Foundations & Philanthropic Leadership

Leadership Training for Foundations & Their Communities

Partnering with foundations to provide community leadership training that ignites greater societal impact.

As a foundation, achieving your mission is paramount. Yet you’re challenged with managing not only the health and wellness of your own internal organization, but that of the communities you serve, as well.

As you stretch to respond to community needs, you may find yourself thinking differently about your philanthropic leadership role. That’s why, to see real impact, many foundations are moving beyond traditional approaches and building scalable models to address systemic change.

Your grantees are already doing good work. To support their efforts and extend their impact even further, increase access to top-notch community leadership training that builds skills and supports the development of emerging and executive leaders.

We’re proud to partner closely with large and small foundations for cutting-edge philanthropic leadership development initiatives to drive change, increase equity, and improve outcomes, particularly in the nonprofit sector, in K-12 education and higher education, and in population health.

Philanthropic Leadership Development Solutions

The ability of your executive team to work together effectively may be the single most critical element in your organization’s success.

Partner with our experts in senior leadership team development, who can assess and improve executive team dynamics…because when your senior leadership team’s collaboration is at its best, the positive effects are felt across the organization and seen in results. We understand the challenges facing your foundation’s philanthropic leadership initiatives.

  • Proven, research-based guidance from our experts, who have extensive experience working with senior executives
  • Align your leadership and culture to your strategy and priorities

Whether you want your team to communicate more effectively across differences, align behaviors with beliefs, or address unconscious bias, this program can equip everyone at your organization — from the front desk to the corner office — to hold better conversations every day.

Scale coaching and communications skills across your organization through a lens of building a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive culture.

  • Human-centered, research-based experience builds coaching skills
  • Scale a more inclusive and psychologically safe culture of feedback

We offer a variety of research-based, proven leadership topic modules to help you upskill your team.

Start building a long-term outlook for success, both within your organization and with your external partners, by breaking down silos and transforming boundaries into frontiers. Increased collaboration will lead to more innovation and less waste.

We can deliver our world-class content on Boundary Spanning Leadership — or you can. Either way, our content will equip your team to work together more effectively.

  • Proven content module that can be combined with others into a customized learning journey for your organization’s leaders at every level
Fellowship Programs

We have extensive experience partnering with grant-making organizations and corporate foundations (for example, with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, among many others) to design and deliver multi-year fellowship programs focused on driving meaningful change. We can help your foundation provide access to our proven, life-changing professional development to build leadership capacity as your fellows work to confront some of society’s most pressing challenges.

What Our Clients Are Saying​

At CCL, we measure success by lives touched and impact made. That’s why the foundations we work with and the leaders we transform consistently tell us the same thing: their experience with us is a game-changer. Through our partnerships with foundations, we’ve helped provide philanthropic leadership training and capacity-building community leadership training at literally thousands of organizations.

But don’t just take our word for it — take theirs.

Collaborative Crop Research Program McKnight Foundation Logo
The Global Fund logo
American Express Leadership Academy
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Coca Cola Scholars Foundation

“One of the specific areas that I identified for improvement through the program was collaboration skills. As a result, even though I have strong introvert tendencies, I made a conscious effort to spearhead a multiagency grant application process that resulted in the award of a $568K grant for pregnant and parenting young women.”

Sponsored Participant
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Ladder to Leadership Program

Ladder to Leadership: Developing the Next Generation of Community Healthcare Leaders

“The Center for Creative Leadership’s mission to develop leaders in their communities to have a positive impact on the world has a strong alignment with our mission, so it was obvious that there was no other group out there that we would want to work with.”

Jamie Williams
Director of Scholarships,
Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation

Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation Scholar Coaching Initiative

“I tolerate more differences (of opinions, perceptions, actions) as I tell myself that we think and act differently because of our social identities.”

Sponsored Participant
McKnight Foundation’s
Collaborative Crop Research Program

Leveraging Leadership in Community Agriculture

“American Express is known for growing great leaders, and we’re passionate about applying our skills and expertise to help nonprofits cultivate and advance talent within their own organizations.”

Richard Brown
Vice President of Philanthropy
American Express

Developing a New Generation of Leaders to Bridge a Talent Gap

Giving to CCL scholarships is an opportunity to directly impact the leadership and success of an individual and the lives they touch every day.

Jeff Goodman

Sponsored Participant Jeff Goodman
VP, Communication & Partnerships, Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

Scholarships: Empowering Leaders Through Opportunity

Meet Our Foundations & Philanthropy Experts

Courtney Gentry

Courtney Gentry

Manager, Corporate & Foundation Relations

Courtney serves as the primary relationship manager for our corporate and foundation partners and creates connections that enable innovative, systemic solutions for some of society’s biggest problems. She also manages our scholarship program, ensuring that educators and nonprofit leaders are given the opportunity to access transformational professional development to build leadership capacity. She helps individuals and organizations worldwide build a better future.

Vicky Grobler

Vicky Grobler

Leadership Solutions Partner

Vicky focuses on relationship development, design, delivery and facilitation of leadership solutions for clients worldwide. Vicky has dual nationality (South African and French) and has lived and worked in South Africa, France, and Belgium. She has extensive experience in Operations, Client Services, team and people management, optimization of organizational efficiency, Learning & Development, and Organizational Leadership in the banking, educational, relief and development, and not-for-profit sectors.

Let's Talk About Philanthropic Leadership Goals at Your Foundation

Our experts are here to help. Get in touch about partnering with us to provide professional development to build leadership capacity and scale greater impact. We’d love to hear from you!

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Philanthropic Leadership Development: Research, Resources & Partnerships

Philanthropic Leadership Development to Drive Lasting Change​

The benefits of effective philanthropic leadership development are not limited to a single event or conference. Long after the program ends, growth continues to resonate and impact ripples outward, affecting not only the individuals in the program, but also each of the lives that they touch and change as a result.

We work closely with institutional, family, and corporate foundations for philanthropic leadership initiatives providing access to capacity-building community leadership training, both internally and among grantees and communities served. We focus on the areas where leadership has the most potential to improve lives and create lasting change and improved societal outcomes.

Philanthropic Leaders Professional Development

Partnering for Community Leadership Training

For us, philanthropic leadership development is more than a mission — it’s a calling. As a nonprofit ourselves, we understand the need for strong, mission-driven, focused leadership. We can help you and your grantees achieve your missions and build stronger and more equitable communities. We can help you to develop the capacity of leaders at all levels, at every stage of their careers.

Like you, we are guided by purpose and fueled by passion. Combine your talented, committed team with our world-class, research-backed tools and community leadership training programs. Let’s work together to become a catalyst for change.

Frequently Asked Questions Related to Philanthropic Leadership

Philanthropic leadership is driven by passion, purpose, and a mission. Leaders of foundations and philanthropic organizations are focused on building stronger leaders and more inclusive and equitable organizations and communities. They aim to serve as catalysts to drive systemic change and sustainable social progress.

Philanthropic leadership development helps create growth opportunities for leaders, increasing their capacity to respond to urgent community needs, increase equity, drive sustainable change, reduce burnout for themselves and their teams, and improve outcomes overall. A leader’s personal growth impacts and benefits everyone they touch, whether they’re working in the nonprofit sector, serving at a public health clinic or school, or partnering with teams in higher education.

Leadership capacity is about being able to learn, grow, and stretch into new areas. It’s also about challenging yourself and engaging in difficult conversations that can spark real change. Our philanthropic leadership development partnerships enable increased access to community leadership training programs, helping mission-driven organizations build leadership capacity by providing their teams with access to professional development.

More questions? Our experts are here to help. Let’s have a conversation!

Related to Foundations & Philanthropic Leadership

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