--- title: Steve Farrell Left Silicon Valley for Humanity's Team and Its Case for Interconnectedness description: Co-founder of two Inc. 500 firms, Steve Farrell has run Humanity's Team for 23 years. The Boulder nonprofit earned Charity Navigator's four-star rating in 2026. author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief) date: 2026-09-26T13:04:21.279Z updated: 2026-09-26T13:07:57.597Z canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/steve-farrell-humanitys-team-interconnectedness image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/steve-farrell-humanitys-team-hero-v1.webp categories: Artificial Intelligence, Business content_type: Spotlight region: United States, Colorado publication: Sovereign Magazine about: - type: Person name: Steve Farrell description: Steve Farrell is Co-Founder and Worldwide Executive Director of Humanity's Team, the Boulder, Colorado nonprofit he started with Neale Donald Walsch in 2003. In the 1990s he co-founded two Inc. 500 technology companies in Silicon Valley, Enterprise Networking Systems, later sold to NEC, and Netigy. He is the author of A New Universal Dream (2023) and The Inner Way (2025) and hosts the Humanity's Team Podcast. url: https://www.stevefarrell.org jobTitle: Co-Founder and Worldwide Executive Director worksFor: Humanity's Team sameAs: - https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-farrell-069360/ --- Steve Farrell co-founded two Inc. 500 technology companies in 1990s Silicon Valley and sold one of them to NEC of Japan. For the past 23 years he has run [Humanity's Team](https://www.humanitysteam.org), a Boulder, Colorado nonprofit that earned Charity Navigator's four-star rating in August 2026, and he says the floods, data center water limits and AI job warnings in the news that same month all come from one belief: that people, technology and the planet are separate from one another. > "We believe they share a common thread: the belief that we are separate from each other, from the planet, and from something larger than ourselves." > — Steve Farrell On 26 August 2026 a [glacier collapse on Langtang Lirung](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/nepal-glacier-collapse-china-trade-route-220702) sent flash floods down the Trishuli river through Nepal's Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts and into China's Gyirong county, and as of early September the reported toll had passed 1,100 people, with thousands missing. The same day Bill Gates published a roughly 6,000-word essay warning of AI job losses and saying institutions are not prepared for them. In the drought-hit American West, local governments have been scrutinizing how much water AI data centers draw. ## Steve Farrell's Silicon Valley Years and the Move to Conscious Living Farrell moved to San Francisco from Northern Virginia at 22. In the 1990s he co-founded and led two technology companies, Enterprise Networking Systems and Netigy, both listed on the Inc. 500. Enterprise Networking Systems was sold to NEC of Japan, and he says the two companies reached more than $75 million in revenue between them. He served as an officer in the Young Entrepreneurs' Organization and the Young Presidents' Organization. In 1995 he read Conversations with God, the first book in Neale Donald Walsch's series. That book spent 135 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. He [left corporate life around 2001](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/why-technical-leaders-are-trading-silicon-valley-for-global-impact), and when Walsch invited him to Ashland, Oregon, the two men co-founded Humanity's Team in 2003; its first event, held in June 2003 near Portland, Oregon, drew about 1,000 people. Farrell told the story of the switch in a 2023 memoir, A New Universal Dream: My Journey from Silicon Valley to a Life in Service to Humanity, published by Light on Light Press, and followed it with a second book, The Inner Way, in October 2025. ## Humanity's Team and Its Charity Navigator Rating Humanity's Team is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Boulder, Colorado, where Farrell lives, and its stated mission is to make conscious living prevalent worldwide by 2040. The organization says it serves 1.4 million people in more than 100 countries with a volunteer network of about 70 country coordinators, and it runs the Humanity Stream educational platform. Farrell hosts the Humanity's Team Podcast, which has passed 215 episodes. In August 2026 the organization announced that it holds Charity Navigator's four-star rating, the highest the evaluator gives. In May 2010 a Humanity's Team delegation took an Oneness Declaration carrying 52,000 signatures to the United Nations, and the first Global Oneness Day followed that October; it has been held every 24 October since. In 2015 the organization drew up the [Conscious Business Declaration](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/ancient-wisdom-and-innovation-how-spiritual-principles-shape-today-s-business-leadership) with the Club of Budapest, the Goi Peace Foundation and Case Western Reserve's Business as an Agent of World Benefit. Its programs teach an idea found in many of the world's wisdom traditions, that human beings are interconnected with one another and with the natural world. ## Interconnectedness, Data Center Water Usage and AI Job Losses "A flood in the Himalayas. A data center placing new pressure on a water-stressed community. An AI system advancing faster than governments can respond to it," Farrell said of the three cases. The belief in separateness, he said, "is what allows decisions to be made as though people, communities, technology and the natural world exist independently of one another." Gates's essay, ["The turbulent AI era is here"](https://www.gatesnotes.com), named sales and customer support, software engineering and paralegal work among the [jobs likely to be affected first](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/ai-startups-hiring-fewer-junior-staff), with construction and hospitality following by the end of the decade, and warned that institutions are not prepared. Several Arizona municipalities already limit water use by data centers. Chandler has capped water use per square foot for such facilities since 2015, and Marana barred data centers from using potable water in December 2024, as drought-hit Western states have scrutinized the water demands of AI infrastructure. "Two points can be a coincidence," Walsch said. "A pattern like this one is worth taking seriously." The two men also point to a 1950 letter in which Albert Einstein described the sense of being separate from the rest of the universe as an "optical illusion" of consciousness. ## Global Oneness Day and the 2040 Goal "We're not asking anyone to take our word for it," Farrell said. "We welcome debate and challenge from media, scientists and skeptics alike. What we would ask is that people not read this and set it aside like yesterday's paper. The question we're raising is how much more disruption it will take before more of us take the connection seriously." Global Oneness Day falls on 24 October 2026, as it has every year since 2010, and the organization's deadline for its mission of making conscious living prevalent worldwide is 2040, 14 years away. ### Event: Global Oneness Day 2026 24 October 2026 – 24 October 2026 Online Organized by: Humanity's Team Global Oneness Day is Humanity's Team's annual celebration of interconnectedness, held every 24 October, United Nations Day, since 2010. It began after a May 2010 Humanity's Team delegation took an Oneness Declaration carrying 52,000 signatures to the United Nations. The day is marked by the free online Global Oneness Summit, a livestreamed program of panels on conscious living; the 2025 summit ran from 24 to 26 October with more than 80 panelists and 36 sessions. The 2026 program is to be announced by Humanity's Team. [Event website](https://www.humanitysteam.org/global-oneness-day) ## FAQ **Q: What does a 4 star rating from Charity Navigator mean?** Four stars is the highest rating Charity Navigator gives a nonprofit. Humanity's Team, a 501(c)(3) based in Boulder, Colorado, announced in August 2026 that it holds the rating. The organization was founded in 2003 by Steve Farrell and Neale Donald Walsch and says it serves 1.4 million people in more than 100 countries. **Q: What is an example of interconnectedness?** Farrell's example is the last week of August 2026. A glacier collapse on Langtang Lirung sent floods through Nepal's Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts and into China's Gyirong county, killing more than 1,100 people as of early September; the same day Bill Gates published an essay warning of AI job losses; and Arizona towns continue to limit the water data centers can use. Farrell argues that all three follow from decisions made as though people, communities, technology and the natural world exist independently of one another. **Q: Do AI data centers actually use that much water?** Enough that local governments in drought-hit Arizona have set limits. Chandler has capped water use per square foot for data centers since 2015, and Marana barred them from using potable water in December 2024, while other Western states have scrutinized the water demands of AI infrastructure. Farrell cites that scrutiny as one of the three cases in his argument for interconnectedness. **About Steve Farrell** Co-Founder and Worldwide Executive Director, Humanity's Team Steve Farrell is Co-Founder and Worldwide Executive Director of Humanity's Team, the Boulder, Colorado nonprofit he started with Neale Donald Walsch in 2003. In the 1990s he co-founded two Inc. 500 technology companies in Silicon Valley, Enterprise Networking Systems, later sold to NEC, and Netigy. He is the author of A New Universal Dream (2023) and The Inner Way (2025) and hosts the Humanity's Team Podcast. [Website](https://www.stevefarrell.org)