FOUNDER'S STATEMENT

Tracy Gary, co-founder of Inspired Legacies

Early on in my twenties, in early 1973, with over $1m in inheritance to pay forward to my community and to reinvest, I saw that the greatest impact I might have would be to engage donors through donor education about money, money management, and their philanthropic leadership.

I am starting this new nonprofit, Inspired Legacies, because I believe that it is in the highest interest of our democracy to have better collaborations and sharing for the public benefit of the best practices in financial, philanthropic and legacy planning.

Donor Education Grows
Resourceful Women was the fifth nonprofit I had helped launch, and it was clear that women in 1980 needed mentorship, peer support, and guidance from good advisors to feel fully competent to manage their resources.

I committed my own philanthropic dollars and time to building the first donor education curriculum in the country. Resourceful Women, and the projects that followed, have been dedicated to including donor education as part of their core work.

There are now some 1800 providers in the country providing donor education. I have played a key role in the growth of this important movement and am still active in strengthening it, having worked with hundreds of organizations now in all 50 states and 16 countries.

Extending the Effort
Now 25 years later, Inspired Legacies extends that same mission - now including financial, philanthropic and legacy advisors in our 'family' of people committed to philanthropy that is inspired by our highest values.

I firmly believe that we, whether we are termed donors, advisors, or simply citizens, can work together for mutual and personal advantage and for the public good. As donors and investors, we can do more with our money for ourselves and those we love. We can give more generously and with greater impact. I also believe that the nonprofits we support can work with us, not just as donors, but as leaders and human beings in our own right, with our own passion, vision, and sense of direction. Finally, I am certain that advisory firms have much to both learn and share about best practices in working with donors, nonprofits, and families.

Ours is a complex, fertile, and emerging 'field of practice'. We are inventing new alliances, new processes, and new vocabulary. We - all of us, whether from the donor community, the nonprofit community, or from the for-profit professions - are people and citizens first. We are coming together in this difficult and challenging time for our communities, our nation, and our world to make things better within the limits of our joint abilities. Together we are able to change the 'field of practice', and to change the world, person by person.

The Legacy Opportunity
If we enable better partnerships, more engagement, and inspired visioning, coupled with careful planning, I believe that as the coming transfer of wealth continues; we will have sparked a better world, a better process, and greater generosity and purposefulness.

Please consider:

The nonprofit sector has grown since 1973 from 200,000 nonprofits to some 1.7m now. Only tax reform, increasing generosity, or restructuring its infrastructure will enable it's survival as an effective means of assuring democracy.
There is a growing industry or field of practice that is philanthropic: legacy advisors and coaches who are especially committed to philanthropy. They are for the most part, unorganized, not networked, and not connected. There are, however, stellar exceptions and emerging best practices. These need to be captured and promulgated.
The emerging cross sector and cross-disciplinary field of practice that is called 'giving', needs an idealistic rallying point. A point that serves as the hub and interchange bringing together the best people and the best practices for the benefit of all concerned, and most importantly for the benefit of society and those least able to defend their own interests.

I believe that this is perhaps the most leveraging action of my personal journey and career. It is time that each of us looked deeply into our own values, considered our finances, our families, our communities, and those we serve and then come forward with our own effort to lead - and to be successful in moving billions by millions.

We seek however to work with key influencers who will lead the culture in this much needed change. We are dedicated to assuring that all people have a better living standard and that emotional and physical poverty and isolation are remedied by our collective work.

We all have much to learn and much to do. We are servants together in this cause. Inspired Legacies is not here to lead you, but to help you lead in your way, to your full capacity. Now is the time. We are assembling the resources. You have our commitment, and we need yours.

We welcome your feedback, ideas, and collaboration.

Tracy Gary - Founder, Inspired Legacies
Philanthropic and Legacy Advisor, Changemakers Primary Office: No. CA
P.O. Box 1693
40 Redwood Drive
Ross, CA 94957

Phone: 415.461.5539
Fax: 415.461.5573
Cell: 415.377.9447
tracy@inspiredlegacies.org
Satellite Office: Houston, TX
P.O. Box 840601
Houston, TX 77284
Phone: 281.213.4180

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