YWOD Keynote Speaker

Jennifer Leonard

Jennifer-Leonard

Jennifer Leonard, President and Executive Director of the Rochester Area Community Foundation the 2010 ATHENA Recipient is recognized nationally in her field and has driven both the growth and the impact of the organization she leads through her strategic thinking, business savvy, focus on the customers she serves and her creative and collaborative approach.


Leonard runs what is now Rochester’s largest Philanthropic Foundation, which provides a source of opportunities for philanthropists to create positive change and which administers over 1,000 funds for the benefit of residents of the greater Rochester area. Under Leonard’s tenure, this foundation has grown assets six-fold, from $32 million dollars in 1993, to $200 million dollars today. Increased its grant giving from $3 Million dollars to $22 million dollars annually, has reduced overhead to asset ratio from 1.4% to less than 1% and delivered an investment portfolio performance which ranked it 4th out of 24 similarly sized foundations.

Leonard incorporated a three pronged approach in building the significant growth of her organization, service to donors, service to non-profits and service to the community as whole.

Choosing to give was made easier by providing donors with a variety of options and visibility to community needs, as well as providing their advisors with online resources and educational opportunities on charitable and tax law.

To help direct change efforts of agencies across the community, Leonard has collaborated with United Way and garnered support from other organizations to create Act Rochester, providing key status indicators and information about trends in our community.

Leonard has also promoted efforts to assist women in reaching their potential, including programs for mentoring young women, providing scholarships for older women returning to complete their education, and for assisting to build economic self-sufficiency for women and girls. She mentored young staffers in their efforts to co-found a giving circle for young professionals, and four former staffers she mentored have gone on to senior positions in local and national charitable organizations.

Leonard has held leadership positions on several community organizations, was invited to a white house conference on philanthropy and has received many recognitions, including the Rochester business journal’s 20/20 as one of 20 people having the biggest impact on Rochester over the past 20 years, the mayor’s renaissance award, and twice as the Ibero-American Action League’s “friend of the year.”

Leonard is a member of the faculty of the Center for Community Foundation Excellence. Her articles on the role of a community foundation have been published in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Columbia journalism review among others.