A pool of 80 applicants has been winnowed to 15 finalists as the Initiators Fellowship—serving Central, Southwest and West Central Minnesota—marches toward its October 25th selection day and the announcement of seven fellows who will participate in the two-year program.
Continue readingAs you’ve read about the Initiators Fellowship, maybe you’ve found yourself wondering: “What are these people trying to accomplish with this program? It seems like a lot of resources invested in a few people.”
Continue readingOn July 1, with our Initiators Fellowship deadline fast approaching, we began the final push for applications. Social media, newspaper articles, email blasts … we employed all the tools in our arsenal. We’d set an internal target of 50 applications. Really, though, we had no way of knowing just how many we’d receive.
A Wealth of creativity, talent, passion exist in Greater Minnesota
And now I can happily report that we’ve received 80 applications! Despite having reviewed only a handful so far, I’m excited by what I’ve seen. There’s such a wealth of creativity, talent, passion and drive that exists in Southwest, West Central and Central Minnesota! We’re going to have the fantastic problem of needing to select only seven Initiator Fellows from a great pool of applicants.
So, what happens next? How do we go from 80 to seven?
Throughout August, 24 volunteers will review and score the applications. Each application will be read by at least three different readers. These volunteers will offer guidance to the Fellowship Steering Team, which will select 15-18 finalists who will then be invited to Finalist Day on Oct. 25. All finalists will be interviewed and will pitch their social enterprise ideas to a selection panel. A week or so later, the Steering Team will finalize the 2020-2021 cohort of Initiators Fellows.
Anticipation …
It may seem like a long time from the application deadline to final selection, but these are important decisions—for us and for our applicants—and we want to do it well. After all, this Fellowship represents a significant investment of time and resources. We need to do our level best to ensure that we select people who are most ready to capitalize on these investments and to lead positive change in their communities.
Creating any new business is a laudable and challenging endeavor. Creating one that has a double or triple bottom line—one that generates a profit and positively impacts people and the planet— can be even more challenging.
In the end, we’re confident our diligence will pay off and help us identify Greater Minnesota leaders with innovative ideas who can contribute to the growth and prosperity of our (mostly) rural region. And our confidence is not unfounded! Our first cohort of four Initiators Fellows continues to validate the investments in them. Come back to this blog again in the near future to get an update about the great things they’ve all accomplished since completing the Fellowship December 2018.
—Chris Fastner, Initiators Fellowship program manager
Following the July 15 application deadline, the Initiators Fellowship Steering Team begins its review and feedback process as we march toward Finalist Day in September.
Watch our Overview webinar for details:
SEPTEMBER SELECTION
Up to 15 applicants will be invited to participate in Finalist Day! Applicants will be notified about their selection status by Sept. 30. All applicants receive feedback regardless of the outcome.
Finalists will share their ideas with a panel of judges and participate in a live pitch session on Oct. 25. Finalists also will have the opportunity to access a variety of supportive resources throughout the day. Up to seven Fellows will be selected for the program by early November.
The seven selected Fellows will receive two years of intensive support and training plus $30,000 annually. Selected Fellows will be matched with a mentor during November and December, and the program will kick off in January 2020.
Regional Foundations United in Goal to Enrich Greater Minnesota
Investing in the people and communities of Greater Minnesota has been a central tenet of the Minnesota Initiative Foundations. Through the Initiators Fellowship, three Greater Minnesota community foundations—the Initiative Foundation, Southwest Initiative Foundation and West Central Initiative—are continuing the legacy that began in the 1980s.