects, a body of teachings of which Joanna Macy was the root teacher. Anne & Terry have been married for 39 years and are the parents of five children and grandparents of three.

Episode Highlights

The moment "I can't do this alone" changed everything about fundraising
"You are already further along than you realize"—trusting what's already happening
As a fundraiser, it's your job to ask, their job to say yes or no
Why the "no" makes it easier to trust the "yes"
Canticle Farm as a platform for the Great Turning
Gifts just move—they don't need to be forced forward
How to receive a sacred gift: pausing to honor the exchange
Making the leap of faith before the path appears

Resources

Canticle Farms
Joanna Macy

Keywords

#Fundraising #GiftEconomy #IntentionalCommunity #JoannaMacy #CanticleFarm #SocialJustice #Abundance #Relationship #AskingForHelp #ReceivingGifts

Click here to watch our interview on Youtube

Diana Gisel Yañez is an Investment Advisor Representative of Natural Investments PBLLC. Natural Investments is an independent Registered Investment Advisor. All the Colors is not a registered entity and is not an affiliate or subsidiary of Natural Investments. See our Disclosures and Disclaimers and read our Form CRS.