Social Impact Fellowship

The Fellowship is for individuals who want to embed or deepen impact in their lives. You may already be in the impact space and want to develop your networks, build a toolkit of relevant resources and approaches to grow your impact, or maybe you just want to learn more about other parts of the impact ecosystem like impact investing, impact measurement, and social enterprise. You might also be new to the impact space and want to learn how to apply your experience in another sector to creating impact. Either way, the Fellowship is an incredible opportunity for personal growth and professional development. We invite applicants of all ages, abilities, races and cultural backgrounds and LGBTQIA+ to apply.

Social Impact Hub will review all applications and curate a cohort with Fellows with a diversity of experience, knowledge and skills to create the best possible peer learning community.

The Social Impact Fellowship costs $2945 (plus GST and Stripe fee) for the program. We are committed to ensuring that finance is not a barrier to participating and provide a number of partial scholarships each year. Note, we don't provide full scholarships. We encourage all interested to apply. We can also support you to work with your organisation to cover some or all of the costs as part of your professional development.

The fee goes towards funding the operational cost of running the Fellowship to ensure the best experience possible for all Fellows. Our educational sessions are run by experts in their field including those from our Professional Impact Network who are paid for their time. Members of our Professional Impact Network are also compensated for their time to support the projects.

Yes. We can assist you in the request process with your organisation by providing letter of support outlining the program. We can then create an invoice for your company and allocate this time to your learning and development budget.

1. Application: The first stage is to fill in an application. Here we collect your basic information and understand your interest in the Fellowship Program. We will review your application for suitability and if you meet the program criteria, we will contact you by email.

2. Interview: If your application has been shortlisted, you will be invited to an interview.

3. Offer: Once the selection process has been finalised and you have been selected, you will be offered a Fellowship position in writing.

We will assess the following areas:

• How will the Fellowship help you achieve your personal and professional goals?
• Do you have a real curiosity for social impact, social entrepreneurship or impact investing?
• Are you willing to take the initiative to create opportunities for yourself on the Fellowship journey?

No, you don’t need to quit your current role to take part in the program. The program is a professional development opportunity designed to fit around your current personal and professional commitments. We are looking for individuals who want to improve themselves, who are deeply curious about the impact sector and who want to make a difference. We welcome Fellows that will apply the skills and knowledge they will gain from the Fellowship back in their current roles, hence upskilling themselves in their careers

The Fellowship is a three-month program that focuses on developing both your sector knowledge of social impact, social entrepreneurship and impact investment, and upskilling in 21st century skills, such as lean start-up methodology, design thinking and personal branding. The program includes content led by our Professional Impact Network who are subject matter experts in the sessions they run as well as networking and practical learning opportunities. This includes:

• Demystifying the social entrepreneurship and impact investing landscape.
• Meeting other amazing talented individuals from diverse backgrounds in your cohort.
• Hearing from leading social entrepreneurs, impact investors and sector leaders who will share their insights on different parts of the impact ecosystem and help you explore opportunities to embed impact in your career.
• Receiving introductions to social enterprises and founders in our Social Impact Hub network to support your professional development.
• Receiving bespoke career guidance and sessions with your Fellowship mentor/s.

We recommend you see the Fellowship program as a chance to curate your own learning experience. We run one to two sessions a week (2.5 contact hours in total). The Fellowship sessions will typically run on Wednesday nights from 5.30pm-7pm and Friday from 12pm-1pm. Fellows can choose which sessions they attend live, which they watch as recordings, and which might not be as relevant to them. All recordings will continue to made available after the program ends, alongside other online learning materials, so it is not essential to attend every session live. In addition to the two sessions a week, you will have sessions with your mentor which can be organised around your schedule.

That being said, we believe you get out what you put in so you can make the program as ‘intensive’ as you’d like. There is the opportunity to go through additional online learning and Fellows can also have the option of taking on a project with a social enterprise, doing an online hustling for more introductions, attending events and generally immersing themselves in the world of social impact.

Sessions with your mentor/s as well as projects with social enterprises are structured around your availability.

The Fellowship will be delivered virtually. Outside of the Fellowship, we will facilitate state based catch ups and networking opportunities.

The project is a practical learning experience where you will be able to apply your existing knowledge and skillsets as well as learning from the program to a real-world problem a social enterprise is experience. The social enterprises come from the Social Impact Hub's community. There will be flexibility around the timing and location of the project depending on the Fellows and enterprises' availability and preference. The project can be completed virtually or in person during work hours or after hours.

You will have an opportunity to preference the enterprise you would like to work with. The project for the Fellows component of the program is not limited and spots will be guaranteed if you choose to undertake the optional placement.

If you would like to organise the project as a workplace volunteering opportunity, we are happy to support you with any materials you need from us to take to your employer. Similarly, we are also happy to provide a reference letter to you confirming your participation in the Fellowship so you are well-equipped for your next career move!