New Research Highlights Role of Fellowships in Social Impact Sector

Report by ProInspire reveals strengths and opportunities of the growing field.

A newly released report by ProInspire represents the first effort to map the fellowship landscape, develop a more robust understanding of fellowships as a talent strategy, and identify ways the sector can harness fellowships for collective impact. The report, Social Impact Fellowships: Building Talent in the Social Impact Sector, documents the rapid evolution of the fellowship industry and the increasing use of fellowships to address gaps in how the social impact sector recruits, develops, and supports talent.

To gather these learnings, ProInspire and ProFellow conducted a survey of fellowship providers in late 2014. In total, 46 fellowship programs participated in the research, including well-known programs like Acumen Fellows, Ashoka, Atlas Corps, Broad Residency, Code for America, Echoing Green, NGen Fellows, ProInspire, and Public Allies.

The research resulted in the first common definition of a social impact fellowship:
A social impact fellowship enhances the value created by talent in the social impact sector, as a structured, professionally-oriented, time-bound and selective program in which talent enrolls.

It also identifies four main fellowship types, each distinguished by its value proposition to talent and to the sectors:

• Match Makers facilitate matching of fellows with public and social sector employers to serve in substantial full-time roles.
• Launchpads bring new organizations and models to the world by helping fellows launch new ventures.
• People Accelerators amplify the impact of existing leaders through leadership and professional development.
• Strategic Employers advance their own mission through the work of fellows in a structured program offering exposure and sector experience.

Key findings from the report include:

• Fellowships focus primarily on emerging leaders. Our survey found that fellowship programs focus mainly on ‘emerging leaders,’ which we define as individuals under the age of 40.
• Few fellowship programs have reached large scale. Two key factors seem to impact the ability for fellowship programs to scale: high per person costs of fellowship programs, and lack of funding for fellowship programs.
• Fellowships can enhance diversity in the sector. Over half of programs that track diversity metrics indicate that 50% or more of Fellows in their program are non-white.
• The fellowship industry approaches metrics and evaluation with inconsistency. Only 26% of respondents have performed a program evaluation. In addition, there is little consistency in metrics being tracked by programs in each category.
• Fellowships desire more industry collaboration. Nearly 100% of respondents indicated they would like to find more ways to collaborate with other fellowship programs.

The report also highlights untapped opportunities in the fellowship industry, including collaboration at the program level, development of the field overall, activation of alumni networks as a collective force, and advancement of further research to better understand the cost and value of fellowships.

“I’m delighted to share these important findings,” said Monisha Kapila, Founder and CEO of ProInspire. “The social impact sector, particularly the nonprofit sector, has struggled with creating effective mechanisms for expanding talent pipelines and developing talent across the career life cycle. The resulting gaps have created demand for structures to support the social impact sector around talent, and our research reveals that fellowship programs are increasingly playing that role. We hope this first-ever analysis of the industry will clarify the types of programs in the current fellowship landscape, and highlight how fellowships can build talent in the social impact sector. I’m excited to see how organizations, individuals, and funders capitalize on these opportunities.”

Full report, detailed survey results, and more are available at http://proinspire.org/industry-research/.

About ProInspire


ProInspire is a nonprofit that develops leaders at all levels for organizations addressing the world’s greatest challenges. Through fellowships, leadership development, and research, ProInspire strengthens individuals and organizations to catalyze social sector performance. Founded in 2009, with offices in Washington, DC and the San Francisco Bay Area, ProInspire partners include Accion, Community Housing Partnership, Global Giving, National 4-H Council, Share Our Strength, Tipping Point Community, and Year Up, among others. ProInspire was named by the Chronicle of Philanthropy as one of 7 Nonprofits to Watch in 2015. For more information about ProInspire, including information on program applications, please visit proinspire.wpengine.com or @proinspire on Twitter.

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