If you were to give a bright marginalized Palestinian child a $50,000 gift for their college education, they would have just that. If you give $50,000 to Leonard Education Organization (LEO) that gift will become at least $175,000 in tuitions for three bright marginalized Palestinian students, plus systemically influence thousands of additional students who will benefit in-country from LEO’s educational processes.
LEO embodies a unique investment opportunity to develop, support, and expand cross-cultural undergraduate education for academically-inclined disadvantaged young Palestinians from the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, and Lebanon. Upon graduation from a top-tier private American college/university, these scholars will return to their home regions as leaders with vast international networks, prepared to advance culturally appropriate solutions to ending poverty and promoting peace and prosperity.
The most unique attribute of LEO is the exclusive and inclusive assembly of Palestinians from their many different regions into one program. By inclusion, they are raised up together, and will by this association be prepared to work together for all Palestinians, united as the future leadership of Palestinian society. The prior experience and institutional memories of the executive staff, officers, and board members, gained through predecessor organizations, contribute greatly to the LEO operational plan that focuses and multiplies the resources of partners around the world.
Our first-year Return-on-Investment (ROI) is 17:1. Expressed as a percentage, that is a 1,715% difference between the cash in the program and the value of the delivered undergraduate education. The LEO program creates an eye-popping return on investment, all to the direct betterment of the Palestinian scholars and their homelands.
The LEO program takes the poorest of the poor and gives them the best of the best educational experience. In the process, we enlighten and train hundreds of Palestinian educators and thousands of Palestinian students (in their home country schools) to be ready and positioned for the opportunities available for all promising youth to pursue college degrees abroad.
LEO is committed to a cross-cultural staff and cross-cultural Board of Directors comprised of academics and cultural guides, financial experts, and alumni who have a shared educational experience and a vested personal interest in the future of the region.