Leadership Legacy Life Foundation concentrates its giving on strengthening small, mostly rural community institutions (especially in the Cashiers/Plateau area) and on Type 1 diabetes research/charitable funds. Their largest single commitment was an endowment for the Boys & Girls Club of the Plateau, while other grants support local infrastructure, emergency services, faith-based congregations, and basic health access. The foundation mixes a few very large, strategic gifts with modest operating support to local nonprofits.
Leadership Legacy Life Foundation’s most distinctive recent commitment is a $950,000 endowment creation grant to The Boys and Girls Club of the Plateau in Cashiers, North Carolina. That gift sets the tone for a funder that uses large, targeted awards to build long-term stability for small community institutions, while also making smaller operating and project grants to local nonprofits in mountain towns. The foundation’s grantmaking reaches into youth development, emergency response, public infrastructure, faith communities, food access, and basic health services. It also supports Type 1 diabetes research and related charitable work, showing a second major thread alongside place-based giving. The pattern is a mix of strategic capital and practical local support. One of the larger 2025 grants went to Vision Cashiers Inc. for sidewalks and general support, and another supported Glenville Cashiers Rescue Squad for general operating needs. In the health and research area, the foundation backed Breakthrough T1D, reflecting an interest in diabetes-related philanthropy. Taken together, the grants show a foundation focused on durability, local capacity, and selected medical causes rather than broad, general-purpose philanthropy.
A core area is endowment-building for youth-serving institutions. The foundation gave $950,000 to The Boys and Girls Club of the Plateau for creation of an endowment, signaling a long-term approach to sustaining local youth development in the Cashiers area. Another clear theme is Type 1 diabetes philanthropy. In 2025, Leadership Legacy Life Foundation awarded $100,000 to Breakthrough T1D for medical research, and in 2024 it made a $100,000 grant to JDRF T1D Fund for charitable purposes. Local infrastructure and community safety also appear in the portfolio. Vision Cashiers Inc. received $152,508 for sidewalks and general support, while Glenville Cashiers Rescue Squad was awarded $110,000 for general support. Basic needs and health access round out the giving pattern, with grants to Fishes and Loaves Food Pantry, Blue Ridge Free Dental Clinic, and Health Network Foundation.
Leadership Legacy Life Foundation’s recent grants cluster around a p25/median/p75 of $100,000, but the distribution is bimodal: several $10,000 to $11,000 grants sit alongside a much larger capital-style award of $950,000. The foundation appears to combine one-time strategic gifts with smaller support grants, and the recent record includes activity in both 2024 and 2025. It funds organizations, not individuals, and the data also indicates it makes program-related investments. The grant pattern suggests a family-style foundation making selective, high-impact commitments rather than frequent, broad-based distributions.
$580K
$2.9M
$1.1M
$1.1M
Most grants fall between $100K and $100K, with a median of $100K.
25th Percentile
$100K
Median
$100K
75th Percentile
$100K
About 0% of grants go to recipients in NC.
Paul Robshaw
Sign up for a free Kindora account to access AI-generated insights into this funder's giving patterns, decision-makers, and fit signals.
Get Started FreeFree Kindora accounts unlock side-by-side comparisons with foundations that share this funder's focus areas and giving profile.
Get Started FreeSign up free to see how well your nonprofit fits this funder, get an AI-generated pitch, and unlock similar foundations.
Concentrated giving: a very large, transformational endowment grant dominates total dollars, supplemented by several mid-size strategic gifts (notably to diabetes causes) and multiple smaller, local operating grants; funding is geographically focused on Cashiers/Plateau and surrounding mountain communities.
Notable grantees: The Boys and Girls Club of the Plateau, JDRF T1D Fund / Breakthrough T1D, Vision Cashiers Inc, Glenville-Cashiers Rescue Squad, Blue Ridge Free Dental Clinic
All recent grants in the provided data went to U.S. recipients. Cashiers, North Carolina, is the most common recipient city, appearing on multiple grants and reflecting a strong concentration in the Plateau area. Other recipient locations include Hagerstown, Maryland; New York, New York; and Brewer, Maine. The foundation’s giving is regional, but the recipient map is heavily weighted toward Cashiers-area organizations rather than its Georgia headquarters.
Its recent grants support endowment-building for a youth organization, Type 1 diabetes research and charitable work, sidewalks and other local infrastructure, rescue services, food access, dental care, and faith-based congregations. The clearest recurring themes are place-based community support and diabetes-related philanthropy.
The listed grant-size distribution is tightly centered at $100,000, with p25, median, and p75 all at $100,000. Recent outliers include a $950,000 endowment gift and several smaller grants around $10,000 to $11,000.
Yes. Recent grants include organizations in Hagerstown, Maryland; New York, New York; and Brewer, Maine. Even so, the largest share of recent recipient activity is in Cashiers, North Carolina.
Yes. The foundation is marked as making program-related investments, alongside its grantmaking to organizations rather than individuals. The recent data also shows a mix of endowment support, general support, and medical-research giving.
The recent record shows both patterns. The foundation made a grant to JDRF T1D Fund in 2024 and another diabetes-related grant to Breakthrough T1D in 2025, while many of the local community grants appear only once in the provided list.
2026
Source: IRS Form 990-PF, fiscal year 2026.
Most recent grants reported to the IRS.
| Recipient | Location | Amount | Year | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vision Cashiers Inc | Cashiers, NC | $102,500 | 2026 | Program Support |
| Breakthrough T1D (fka JDRF) | Hagerstown, MD | $100,000 | 2026 | Program Support |
| Special Operations Fund | Arlington, VA | $50,000 | 2026 | Education Scholarships |
| Pisgah Legal Services | Asheville, NC | $10,000 | 2026 | Legal Aid & Crisis Assistance |
| Duke Energy Share the Light Fund | Charlotte, NC | $10,000 | 2026 | Energy Bill Assistance |
| American Red Cross | Boone, IA | $10,000 | 2026 | LA Wildfires |
| Health Network Foundation | Brewer, ME | $7,500 | 2026 | Program Support |
| The Boys and Girls Club of the Plateau | Cashiers, NC | $950,000 | 2025 | creation of endowment |
| Vision Cashiers Inc | Cashiers, NC | $152,508 | 2025 | sidewalks/gnrl support |
| Glenville Cashiers Rescue Squad | Cashiers, NC | $110,000 | 2025 | general support |
| Breakthrough T1D (fka JDRF) | Hagerstown, MD | $100,000 | 2025 | medical research |
| Fishes and Loaves Food Pantry | Cashiers, NC | $11,000 | 2025 | general support |
| The Church of the Good Shephard | Cashiers, NC | $10,000 | 2025 | general support |
| Blue Ridge Free Dental Clinic | Cashiers, NC | $10,000 | 2025 | general support |
| Cashiers Baptist Church | Cashiers, NC | $10,000 | 2025 | general support |
| Health Network Foundation | Brewer, ME | $10,000 | 2025 | general support |
| JDRF T1D Fund | New York, NY | $100,000 | 2024 | charitable |
| JDRF T1D Fund | New York, NY | $75,000 | 2023 | Charitable |
| Glenville Cashiers Resque Squad | Cashiers, NC | $25,000 | 2023 | Charitable |
| UNICEF | New York, NY | $10,000 | 2023 | Charitable |
Duke Energy Share the Light Fund
$10,000Energy Bill Assistance
LA Wildfires
Glenville Cashiers Rescue Squad
$110,000general support
Fishes and Loaves Food Pantry
$11,000general support
The Church of the Good Shephard
$10,000general support
Blue Ridge Free Dental Clinic
$10,000general support
Cashiers Baptist Church
$10,000general support
Glenville Cashiers Resque Squad
$25,000Charitable