Roddenberry Fellowship Program 2024 (US)

This holistic approach benefits from the deep Fellowship network, and allows the ongoing cultivation of a cross-sector network of activists, community leaders, advocates, and changemakers.

Roddenberry Fellows are an extraordinary group of activists, leaders, and disruptors who are responding with urgency and creativity to structural inequities and an enduring climate of increased enmity and blame. Individually, Fellows are innovative, optimistic, and impact-driven. Collectively, the Fellowship community is constantly adapting to provide relevant resources, connections, and solidarity.

To date, there are over 100 Roddenberry Fellows from across the country, working on critical issues from immigrant detention and voting rights to healthcare and domestic abuse.

Benefits

• All fellows receive a $50k flexible grant, a team of coaches to work with throughout the year, two all-expenses paid retreats in the spring and fall, a cohort of peers and a network of over 100 passionate changemakers across the country.

How it works?

• The Roddenberry Fellowship application process has three rounds. This allows them to ask for minimal information in the first round, and invite a smaller group to share more information in the second round, ideally saving candidates time and energy. The final round consists of short, virtual interviews that allow them to get to know candidates, and candidates to share more about their work as well as ask questions about the program.

Who they are looking for?

• Innovative
  • The approach builds on existing knowledge in a new and potentially impactful way
• Lived Experience
  • Fellows are an integral part of the community they’re working with
• Relational
  • Fellows value community – and have the capacity to contribute back as well
• Leadership
  • Fellows are founders/co-founders, and are in their organization’s key decision-making role (ED, CEO, or equivalent)
• Growth Potential
  • Organizations that have <$2mil budgets and have been in operation for <5 years

Eligibility Criteria

• Individuals must be founders/co-founders and current in the CEO, ED, or equivalent position within their organization, and their organizations must be <$2mil annual budget and <4 years in existence. Individuals must be over the age of 18 and a United States citizen, permanent resident, DACA recipient, or current visa holder who resides in the 50 United States and its territories.
• All proposals must be for charitable, educational, or scientific purposes and may not be for lobbying or legislative purposes. 501c4 organizations are not eligible, but if you have a 501c3 arm of the organization, you can apply as long as your work is legally separate from the 501c4 and the grant is earmarked as such.
• They are interested in ambitious, creative initiatives likely to affect a significant portion of a target population, geography, or community. Hyper-local initiatives or those small in scope are great but not aligned with their Fellowship goals. You also don’t need to be well-known or have 50K twitter followers – they want individuals with a track record of success, a bold vision for the future, and initiatives with potential for large-scale change.

For more information, visit Roddenberry Foundation.