diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ef01bf952..1294dfc1e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
-# 1.8, pending
+# 1.8.0, pending
+
+## Improvements
+* Veneur no longer **requires** the use of Datadog as a target for flushes. Veneur can now use one or more of any of it's supported sinks as a backend. This realizes our desire for Veneur to be fully vendor agnostic. Thanks [gphat](https://github.com/gphat)!
 
 ## Bugfixes
 * Fix a panic when using `veneur-emit` to emit metrics via `-ssf` when no tags are specified. Thanks [myndzi](https://github.com/myndzi)
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 015ca599d..a6fb49a7d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/stripe/veneur.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/stripe/veneur)
 [![GoDoc](https://godoc.org/github.com/stripe/veneur?status.svg)](http://godoc.org/github.com/stripe/veneur)
 
-Veneur (venn-urr) is a distributed, fault-tolerant pipeline for runtime data. It provides a server implementation of the [DogStatsD protocol](http://docs.datadoghq.com/guides/dogstatsd/#datagram-format) for aggregating metrics and sending them to downstream storage, typically [Datadog](http://datadoghq.com). It can also act as a [global aggregator](#global-aggregation) for histograms, sets and counters.
+Veneur (venn-urr) is a distributed, fault-tolerant pipeline for runtime data. It provides a server implementation of the [DogStatsD protocol](http://docs.datadoghq.com/guides/dogstatsd/#datagram-format) or [SSF](https://github.com/stripe/veneur/tree/master/ssf) for aggregating metrics and sending them to downstream storage to one or more supported sinks. It can also act as a [global aggregator](#global-aggregation) for histograms, sets and counters.
 
 More generically, Veneur is a convenient sink for various observability primitives.
 
diff --git a/flusher.go b/flusher.go
index 7871e2a67..bc4b15568 100644
--- a/flusher.go
+++ b/flusher.go
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import (
 	"net/http"
 	"net/url"
 	"runtime"
+	"sync"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/DataDog/datadog-go/statsd"
@@ -19,10 +20,8 @@ import (
 	"github.com/stripe/veneur/trace"
 )
 
-const DatadogResourceKey = "resource"
-
 // Flush collects sampler's metrics and passes them to sinks.
-func (s *Server) Flush() {
+func (s *Server) Flush(ctx context.Context) {
 	span := tracer.StartSpan("flush").(*trace.Span)
 	defer span.Finish()
 
@@ -33,93 +32,57 @@ func (s *Server) Flush() {
 	s.Statsd.Gauge("gc.number", float64(mem.NumGC), nil, 1.0)
 	s.Statsd.Gauge("gc.pause_total_ns", float64(mem.PauseTotalNs), nil, 1.0)
 
-	// right now we have only one destination plugin
-	// but eventually, this is where we would loop over our supported
-	// destinations
-	if s.IsLocal() {
-		s.FlushLocal(span.Attach(context.Background()))
-	} else {
-		s.FlushGlobal(span.Attach(context.Background()))
-	}
-}
-
-// FlushGlobal sends any global metrics to their destination.
-func (s *Server) FlushGlobal(ctx context.Context) {
-	span, _ := trace.StartSpanFromContext(ctx, "")
-	defer span.Finish()
-
+	// TODO Why is this not in the worker the way the trace worker is set up?
 	events, checks := s.EventWorker.Flush()
 	s.Statsd.Count("worker.events_flushed_total", int64(len(events)), nil, 1.0)
 	s.Statsd.Count("worker.checks_flushed_total", int64(len(checks)), nil, 1.0)
 
-	go s.metricSinks[0].FlushEventsChecks(span.Attach(ctx), events, checks) // we can do all of this separately
-	go s.flushTraces(span.Attach(ctx))                                      // this too!
-
-	percentiles := s.HistogramPercentiles
-
-	tempMetrics, ms := s.tallyMetrics(percentiles)
-
-	// the global veneur instance is also responsible for reporting the sets
-	// and global counters
-	ms.totalLength += ms.totalSets
-	ms.totalLength += ms.totalGlobalCounters
-
-	finalMetrics := s.generateInterMetrics(span.Attach(ctx), percentiles, tempMetrics, ms)
-
-	s.reportMetricsFlushCounts(ms)
-
-	s.reportGlobalMetricsFlushCounts(ms)
-
-	go func() {
-		for _, p := range s.getPlugins() {
-			start := time.Now()
-			err := p.Flush(span.Attach(ctx), finalMetrics)
-			s.Statsd.TimeInMilliseconds(fmt.Sprintf("flush.plugins.%s.total_duration_ns", p.Name()), float64(time.Since(start).Nanoseconds()), []string{"part:post"}, 1.0)
-			if err != nil {
-				countName := fmt.Sprintf("flush.plugins.%s.error_total", p.Name())
-				s.Statsd.Count(countName, 1, []string{}, 1.0)
-			}
-			s.Statsd.Gauge(fmt.Sprintf("flush.plugins.%s.post_metrics_total", p.Name()), float64(len(finalMetrics)), nil, 1.0)
-		}
-	}()
-
-	// TODO Don't hardcode this
-	s.metricSinks[0].Flush(span.Attach(ctx), finalMetrics)
-}
-
-// FlushLocal takes the slices of metrics, combines then and marshals them to json
-// for posting to Datadog.
-func (s *Server) FlushLocal(ctx context.Context) {
-	span, _ := trace.StartSpanFromContext(ctx, "")
-	defer span.Finish()
-
-	events, checks := s.EventWorker.Flush()
-	s.Statsd.Count("worker.checks_flushed_total", int64(len(checks)), nil, 1.0)
+	// TODO Concurrency
+	for _, sink := range s.metricSinks {
+		sink.FlushEventsChecks(span.Attach(ctx), events, checks)
+	}
 
-	go s.metricSinks[0].FlushEventsChecks(span.Attach(ctx), events, checks) // we can do all of this separately
 	go s.flushTraces(span.Attach(ctx))
 
 	// don't publish percentiles if we're a local veneur; that's the global
 	// veneur's job
 	var percentiles []float64
+	var finalMetrics []samplers.InterMetric
+
+	if !s.IsLocal() {
+		percentiles = s.HistogramPercentiles
+	}
 
 	tempMetrics, ms := s.tallyMetrics(percentiles)
 
-	finalMetrics := s.generateInterMetrics(span.Attach(ctx), percentiles, tempMetrics, ms)
+	finalMetrics = s.generateInterMetrics(span.Attach(ctx), percentiles, tempMetrics, ms)
 
 	s.reportMetricsFlushCounts(ms)
 
-	// we don't report totalHistograms, totalSets, or totalTimers for local veneur instances
-
-	// we cannot do this until we're done using tempMetrics within this function,
-	// since not everything in tempMetrics is safe for sharing
-	go s.flushForward(span.Attach(ctx), tempMetrics)
+	if s.IsLocal() {
+		go s.flushForward(span.Attach(ctx), tempMetrics)
+	} else {
+		s.reportGlobalMetricsFlushCounts(ms)
+	}
 
 	// If there's nothing to flush, don't bother calling the plugins and stuff.
 	if len(finalMetrics) == 0 {
 		return
 	}
 
+	wg := sync.WaitGroup{}
+	for _, sink := range s.metricSinks {
+		wg.Add(1)
+		go func(ms metricSink) {
+			err := ms.Flush(span.Attach(ctx), finalMetrics)
+			if err != nil {
+				log.WithError(err).WithField("sink", ms.Name()).Warn("Error flushing sink")
+			}
+			wg.Done()
+		}(sink)
+	}
+	wg.Wait()
+
 	go func() {
 		for _, p := range s.getPlugins() {
 			start := time.Now()
@@ -132,9 +95,6 @@ func (s *Server) FlushLocal(ctx context.Context) {
 			s.Statsd.Gauge(fmt.Sprintf("flush.plugins.%s.post_metrics_total", p.Name()), float64(len(finalMetrics)), nil, 1.0)
 		}
 	}()
-
-	// TODO Don't harcode this
-	s.metricSinks[0].Flush(span.Attach(ctx), finalMetrics)
 }
 
 type metricsSummary struct {
@@ -195,6 +155,13 @@ func (s *Server) tallyMetrics(percentiles []float64) ([]WorkerMetrics, metricsSu
 		// 'local-only' histograms.
 		ms.totalLocalSets + (ms.totalLocalTimers+ms.totalLocalHistograms)*(s.HistogramAggregates.Count+len(s.HistogramPercentiles))
 
+	// Global instances also flush sets and global counters, so be sure and add
+	// them to the total size
+	if !s.IsLocal() {
+		ms.totalLength += ms.totalSets
+		ms.totalLength += ms.totalGlobalCounters
+	}
+
 	return tempMetrics, ms
 }
 
diff --git a/flusher_test.go b/flusher_test.go
index 0f63f0b22..da1fab50d 100644
--- a/flusher_test.go
+++ b/flusher_test.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package veneur
 
 import (
+	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
@@ -174,7 +175,7 @@ func testFlushTraceDatadog(t *testing.T, protobuf, jsn io.Reader) {
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 
 	server.HandleTracePacket(packet)
-	server.Flush()
+	server.Flush(context.Background())
 
 	// wait for remoteServer to process the POST
 	select {
@@ -208,5 +209,5 @@ func testFlushTraceLightstep(t *testing.T, protobuf, jsn io.Reader) {
 	server.HandleTracePacket(packet)
 
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
-	server.Flush()
+	server.Flush(context.Background())
 }
diff --git a/metric_sink.go b/metric_sink.go
index 810f575b6..bab064e58 100644
--- a/metric_sink.go
+++ b/metric_sink.go
@@ -14,8 +14,13 @@ import (
 	"github.com/stripe/veneur/trace"
 )
 
+const DatadogResourceKey = "resource"
+
 type metricSink interface {
 	Name() string
+	// Flush receives `InterMetric`s from Veneur and is responsible for "sinking"
+	// these metrics to whatever it's backend wants. Note that the sink must
+	// **not** mutate the incoming metrics as they are shared with other sinks.
 	Flush(context.Context, []samplers.InterMetric) error
 	// This one is temporary?
 	FlushEventsChecks(ctx context.Context, events []samplers.UDPEvent, checks []samplers.UDPServiceCheck)
diff --git a/plugin_test.go b/plugin_test.go
index 65614850b..adf36197b 100644
--- a/plugin_test.go
+++ b/plugin_test.go
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ func TestGlobalServerPluginFlush(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 
-	f.server.Flush()
+	f.server.Flush(context.Background())
 }
 
 // TestLocalFilePluginRegister tests that we are able to register
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ func TestGlobalServerS3PluginFlush(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 
-	f.server.Flush()
+	f.server.Flush(context.Background())
 }
 
 func parseGzipTSV(r io.Reader) ([][]string, error) {
diff --git a/server.go b/server.go
index 2d2c783d9..97ed3a70b 100644
--- a/server.go
+++ b/server.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package veneur
 import (
 	"bufio"
 	"bytes"
+	"context"
 	"crypto/tls"
 	"crypto/x509"
 	"crypto/x509/pkix"
@@ -442,7 +443,7 @@ func (s *Server) Start() {
 				ticker.Stop()
 				return
 			case <-ticker.C:
-				s.Flush()
+				s.Flush(context.TODO())
 			}
 		}
 	}()
diff --git a/server_test.go b/server_test.go
index 0cc7d61d6..cfb48d243 100644
--- a/server_test.go
+++ b/server_test.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package veneur
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"compress/zlib"
+	"context"
 	"crypto/tls"
 	"crypto/x509"
 	"encoding/json"
@@ -252,7 +253,7 @@ func TestLocalServerUnaggregatedMetrics(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 
-	f.server.Flush()
+	f.server.Flush(context.TODO())
 
 	ddmetrics := <-f.ddmetrics
 	assert.Equal(t, 6, len(ddmetrics.Series), "incorrect number of elements in the flushed series on the remote server")
@@ -280,7 +281,7 @@ func TestGlobalServerFlush(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 
-	f.server.Flush()
+	f.server.Flush(context.TODO())
 
 	ddmetrics := <-f.ddmetrics
 	assert.Equal(t, len(expectedMetrics), len(ddmetrics.Series), "incorrect number of elements in the flushed series on the remote server")
@@ -390,7 +391,7 @@ func TestLocalServerMixedMetrics(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 
-	f.server.Flush()
+	f.server.Flush(context.TODO())
 
 	// the global veneur instance should get valid data
 	td := <-globalTD
@@ -540,7 +541,7 @@ func sendTCPMetrics(addr string, tlsConfig *tls.Config, f *fixture) error {
 
 	// check that the server received the stats; HACK: sleep to ensure workers process before flush
 	time.Sleep(20 * time.Millisecond)
-	f.server.Flush()
+	f.server.Flush(context.TODO())
 	select {
 	case ddmetrics := <-f.ddmetrics:
 		if len(ddmetrics.Series) != 1 {