The Charlottesville Area Community Foundation (Community Foundation) is pleased to welcome M. Leigh Harrison as our newest Senior Philanthropic Relationship Manager. Leigh will serve as the Community Foundation’s primary point of contact for a dynamic and wide-ranging portfolio of funds, particularly the endowments and operating reserves established by area nonprofits, working in concert with Foundation leadership and his counterparts.
“Leigh’s longstanding commitment to this region, combined with his deep relationships, strategic insight, and values-driven leadership, make him an extraordinary addition to our team,” said President & CEO Leslie Lynn Smith. “He has been a trusted and impactful force across the regional ecosystem for many years, consistently helping move people, ideas, and opportunities forward. We’re thrilled to welcome Leigh’s thinking, energy, and commitment to community into this next chapter of our work together.”
Born and raised in Southside Virginia, Leigh moved to the Charlottesville region with his family after living for a decade in Washington, D.C. As a past holder of the CFRE credential, his experience with locally based nonprofits includes advancement-related efforts supporting UVA’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture as well as the regional environmental nonprofit Appalachian Voices. He is also a founding member of the Consulting Co-op of Central Virginia (CCCV), a consulting network through which he launched his own advisory practice to provide strategic counsel to grantseekers and philanthropists.
“I’m honored to work with the inspiring and talented leaders and staff of the Community Foundation in this new season of its history—at a time when achieving the goal of deeper understanding and engaged thought-partnership with community leaders calls for greater responsiveness, a new commitment to creative problem-solving, and a truly long-term perspective from our team,” Leigh says. “It’s a joy to work closely with so many dedicated fund representatives, and organizations doing so much good in so many different spheres, to ensure a thriving nonprofit sector that can serve our region’s communities for generations to come.”
Along with his commitment to resourcing local nonprofit organizations, Leigh has held leadership roles at institutions of higher education such as George Mason University, where he spearheaded communications for a comprehensive campaign and later serving as a liaison for philanthropic grantmakers. He is a graduate of the College of William & Mary, where he received his B.A. in English, as well as Cornell University, where he received an M.A. and Ph.D. in medieval studies. The most recent chapter of Leigh’s career as a teacher has been on the adjunct faculty of Piedmont Virginia Community College, where he has taught English composition to students who hail from Charlottesville and six counties in the region.
Leigh lives in eastern Albemarle County with his wife, their two small children, and their cat. When not struggling to play harpsichord music on the piano or to make his favorite old-timey Southern recipes vegetarian, he enjoys visiting the opera with his daughter, reading adventure stories with his son, and going on long and leisurely hikes through the woods with the whole family.