The Leighty Foundation Information

The Leighty Foundation is a small family foundation committed to investing our limited resources in ways that provide the greatest impact and ensure the most valuable return on our investment. Our nation is currently faced with shrinking resources and growing needs which will require a dramatic increase in the number of people willing to give their time and skills as well as their financial resources. However, the challenge may be less about increasing the number of people who want to volunteer, and more about building infrastructures to connect people with worthy opportunities and empower them to make a meaningful difference. There is a growing awareness that even if Americans respond to the myriad of calls for service, charities may not be prepared to utilize them. A recent survey found that more than 30% of charities do not currently have the infrastructure to effectively deploy volunteers, and that more than half could not make good use of a new influx of volunteers. During these tough economic times one of our foundation's best opportunities for impact lies in providing the staffing, training and resources needed to support the effective management of volunteer efforts within a community. Volunteerism and civic engagement are not programs in themselves, but cost-effective strategies to assist all organizations and community groups to accomplish their missions. As funders, we can seize this unique opportunity to offer the financial support needed to equip leaders to cultivate and empower these valuable human resources. Our foundation has been active in a local initiative to build the capacity of the community to engage volunteers effectively. It is still a work in progress but we are enthused about the results we have seen thus far. In partnership with Reimagining Service, we have created a case study of our key actions and outcomes. In 2014, we completed an update to this case study.