Episode 162: Gil Gillenwater

Gil Gillenwater, a lifelong resident of Arizona, is the founder and president of the award-winning Rancho Feliz Charitable Foundation, which has reimagined border philanthropy since 1987. For nearly four decades, he has worked hands-on along the U.S.–México border, building programs that empower communities through reciprocal giving and shared dignity.

He is a recipient of the Hon Kachina Award, Arizona’s highest honor for volunteerism, as well as the National Association of Realtors annual “Good Neighbor Award,” likewise honoring volunteerism. In 2021, he became the first non-Mexican to receive Sonora’s Premio a la Filantropía, as the individual philanthropic person of the year, recognizing his cross-border philanthropic work. 

In 2009, Gillenwater partnered with the nonprofit Free the Slaves to launch the Free a Village program—an ambitious initiative that helps entire villages in India, often up to 20 families, transition from slavery to freedom within three years. The program’s community-wide approach to liberation and empowerment caught global attention and was selected by former President Bill Clinton as a featured initiative at his Clinton Global Initiative, a gathering of the world’s leading thinkers, philanthropists, and changemakers. 

A lifelong student of Eastern philosophy and meditation, Gillenwater is a black belt in Kenpo Karate and a certified hot yoga instructor. An outdoorsman at heart, he has had countless wilderness adventures around the world and has visited over 75 countries.

In 1994, he and his brother Troy were among the first Westerners granted access by the Communist Chinese into Tibet’s forbidden “Himalayan Hidden Lands.” His six expeditions and time spent studying with remote Tibetan lamas and mystics inspired a philosophy of enlightened self-interest that now guides his approach to social change with Rancho Feliz.