Cordes Fellows

The Cordes Fellowship gave me access that I wouldn’t have otherwise had to donors and program partners that have remained invaluable to our work in helping achieve basic human rights for the children of Liberia. The OC was my first international development conference and the fellowship provided me with the support and mentorship I needed in navigating what would have otherwise been an overwhelming experience. The fellowship is like a family and the connections continue years after the conference is over! I’m forever grateful for the kindness, advice, and boost that the Cordes Fellowship provided to me!

– Katie Meyler, Founder, More Than Me

I’ve grown so much from The Cordes Fellowship. I was able to meet incredible mentors and peers who have been an invaluable support network. SHOFCO’s programs in Kenya have greatly benefited from being a part of Cordes and I look forward to staying connected and collaborating to achieve our mission of building urban promise from urban poverty.

– Kennedy Odede, Co-Founder, SHOFCO

Since 2010, the Cordes Fellowship program has provided annual scholarships for 50 of the world’s most promising emerging social entrepreneurs to participate as full delegates in the Opportunity Collaboration (OC), an annual gathering in Mexico of 400+ global leaders building sustainable solutions to poverty. The OC brings together social entrepreneurs, innovative nonprofit executives, grantmakers, impact investors, corporate and academic field-leaders, and aligned media working around the world to solve common challenges and spark new opportunities. The purpose of the Cordes Fellowship is to open doors, minds and networks for emerging social entrepreneurs and nonprofit executives; enrich the OC with new, emerging leaders; and infuse the collaborative discussions with a diversity of perspectives. Learn more here.

Successful Cordes Fellowship applicants are high-impact, innovative, entrepreneurial for-profit and nonprofit organization executives with a demonstrated commitment to economic justice and poverty alleviation. Like all OC delegates, fellows are catalytic leaders who by their actions and accomplishments evidence pragmatic vision, passionate tenacity, multi-sectoral thinking, adaptive leadership skills, non-ideological activism and a strong ethical grounding. Since 2010, the OC has welcomed 478 Cordes Fellows from 71 different countries.

Applications for 2018 Cordes Fellowships are now closed. Applications for 2019 Cordes Fellowships will be open from November 1, 2018 until January 31, 2019. Please check back during that time period for a link to the application.