Philanthropy is operating in a moment defined by overlapping pressures. Donors face urgent and competing demands, from climate instability to public health to democratic strain, that force difficult choices about where long-term capital can produce the most durable impact.
Education has always held a central place in philanthropic priorities. Yet its role is increasingly under debate. Rising costs, political scrutiny and questions about outcomes have prompted many to ask whether higher education is delivering the value it promises. At the same time, CASE data shows that education’s share of institutional philanthropic funding has declined significantly over the past decade.
Together, these shifts raise a deeper question: which investments within education generate the greatest societal return?
Two decades ago, I encountered one possible answer in a graduate school course taught by Nobel laureate Paul Romer. He explored why some nations grow wealthy while others struggle, arguing that prosperity depends not only on a nation’s stock of labor or capital, but on a variable he called A: knowledge, innovation and policy. Over time, I came to recognize that A is a function of leadership. A good use of my career, it seemed, would be unlocking A.
In the years since, I have come to understand that leadership does more than shape national prosperity. It shapes community health, institutional resilience and the ability to respond to change. Leadership is our civic infrastructure. Leaders identify opportunities, build partnerships and bring ideas to life. They anchor communities in moments of uncertainty and navigate competing priorities with a sense of direction.
Investing in leadership development strengthens other philanthropic priorities, including climate, health, democracy and education, because capable leadership determines whether ambitious initiatives endure, adapt and scale. Without that capacity, even well-funded programs struggle to achieve enduring impact.
Leadership is learned through experience
State legislatures and university boards increasingly frame universities as pathways for workforce development. Given the cost of higher education, that perspective is understandable. But in an era of rapid technological change, graduates must be prepared not only for their first job, but for jobs that do not yet exist. They also must feel a civic responsibility to positively shape the society they will inherit.
We develop these capabilities — judgment, responsibility, comfort with ambiguity and the ability to work across differences — through experience rather than solely through academic study. Our institutions can do more to create the kinds of experiences that cultivate real leadership, and philanthropists can help.
At Morehead-Cain, we seek to create experiences that nurture leadership through a series of escalating challenges and complexities over four years of college. For example, each of our scholars spends the summer after their first year of college in a program we call “Civic Collaboration”: working on a civic challenge at the local level with four peers. Last year, teams that focused on rebuilding resilience in Western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene saw how their classroom learning in public policy and ecology met the lived experience and wisdom of local communities. These scholars learned to navigate complexity and build collective commitment. Similarly, a team working on expanding housing access in San Diego gained a deeper understanding of competing priorities and the importance of aligning around long-term community goals.
Such experiences are not abstract exercises. We place students in situations where outcomes are uncertain and tradeoffs are real. There are no obvious answers, and progress depends on engaging across perspectives. Over time, that exposure builds judgment in ways traditional academic structures alone cannot. Students imagine themselves having the impact of the extraordinary people they work with and learn from, whose efforts foster thriving communities across our country. I am not surprised that several of our young alums have returned to live and work in these communities after graduation.
Philanthropy is uniquely positioned to sustain opportunities like this, complementing higher education’s strengths and extending its impact beyond the classroom. When philanthropic funding is directed toward experiences that foster responsibility and encourage community involvement, everyone wins. And as AI and automation reshape industries and change early-career professional pathways, critical thinking, ethical reasoning and judgment under uncertainty become durable advantages.
Investing in people who shape the future
Assessing the return on leadership development requires a broader perspective than traditional program evaluation. Its effects rarely appear in short-term outputs. They emerge over time through durability, ethical judgment and cross-generational influence. For eight decades, Morehead-Cain alums have gone on to shape public service, entrepreneurship, science, education and community initiatives.
Organizations such as Teach For America and Global Health Corps show how intentionally developed leaders extend their impact across institutions and communities. Similarly, the US military has used experiential learning to develop enduring leadership skills for generations. These investments shape civic engagement and community development.
Education has long been a cornerstone of philanthropic investment, and universities have long aspired to develop leaders. But the kind of leadership we need — the kind that unlocks Romer’s A — is not formed through academic achievement and credentialing. The promise of higher education reaches its fullest expression when it is paired with deliberate efforts to develop leaders prepared to serve beyond themselves.
In a polarized, technologically accelerated world, universities carry a growing responsibility to prepare individuals who can hold complexity, act with integrity and mobilize others toward a shared purpose. In 1945, at the end of the Second World War, John Motley Morehead III created a trust to “invest in those endowed by their Creator with the leadership capacity,” recognizing the decisive role leadership plays in shaping societies. Over the decades, that investment has produced leaders across the public, private and social sectors. If we seek civic health and shared prosperity, leadership formation must move from the margins to the center of our philanthropic investments in education.
Opinions expressed by SmartBrief contributors are their own.
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