Grantee Spotlight: Shafer Leadership Academy Strengthening How Organizations Grow People

Organizations of all types face a challenge that rarely shows up on a balance sheet: building strong leadership.

They need people who can not only do the job, but also communicate clearly, navigate conflict, motivate others, and guide organizations through change.

For almost two decades, Shafer Leadership Academy in Muncie has been working to help individuals grow into those skills while strengthening the organizations and communities they serve.

Ball Brothers Foundation has been among the long-standing supporters of the organization’s growth and reach. Over the years, the foundation has provided a mix of capacity building, programming, and operating support as the organization has evolved. Alongside many other partners, this has contributed to Shafer Leadership Academy’s growth from an early leadership initiative into a regional organization serving thousands of participants each year across multiple states.

In the early 2000s, community leaders began exploring a gap that existed across the region. While leadership training opportunities were available within individual organizations, there was no coordinated effort to build leadership capacity across sectors and across the broader community.

Rather than immediately launching a program, the work began with a period of research and discovery. Community leaders engaged employers, nonprofits, and civic leaders through focus groups and conversations to better understand what leadership development should look like and how it could reflect local needs. Ball Brothers Foundation provided support along the way. That work led to a pilot program called Emergence, launched in 2007. The program brought together leaders from both for-profit businesses and nonprofit organizations in shared cohorts, with companies sponsoring nonprofit participants so access wasn’t limited by budget.

By 2009, the initiative formally incorporated as a nonprofit under the name Lead East Central Indiana. As programming expanded and the model matured, the organization was renamed Shafer Leadership Academy, honoring Hamer and Phyllis Shafer, local philanthropists who invested in building leaders in the Muncie community for 50 years.

When Executive Director Mitch Isaacs stepped into the organization’s first full-time leadership role in 2015, Shafer was still small but growing. The organization had two staff members, a budget of under $200,000, and it served roughly 500 people annually.

Today, that footprint looks very different.

Shafer now serves approximately 7,000 individuals each year through roughly 400 programs across eight counties and five states, supported by a team of five and a budget of about $800,000.

As employers continue to prioritize talent development and retention, leadership training and continuing education have become increasingly essential components with companies investing more in their workforce.

Shafer sits directly in that space—delivering a mix of programs serving leaders of all skill levels.

As Isaacs explains, leadership development starts with self-awareness. When individuals understand how they lead, communicate, and respond to challenges, they are better equipped to support others and strengthen the organizations they’re part of.

The academy’s work spans several program areas. Its membership programs support ongoing development for organizations, while workforce development programs—often in partnership with organizations like Eastern Indiana Works—focus specifically on helping job seekers build foundational employability skills. Community programs, including nonprofit board trainings and neighborhood leader convenings, are designed to strengthen civic capacity.

Shafer’s approach also includes early points in the leadership pipeline. Its youth leadership initiative serves students from Muncie Central High School, Burris Laboratory School, and Indiana Academy, helping young people begin developing leadership skills before entering the workforce. Ball Brothers Foundation supported early exploration of this work, helping Shafer test and refine the model before it secured additional funding to sustain and grow the program. 

This long-term investment in leadership development is especially important at a time when nonprofit organizations are navigating increased demand and limited financial resources. Programs like Shafer’s help meet that need, while volunteer support from the broader community remains an essential part of the equation.

Shafer Leadership Academy creates multiple entry points for that engagement. Its upcoming All Aboard session on May 12—hosted in partnership with Heart of Indiana United Way, Nonprofit Support Network, and the YWCA of Central Indiana—helps individuals learn more about nonprofit board service and how they can contribute their skills in meaningful ways. GoServe Muncie takes a complementary approach on the public sector side, building a database of residents interested in serving on local boards and commissions. The platform helps connect qualified and interested candidates with city leadership during the appointment process, broadening access to civic leadership opportunities.

Together, these efforts strengthen nonprofit organizations while building a pipeline of community members ready to lead and serve across sectors in Muncie and the broader region. Over time, a key part of Shafer Leadership Academy’s growth has been the development of a more diversified and sustainable revenue model. Today, the academy is supported in large part by a strong membership base, with participation from businesses, local governments, and nonprofit organizations across the region. With this new model, the organization has reduced its reliance on grant funding while deepening engagement with the broader community and employer network it serves. Approximately 85 percent of its revenue is self-generated, with the remaining 15 percent supported through grants and funding partnerships. The result is a blended model that allows Shafer to deliver programs while staying closely connected to the evolving needs of its partners.

Ultimately, by investing in leadership development at multiple stages and across sectors, Shafer is helping build a strong pipeline of leaders across East Central Indiana—strengthening organizational effectiveness, supporting employee development, and deepening community engagement in ways that contribute to the region’s long-term vitality.