Echoing Green Fellowship
Echoing Green
$100K over 18 months
Seed funding for social founders
The Echoing Green Fellowship is one of the most prestigious social-entrepreneurship fellowships in the world, backing emerging leaders who are building organizations to address deep social and environmental problems. Selected Fellows receive a stipend totaling $100,000 over the 18-month fellowship, plus leadership development, wellness support, expert and pro-bono resources, and entry into a global community of social innovators. The fellowship is open to any organizational structure focused on social impact — nonprofit, for-profit, or hybrid — though for-profit ventures above certain revenue/valuation thresholds receive their funding as a 'Recoverable Grant' rather than an outright stipend. Echoing Green receives close to 4,000 applications a year for a small cohort, making it intensely competitive. Applicants must be an original founder (or original founding-team leader) and the primary decision-maker of an early-stage venture.
- Funding type
- Award
- Level
- Foundation
- Amount range
- $100,000 – $100,000
- Realistic amount
- Every Fellow in a cohort receives the same $100,000 stipend spread over 18 months (roughly $…
- Deadline
- Annual — application window opens in fall (e.g. opened Sep 17, closed Oct 8 for the 2026 cohort)
- Status
- between-intakes
- States
- Nationwide
- Payment model
- advance
Who qualifies
- Applicant must be an original founder or a leading member of the proposed organization's original founding team (cannot have joined after founding)
- Applicant must be the primary decision-maker for the organization
- Must be 18 years or older by the time the fellowship begins
- Must be able to communicate proficiently in English
- Organization must be early stage — operating with full-time staff for fewer than five years, or still needing resources to grow and sustain operations
- All organizational structures eligible (nonprofit, for-profit, hybrid) provided the focus is social impact
- For-profit/hybrid ventures over ~$5M valuation or ~$2M+ revenue with positive net profit receive funding as a repayable 'Recoverable Grant'
- Applicants of all nationalities, working in any country, may apply (no US residency requirement)
What it covers
Eligible expenses
- Founder stipend / living expenses while building the venture
- Early organizational growth and operations
- Leadership and capacity development
- General startup costs
Ineligible expenses
- Not applicable — the award is a personal/organizational stipend with no published expense restrictions; for-profits above thresholds receive a recoverable grant instead
How to apply
-
1
Confirm founder eligibility
Verify you are an original founder / original founding-team leader and the primary decision-maker of an early-stage social-impact venture (full-time staff for under five years). Echoing Green funds the person and the venture.
~2 hrs
-
2
Prepare your application during the open window
Applications are only accepted during the fall window. Articulate the social/environmental problem, your innovative solution, evidence of early progress, your leadership story, and your theory of change. Review the published Selection Criteria first.
~18 hrs
-
3
Submit through the official portal
Submit via echoinggreen.org/fellowship/apply before the October deadline. Questions go to fellowship@echoinggreen.org.
~1 hrs
-
4
Semifinalist and finalist rounds
Strong applicants advance through interviews and finalist review; selected Fellows are notified the following June/July and enter the 18-month program.
~10 hrs
Echoing Green is choosing a leader, not just an idea — the application and interviews probe your personal connection to the problem and your decision-making authority as an original founder. Read the published Selection Criteria PDF before writing a word; applicants who map their narrative to those criteria (innovation, scalability, leadership, impact) advance far more often. If you run a revenue-generating for-profit above the thresholds, understand up front that your $100K arrives as a recoverable grant.
Deadline & timing
Echoing Green runs one annual cohort. For the 2026 cohort, applications opened September 17 and closed October 8, 2025; Fellows are notified in June/July 2026. The next cycle is expected to open in fall 2026. Sign up on the Echoing Green site to be notified when applications reopen.
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Last reviewed 2026. GrantCompass is an independent funding-discovery tool and is not affiliated with any government agency. Always confirm details on the official program page.