Volunteer of the Year Award

Susan has been a passionate supporter and volunteer with Summer Search Seattle since 2014. Summer Search partners with low-income students of color through an intensive program providing life-changing summer experiences along with professional mentoring over 9 years. Summer Search helps students cultivate the fearless resilience essential to reaching their goals. As a result, Summer Searchers become thriving adults living lives of meaning and purpose with a sense of financial well-being. What strikes Susan consistently about Summer Search alumni is their immense gratitude and unwavering commitment to giving back to help others. 

In 2022 Susan was nominated and chosen as one of three finalists for the 2022 Invest in Others (IIiO) Volunteer of the Year Award. The Invest in Others Foundation objectively recognizes philanthropic achievement in the financial services industry. Through awards and grants, they amplify charitable work financial advisors are doing to benefit their communities. At the Invest in Others Gala in Boston on September 29, 2022 she was announced as the winner of the Volunteer of the Year award and, as a result, Invest in Others awarded Summer Search $50,000. 

This prestigious award was for Susan’s work with Tigist Abebe, Seattle alumna and Associate Consultant at Clarkston Consulting, and Therese Williams, Summer Search Seattle’s Senior Program Director, in creating Money Mondays – an eight-part financial literacy webinar series designed to empower Summer Search participants and alumni with financial knowledge, destigmatize conversations about money, and create a community of support for Summer Searchers.  

In celebration of this momentous accomplishment, Therese and Susan had a fun conversation reflecting on the journey to Money Mondays, the joy of collaboration, and some highlights of her engagement with Summer Search. Feel free to check it out.  

“It’s really important to me to help close the wealth gap, to see people empowered and make choices that will help them build financial security for their future.”

-Susan Youngsman