About Our Organization

Susan Burns is the Lead Philanthropic Advisor at Unleashing Generosity, where she partners with individuals, couples, and families to design giving strategies that reflect their values and create lasting impact. She specializes in helping donors navigate complexity, clarify their passions, and identify high-impact organizations to support. Susan is particularly skilled in developing frameworks that allow clients to give with both confidence and joy.

A social entrepreneur and Skoll Awardee, Susan brings decades of leadership experience from both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. She co-founded and served as CEO of Global Footprint Network, building it into one of the world’s leading scientific organizations addressing ecological limits. She later served as Director of Finance for Change, a project of Global Footprint Network that integrated ecological risks into fixed income investing, and as Senior Advisor to the Poverty Stoplight, an innovative mobile technology empowering families to design their own path out of poverty.

Susan’s contributions to sustainability and systems change have been widely recognized. She was named to the Zeronaut 50 Roll of Honor, i.e., leading pioneers who are driving the world’s most significant problems to zero, by sustainability leader John Elkington and, along with Mathis Wackernagel, was inducted into the International Society of Sustainability Professionals’ Hall of Fame.

Grounded in community as well as global change, Susan is also a wife, mother, and musician who sings gospel with the Oakland Interfaith Community Choir as well as jazz, and blues. She serves as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for children in foster care and co-chairs the Social Justice Ministry at Imani Community Church in Oakland.

Today, Susan combines her background in systems change, strategy, and impact measurement with her passion for human thriving, community, and justice to help donors make a difference in the issues that matter most to them.

Internationally recognized, Tracy Gary is known for her decades of work in the field of activist philanthropy. Her unique strategy is threefold: she advises donors in aligning their giving with their deepest values, works with non-profit leadership in their fundraising proficiency, and builds networks across communities. Her effectiveness in galvanizing change that addresses global needs arises from her core organizing principle: that the way we create a better world is by inviting all to the table.

As the Founder of Unleashing Generosity, which she co-directs with Susan Burns, Tracy has worked as a philanthropic advisor with over 500 donors and over 200 foundations (including family foundations which extend across multiple generations). As a field innovator and nonprofit entrepreneur, she has founded or co-founded 24 nonprofits including Inspired Legacies, the Women Donors Network, Resourceful Women, Women Moving Millions, Engaged Donors for Global Equity (EDGE Funders), and the Tipping Point Network. She has been a member of Advisors in Philanthropy and has worked with hundreds of family and investment advisors.

Tracy is a speaker, consultant and workshop leader, offering her services through Wholehearted Generosity, her private consultancy practice. She has worked in all 50 states and 23 countries. Her book, Inspired Philanthropy: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Giving Plan and Leaving a Legacy, is in its 3rd printing and has sold over 44,000 copies. Contact Tracy