The Foundation has long funded leadership development activities for its grantees because sustained change for communities rests on the shoulders of the people who live and work in them.

Every community needs leaders who know how to build their own and others' knowledge and skills. To be successful, community stakeholders must develop leadership and management skills and learn how to resist burn-out and become resilient. This is especially true in poor communities where problems compound and resources, including leaders, are scarce.

For these reasons, the Foundation sees leadership development as essential to the success of its grantees. Leadership development includes building programmatic expertise and skills of individual leaders in administration and management as well as inspiring and organizing others. It also means building the skills and capacities of organizations in areas such as personnel policies and procedures financial systems and board governance.

Leaders include executive directors, staff and board members of non-profits as well as school superintendents, principals and teachers. Within the community at large, potential leaders include parents, youth, other residents and community stakeholders. Through formal leadership development activities the skills of existing non-profit and school leaders are strengthened and, over time, many community residents evolve to become leaders.

Leadership grants typically are modest and supplement existing larger grants in Cowell's program areas. They enable a grantee to participate in a variety of skill building activities including:

The Foundation also hosts periodic convenings to foster group learning and build relationships among grantee organizations.