Allison Duncan has focused her career on applying professional practices and technology to increase positive social and environmental impact. She is committed to unifying philanthropy, investors and government programs to leverage financial resources for positive results.

Allison is the CEO of Amplifier Strategies, a social impact consulting and technology firm she founded in 2007, with the vision of creating a holistic system of support for organizations investing in our sustainable future. She is widely known for her expertise in setting up program strategies, including improving the probability of achieving goals, developing accountability practices, and measuring program performance. She has worked with business, NGOs and government agencies in more than 20 countries and continues to pursue her mission globally.

At Amplifier Strategies, Allison is currently advising clients on program strategies with funding in excess of $500 million over a 10-year period. Representative projects include:
*Implementing a portfolio approach to efficiently achieving goals across seven initiatives for Arcus Foundation.
*Developing a funding plan, identifying core skills, and creating program success metrics for California Ocean Science Trust.
*Evaluating best practices in community-based fishery management, setting priorities for a new community-based leasing model as the industry transitions to access quotas, and assessing impact for Cape Cod Fisheries Trust.
*Establishing a global community of impact investors for Wise III, an integral impact investing initiative established in Germany. This initiative offers investors the opportunity to invest in companies and funds generating both market-rate financial returns and measurable social and environmental impact.

Allison began her philanthropic career at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, a $6B+ private foundation dedicated to strategic philanthropy. From 2002 to 2007, she held executive management roles including creating the foundation’s program finance practice and helping establish strategies for achieving large-scale change. She managed the foundation’s $350 million relationship with Conservation International and the Global Conservation Fund, a program to promote the protection of global biodiversity.

At the Moore Foundation, Allison created a program finance model aimed at managing risk, improving the probability of successful grants, and measuring progress towards outcomes. Her model was institutionalized and applied to over 1,000 transactions and $1 billion in commitments. When presented to the Foundation Financial Officers Group, the model was well received for its practical, yet comprehensive approach, to identifying potential challenges to grant performance and, ultimately, the ways a foundation can respond to support grantee success.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation became interested in adapting the Moore Foundation financial model framework for their organization, and soon became Amplifier Strategies’ first client.

Prior to joining the Moore Foundation, Allison was a client service manager and CPA at Deloitte & Touche, LLP, and led engagements across the Carolinas, Russia, New York and Silicon Valley. She was responsible for managing complex business transactions, researching emerging issues for mergers and acquisitions, stock compensation, derivatives and hedging activities, and implementing internal control best practices.

Allison has developed numerous training modules, including performing grant risk assessments and developing program strategies (Amplifier Strategies), and evaluating internal controls and business processes (Deloitte & Touche). Stanford University has partnered with Amplifier Strategies to deliver executive education on the role of social and environmental program managers. Allison holds a BA in accounting from the University of South Carolina and a Certified Project Manager credential from the Stanford Center for Professional Development.