Deadline: 11 January 2026
The Kinship Conservation Fellowship is a global leadership program designed to support conservation practitioners and equip them with the knowledge, skills, and analytical tools to drive impactful, market-based environmental solutions.
The program’s curriculum is curated to the unique opportunities of each year’s cohort and exposes Fellows to the six Kinship Conservation Pillars for market-based solutions: Leading Adaptively, Iterating for Scale, Designing for Governing the Commons, Identifying an Economic Engine, Financing Conservation, and Evaluating for Impact.
Delivered by a faculty of global experts, the Fellowship focuses on strengthening the leadership and strategic capacity of conservation professionals from around the world. It provides participants with advanced tools to improve their existing projects and to integrate economic principles into environmental problem-solving. Fellows engage in a collaborative learning environment that emphasizes innovation, adaptive management, and real-world application of conservation strategies.
The Fellowship seeks conservation leaders with at least five years of on-the-ground experience who are actively implementing market-based approaches to solve environmental problems. Applicants must demonstrate readiness to contribute to and benefit from an expanding global community of conservation leaders. Each application includes a project proposal outlining an environmental issue related to the applicant’s professional work and their plan to develop a market-driven solution.
During the Fellowship, participants collaborate on group projects that combine the cohort’s collective expertise, their individual proposals, and insights from the curriculum and faculty. The interactive learning process encourages cross-sector collaboration and the development of sustainable, scalable approaches to conservation.
For attending the Fellowship in Bellingham, WA, Fellows receive a stipend of US$8,000, net of customary U.S. tax withholding. All Fellows are responsible for paying their own applicable local, state and federal taxes in respect of the stipend. Additionally, payments to non-US citizens will be subject to customary US tax withholding (currently at 30%, resulting in a net payment of approximately $5,600, subject to change based on then-current US tax laws).
Each year, 18 applicants are selected to participate in the program. To qualify, candidates must hold at least a four-year U.S. college degree or its equivalent, have a minimum of five years of relevant post-degree work experience, demonstrate proficiency in spoken and written English, and work as conservation practitioners rather than academics or researchers.
The Kinship Conservation Fellowship provides a unique platform for professionals to expand their global network, refine their leadership skills, and advance innovative conservation solutions that align environmental stewardship with economic sustainability.
For more information, visit Kinship Conservation Fellows.
