Tracey Durning, Chief Strategist
Tracey Durning is an impact entrepreneur and the founder of 49 prince street, a platform she uses to catalyze and support organizations, projects and campaigns that put a real value on collaboration, innovation and scaled systemic change. Under the 49 umbrella, she drives and manages the philanthropic activities for Planet Heritage Foundation (PHF), as well as works in partnership with an array of funders around their key issues.
Tracey co-founded Oceans 5, a global funders’ collaborative, with PHF and a group of philanthropists committed to improving conservation of the world’s five oceans. The organization, which was recently featured in the Stanford Social Innovation Review and Forbes, is focused on significantly expanding marine reserves and restraining overfishing. The platform is a powerful mechanism for partners to effectively share and leverage their assets (funding, knowledge, networks and influence) while giving new funders a safe and trusted place to invest.
Tracey also co-founded the Target Zero Institute, an Institute comprised of best in class leadership which mentors Target Zero Fellows nationwide in getting their communities to no kill, or zero. The project came about after fully analyzing the sector and identifying what would be the most leveraged pathway in fast-tracking the trajectory to a no kill nation.
She was also a key driver in the creation of the Electrification Coalition, a high level
bipartisan coalition of business and industry leaders committed to electric vehicle deployment at mass scale.
Tracey is currently working with a partner and several funders in climate change, seeking to develop a platform like Oceans 5 that would strategically mobilize collective philanthropic and impact investment dollars around select high-impact projects.
As a former filmmaker (eg, Executive Produced the feature film Freedom Writers based on a short documentary she directed), journalist/producer (ABC News, CBS, CNN, MTV) and pr/social media campaign builder, Tracey often integrates storytelling, filmmaking and technology into raising awareness, deepening dialogue and prompting action around key issues.
She sits on the board of Oceans 5 and the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Fund.