We are a family foundation established in 1994 by Harry W. Strachan to promote social investment in Latin America. The Strachan Foundation 1994-2022 supported local NGOs in Education and Health. Our current focus is scholarships for candidates exhibiting promise to become transformative leaders, who consciously make it their purpose to improve the welfare of others.
Scholarships for Transformative Leadership for Latin America
We grant scholarships for students selected by and managed by the following institutions.
Central American Leadership Initiative
La mejor escuela de negocios de Latinoamérica
Escuela Superior de Economía y Negocios
Transformando Vidas vía Educación
Transformative Leadership
When asked who the scholarships are for, we say our objective is the formation of transformative leaders. By that we have in mind three major ideas.
- Society needs leaders in every sector: private business, professions, government, non-profits, civil society. Our scholarships are for potential leaders going into all sectors.
- Transformative leaders are first of all leaders. There are many leadership characteristics and traits. Four that we think are important in choosing scholarship recipients are:
- Smarts, problem solving capacity reflected in superior educational achievements.
- Influence even without formal power, often as a result of knowledge and expertise, communication skills and empathy.
- Team building and organizing skills. Recruiting, developing and managing others. Building efficient systems and teams.
- A desire to make a difference. An entrepreneurial spirit, innovation, fire-in-the-belly.
- Finally we use the word “transformative” to describe a leader who has consciously made it his or her purpose to improve the welfare of others. Leaders with this broader purpose in life we believe will be more successful than good leaders only focused on their own and their family success. We therefore choose to support institutions who are deliberating helping students make that conscious choice earlier rather than later in life.
Strachan Foundation from 1994-2022
Established in honor of Harry Strachan’s parents and grandparents and run by a board of family members, the first phase of the foundation supported innovative projects and NGOs that prepare and empower people and communities to creatively solve the problems they face. Within that broad objective, our focus was on formal and informal education and health programs in Central America, including Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama.
We still believe strongly in the NGOs we have supported for 29 years and are happy to share information and connections. Please feel free to reach out directly to our previous grantees who are doing great work. To speak with Miguel Tello who was our Executive Director about these organizations and their work or his work in restorative justice please email him at mtello_us@yahoo.com. We are grateful for his excellence in stewarding the Foundation during his tenure. His final report and a history of what was accomplished can be downloaded “Strachan Foundation 1994-2022 Final Report“.