Your Gift Puts a Specific Leader Through the Program

Your sponsorship gives one Fellow access to the virtuous character-based development you wish you had received, or that you have seen an institution or an entire industry fail to offer. You will know exactly who you helped, and you will see what that leader does with what you made possible.

Sponsor a Fellow See All Ways to Give

What Sponsorship Covers

A full sponsorship funds everything a Fellow needs to complete the program.

  • Tuition for the full Fellows Program cohort experience.
  • Program materials, including the LITER framework curriculum.
  • Mentor pairing with an SLG Certified Mentor.
  • Ongoing alumni network access, so the relationship you funded keeps paying forward long after the cohort ends.

Your gift is the specific cost of one person’s transformation, covered start to finish.

Speaker points to a slide reading Leadership begins with you but is not about you

Investment Approaches

$6,000

Full Sponsorship

Covers one Fellow’s entire program experience, tuition through alumni access.

Various

Partial Sponsorship

Contributes toward a Fellow’s program cost, often combined with other partial gifts or scholarship funds to complete a sponsorship.

Pooled

Group or Syndicate Sponsorship

Multiple investors, individuals, a family foundation, or a small group of friends, pool gifts to sponsor one or more Fellows together, sharing in the outcome as a group.

Sponsored Fellow Stories

Sponsorship makes the Fellows Program possible for leaders who could not otherwise attend. Hear from Fellows, in their own words, about what the program changed for them.

When Leah Paley came to the Severn Leadership Group, she had ideas about leadership. She was serving as the Chief Executive Officer of the Anne Arundel County Food Bank, a position she had held since September 2021. While she had led nonprofits in Maryland for almost a decade, she had recently identified wanting to embrace the relationship with her team more fully as a growth opportunity.

SLG’s motto of “Leadership starts with you, but is not about you” highlighted the importance of the followers in an organization, and Leah was seeking a fresh lens on leadership. She wanted to lead in a more visionary way that included defining success for herself, her team, and her organization.

Several aspects of the Fellows Program helped Leah develop a new perspective on leadership. When she began the program, she was looking for an empathetic and understanding mentor who would challenge her and offer reflection. She found all these qualities and more in her mentor, Kristi Neidhardt, who helped guide her “to open my mind and approach things in a different way.” Leah found Kristi’s experience with nonprofit boards helpful in relating to the work she was doing with the Food Bank.

Initially, giving feedback was something that Leah approached apprehensively, but through working with Kristi and reflecting on the program materials, she found a way to give feedback that wasn’t so daunting. “Through the program, I realized the importance of feedback in helping folks grow, and demonstrating love in a way that isn’t scary,” shared Leah.

The increased confidence in giving feedback to her team was a step toward prioritizing relationships. Leah started sharing some of the program’s resources with her team, which helped create openings for dialogue and “opportunities for conversations through the learnings.” This led her to spend less time in her office and more time out and about in closer connection to her team.

Now, Leah moves forward with courage and clarity, grounded in her ability to lead with vision and authenticity. She’s giving herself credit for the accountability she’s always practiced and embracing a renewed commitment to relationships at the heart of her leadership.

Great strides in leadership can be made by simply listening and acknowledging rather than telling.

Diane joined the program hoping to deepen her self-awareness and strengthen her ability to build meaningful connections. Through the mentoring experience, she discovered the powerful role storytelling can play in building trust and bridging differences.

Her relationship with her Fellow, Jenn Tiamson, reinforced the value of listening, curiosity, and authentic engagement. Moments when Jenn reflected or captured insights during their conversations affirmed that their dialogue was creating real growth and connection.

Diane also gained a new appreciation for how her own life experiences and stories can help guide others. The program reminded her that leadership is not only about technical expertise; it is about relationships, resilience, and creating space for reflection.

She believes the program’s greatest impact is encouraging leaders to see teamwork through the lens of virtue and inspiring positive change that spreads from one person to another.

One word to describe the experience: Insightful

Read More Stories

How Sponsorship Works

  1. You make your gift, full, partial, or as part of a group sponsorship.
  2. SLG matches your gift to a Fellow entering an upcoming cohort.
  3. You receive updates from your Fellow throughout their program, in their own words, at key points in the cohort, not a generic newsletter.
  4. You see the outcome: who they became, and what they are carrying forward into their team and organization.

Tax Information

Severn Leadership Group is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Sponsorship gifts are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Those who give to SLG should consult their own tax professional regarding the tax implications of their contribution.

The Relationship Is Your Choice

Some sponsors want to know their Fellow directly: a name, an introduction, occasional updates straight from the person they are funding. Others prefer their gift to remain anonymous, letting the impact speak for itself. Both are welcome here.

A connected sponsorship

With an introduction to your Fellow and periodic updates directly from them.

An anonymous sponsorship

Where SLG shares your Fellow’s story and outcomes without a direct exchange.

Either way, your gift reaches a real person. How much of that relationship you want is entirely your call.