About Us

The Foundation was established in February 2016 by the Polish-American Freedom Foundation.

The main activities of the Foundation include administration of the long-term programs financed by the Polish-American Freedom Foundation: The Lane Kirkland Scholarship Program and “Study Tours to Poland” Program.

All the Programs were transferred to the new Foundation together with the teams who have been creating them for years. A combination of programs with similar profiles and involvement of new persons in their co-creation constitute an opportunity to expand and enrich our activities. We would like to have a broad offer addressed to those who are willing to benefit from experiences of active people from East Europe, the Caucasus region and Central Asia. In collaboration with academic facilities and institutions in the public and NGO sectors, we also hope to provide some new forms of internships and research stays in Poland.

We gather people who believe in the power of change.

Our misson

The mission of the Leaders of Change Foundation is to support elites in the countries of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia – people with active citizenship behavior, who work for the development of their countries.

The Foundation implements its mission by:

Sharing Polish experiences on the system transformation process and Euro-Atlantic integration.
Promoting democratic, civic and market economy values.
Promoting Poland as a friendly country interested in establishing collaboration in the region. Supporting the development of social diplomacy.
Supporting the cooperation of Polish and foreign non-governmental organizations, public and private institutions.

What we do?

We grant
scholarships

Under the Lane Kirkland Scholarship Program, we grant approx. 45 scholarships a year to pursue postgraduate programs in Poland, dedicated to young researchers from 9 countries in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. We already have 700 graduates!

We organize
study
visits

The students and professionals from the countries in Eastern Europe are invited to one- or two-week study visits in Poland. They get to know contemporary Poland, its experiences, legal and institutional solutions in specific areas. We have already played host to more than 5,000 professionals and nearly 3,000 students under the "Study Tours to Poland" Program.

We organize
professional
internships

The Lane Kirkland Scholarship Program offers not only studies, but also internships in state and private institutions. Each of the 700 graduates completed at least a two-week internship, whereas the majority of them attended longer internships, sometimes at 3-4 institutions.

We organize
training courses

Studying under the Lane Kirkland Program offers opportunities for grantees to attend many valuable training courses. We have been offering training courses in project writing, academic presentations, library skills, use of full text databases as well as self-development, career planning and multicultural workshops.

We support
activity of
graduates

We support our graduates in a number of ways - we organize conferences and graduate reunions, finance activities of graduate associations and meetings of former grantees as well as "bridge" programs. We keep in touch by publishing our Newsletter and sharing the most important information via social media.

We support
and co-organize
international
fora and conferences

The "Study Tours to Poland" Program is a co-creator of WEASA - the Warsaw Euro-Atlantic Summer Academy project - on behalf of the Polish-American Freedom Foundation. As part of the Program, we also finance, among other things, the Economic Forum in Toruń and Bohdan Osadczuk Winter College and Workshops of Eastern Europe implemented by College of Eastern Europe in Wrocław. Ever few years, we also organize the Conference for the Lane Kirkland Program graduates.