Deadline: June 30, 2026
Applications are open for the Barr Fellowship Class of 2026. Every few years, starting in 2005, Barr Foundation has invited a diverse group of civic leaders to become Barr Fellows. Over seven cohorts, the Barr Fellowship has recognized, supported, and connected 80 exemplary leaders from many backgrounds, organizations, and fields.
The Fellowship aims to enable more social sector leaders across the state to:
- experience increased resilience, renewal, clarity of purpose, and sustainability;
- cultivate additional collaborative leadership capacities and skills;
- develop a healthy operating culture in their organization that recognizes and invests in leadership at all levels; and
- grow the networks that they can rely on and activate in service of shared goals.
Program Components
- Cohort connection and learning opportunities provided via scheduled programming (approximately 16 days over 15 months).
- A $75,000 grant to the organization with the dual purposes of supporting the well-being of the individual Fellow and the organization — $25,000 to support the Fellow’s personal well-being and development and $50,000 to support the organization’s work to enhance resilience and well-being for its staff.
- 50 hours of coaching, which includes executive coaching for the Fellow and organizational coaching to support identifying and advancing key resilience goals.
- Opportunities for continued engagement with the Fellow’s cohort and the larger Barr Fellows Network as Alumni.
Eligibility
Applicant organizations must:
- Be a nonprofit 501(c)3 public charity or an organization fiscally sponsored by a 501(c)3 public charity of any discipline headquartered and significantly serving Massachusetts, i.e., at least roughly 75% of the activities, services and/or programming conducted by your organization occur in Massachusetts.
- Have an operating budget between approximately $500,000 and $5 million with adequate staffing and resources in place to continue operations without significant interruption while the nominated individual participates in Fellowship activities.
- Demonstrate an organizational commitment to:
- Developing a field that is rooted in justice and belonging, in which all staff can thrive and contribute to organizational missions.
- Cultivating a healthy operating culture that recognizes and invests in leadership at all levels.
- Organizations that are fiscally sponsored are eligible.
- Government agencies, hospitals, K-12 schools and higher education institutions are not eligible to apply.
- Organizations with a primary function of re-granting to other organizations are not eligible to apply.
The Organization’s individual candidate for the Fellowship must:
- Be a CEO, Executive Director, or Co-Director in a nonprofit organization, who have been in their current role for at least three years.
- Have between approximately three and ten years’ total experience in a paid role as a nonprofit CEO, Executive Director, or Co-Director, and intend to remain in the sector for the foreseeable future.
- Be a full-time resident of New England with professional life and work significantly focused on Massachusetts.
- Demonstrate a personal and professional commitment to developing a field that is rooted in justice and belonging and contributing to organizational culture that supports staff to show up as their full selves, unique in their cultures, experiences, and perspectives.
- Have availability, capacity, and commitment for full participation in the Fellowship.
Application
The application window for the Class of 2026 closes on Tuesday, June 30 at 5:00pm EST.
For more information, visit Barr Fellowship.
