Echoing Green supports bold leaders from all over the world who see possibility in the face of the most existential challenges of our day. Together, they strive to build a world that has yet to exist: a future free from racism and its far-reaching consequences where all people can thrive.
This Fellowship is for people whose enterprises are at an early stage and who are experts on the challenge they’ve chosen to confront. They seek leaders who reflect the community they serve and bring deep knowledge of the issues into their work as they co-design solutions with and for their communities. Through the Echoing Green Fellowship, they find innovators, mobilizers, community organizers, and social justice leaders working on a plan to make the world better in a big way. Then they help them grow their impact by connecting them with the tools, resources, and communities they need to bring their ideas to life.
Eligibility
Applicants
Applicants must be 18 years or older by June 1, 2025.
To be eligible for the Fellowship and fully participate in programming and support offerings, you must be able to proficiently communicate in English. Support throughout the Echoing Green Fellowship is offered in English.
Applicants of all nationalities, working in any country, can apply for the fellowship.
You must be an original founder or a leading member of your proposed organization’s original founding team. You cannot have assumed a leadership position within the organization after its founding. To be eligible, you must be a leader with decision-making power within the organization and be either a sole founder or a leading founder on a team of people who created the organization.
Applicants must be the primary decision-makers and have the ultimate authority over your organization’s growth and strategic vision.
Be able to work full-time on your proposed organization throughout the 18-month Fellowship.
Organisations
Organizations that are independent but have fiscal sponsors are eligible for the Echoing Green Fellowship as long as the fiscal sponsor has no authority over the organization’s work and decision-making.
To be eligible for an Echoing Green Fellowship, you must be able to make and act on organizational decisions of your own choosing. If other organizations or entities manage or hold decision-making authority for your proposed organization, you may not be eligible. Organizations that are independent but have fiscal sponsors may be eligible as long as the fiscal sponsor has no authority over the organization’s work and decision-making.
To be eligible for an Echoing Green Fellowship, the organization cannot engage in recruitment, promotion, or conversion for a specific religious faith to your constituency. If your organization’s work has a spiritual element or works with existing faith communities but does not promote or recruit on behalf of that faith, you may be eligible.
For you and your organization to be eligible for an Echoing Green Fellowship, no founding team members and no people in a leadership position can be an Echoing Green Fellow.
Per the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Echoing Green cannot distribute funds to organizations whose primary purpose is lobbying. Lobbying is defined as activities that seek to support specific political candidates, and specific political parties, or urge action on specific legislative bills. Issue-area advocacy, defined as the attempt to cause political action using methods such as civic education and public campaigns, is not considered lobbying.
Echoing Green seeks applicants in need of funding to initiate or scale their organizations.
Benefits
Leadership Development: A comprehensive program to build and grow leadership skills and develop the strategies needed for ideas to thrive.
Wellness and Wellbeing Support: Ongoing support focuses on mental and emotional wellbeing along with self-care workshops designed specifically for the struggles of entrepreneurship.
Expert Resources: The programs team facilitates the Fellow experience and connects these leaders to experts and opportunities according to their needs.
Seed Funding: A stipend over 18 months ($100,000 USD). Funding offered to for-profit organizations is in the form of recoverable grants.
Virtual and In-Person Convenings: Gatherings to connect Fellows within and across classes, regions, and communities to build strong ties among Fellows over their entrepreneurial journey.
Expert Support: A suite of pro-bono support from leading professionals to build organizational capacity and help navigate the social innovation field. Opportunities to connect with experienced business leaders committed to supporting positive social change globally.
Application Process
If you have the ideas and vision to bring positive change to the world, we want to work with you. Don’t worry if your business plan or resume isn’t perfect. What matters is that you are committed to the problem you are solving and ready to make a significant impact.
