Changing Lives: How Leaders of Philanthropic Organizations Understand Their Mission

The purpose of this study is to better understand what leaders of local organizations mean by the phrase “changing people’s lives.” Three major themes emerged from the data, collected from interviews and organizational information, suggesting that people do make transformative changes in their lives and engagement with a philanthropic organization seems to facilitate the change process. Our research question was “How do staff members of local philanthropic organizations make meaning of the phrase in their mission statements ‘changing people’s lives.’