Big Bets Fellowships/

The Big Bets Fellowship:
Economic Opportunity

Emerging leaders implementing solutions to create economic opportunity for underserved workers and their families

A Transformational Fellowship for a Sustainable Future

As part of our long-standing commitment to making opportunity universal, we established an annual Fellowship to equip leaders with the mindset and skills needed to advance solutions with breakthrough potential to reverse the economic inequality and improve the lives of working families in the United States.

Centering the United States

The United States is at a critical juncture, facing both immense challenges and unprecedented opportunities that are undergirded by individual’s increased pessimism about their — and their community’s — economic prospects. Since the 1980s, economic inequality has risen steadily in the United States with income and wealth increasingly concentrated among a smaller and smaller percentage of Americans. Income inequality is inextricably linked to leading challenges in the United States including climate change, poor health and educational outcomes, persistent racial and gender inequities, and the erosion of social and political trust. However, the United States also has significant resources and capacity for transformative change, with robust research institutions, a growing green economy, and emerging policy initiatives that can drive impactful economic solutions.

The Big Bets Fellowship: Economic Opportunity | U.S. will empower leaders across sectors to tackle economic opportunity challenges head-on, fostering the development of sustainable solutions, resilient communities, and policies that advance economic prosperity.

Program Dates:

  • Onboarding Call: June 5th
  • In-person Convening at The Rockefeller Foundation’s headquarters in New York City: July 14th-15th
  • In-person Convening at The Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center: August 4th-8th
  • Amplification Moment at The Rockefeller Foundation’s headquarters in New York City: week of September 22nd
  • Final Call: October 17th

Most reasonable travel expenses for participation in the in-person convenings will be covered by The Rockefeller Foundation. The Fellowship does not cover medical care or insurance. The Applicant should take out adequate insurance to cover their trips and stays in Europe.

While the Foundation will cover most reasonable expenses related to the visa application process, it is the fellow’s responsibility to secure the necessary visas ahead of traveling. Failure to obtain the visa or inability to attend the convenings may result in forfeiture of the Fellowship.

Fellow Selection Criteria

There is no standard candidate for the Fellowship, but the following characteristics describe the individuals that we believe would be a good fit for the program:

  • 5-15 years of work experience
  • Has a unique perspective and fresh insight on a problem area that is informed by lived and/or professional experience
  • Track record of delivering meaningful change within their unique cultural context and region
  • Well-placed within a local, regional, or global community/network where the fellow can influence relevant levers of change for their project
  • Collaborative and community-driven
  • Has courage to challenge the status quo
  • Applicants must also be members of the Big Bets community to be eligible to apply for the Fellowship

Meet Last Year's Fellows
Project Selection Criteria

A Big Bet is a concerted effort to fundamentally solve a single, pressing problem in your community or our world.

We are particularly interested in solutions that address the following areas (but are not limited to):

  • Creating quality jobs and/or helping to place low-wage workers and their families into quality jobs that increase earnings OR
  • Fixing supply-side issues that increase the cost of living for working families, such as making it easier to build affordable housing, lower the cost of healthcare or provide quality, low-cost higher-education pathways that lead to quality jobs OR
  • Improving family supports, such as public benefits, that eligible workers and their families can access when in a crisis OR
  • Implementing models that generate revenue to invest in underserved workers and their communities, such as generating state revenue from climate and economic diversification investments and government incentives OR
  • Transforming food and health systems to ensure underserved workers have access to food as medicine.

To learn more about the program, eligibility criteria, and focus areas, please check out the Big Bets Fellowship: Economic Opportunity | United States Terms and Conditions.

Read the Terms and Conditions
Application Dates

  • Application Launch – January 28th, 2025
  • Deadline for fellows to complete the Eligibility Form and Pre-Application Form – February 9th, 2025
  • Finalists invited to submit Full Application Form and sign-up for interview – early March
  • Deadline for fellows to complete the Full-Application Form – March 23rd, 2025
  • Interviews – March 24th to April 4th, 2025
  • Fellows selected – mid May

  • In the face of rising inequality, these fellows are a springboard for innovative, inclusive solutions that uplift workers and their families.
    Nathalia Arcencio De Marchi dos Santos
    Manager, Convenings and Networks
    The Rockefeller Foundation

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