Launch Your Social Impact Career
FAO Schwarz Fellows are recent college graduates working at leading nonprofit organizations. All of our Fellowships include direct service, strategic projects and professional development. They’re designed to jumpstart your career as a leader of change.
Be Part of a Passionate Cohort
As an FAO Schwarz Fellow, you’ll join a cohort of talented young leaders that includes a growing alumni network. Retreats and other events give you a chance to get to know your cohort of Fellows and explore a broad range of social issues.
Grow Your Leadership Skills
The Fellowship develops your leadership skills, deepens your knowledge and includes opportunities for networking with social impact leaders of today and tomorrow. You’ll be challenged to explore difficult problems and reflect on their causes. Mentors offer guidance and help you plan your next steps.
“The FAO Schwarz Foundation Fellowship helped launch my career. I worked with schools across Philadelphia to learn the concerns of families and school administration. In my current role I draw upon those experiences every day to make a greater impact.”
“I’m grateful for the professional development I received. So many aspects of the program set me up for success. The fellowship was the jumpstart to my career. It helped me find my way to Social Work (which I’m pretty sure is where I am supposed to be!)”
“The Fellowship has had a huge impact on my personal and professional development. I’ve gained skills, mentors and an incredible group of friends in my cohort, and those above and below me. I hope to give back a fraction of what it has and continues to give to me.”
“The time I spent as a Fellow taught me so much about the amazing organizations that are out there and the ways different ways that organizations are run. It changed the way I think about the nonprofit sector and has led me to pursue a career in nonprofit capacity building.”
REQUIREMENTS
Real social change requires leadership. We need people willing to ask difficult questions and look beyond the obvious. We need new solutions to the stubborn problems that create injustice and inequality. We need ambitious thinkers and doers seeking to make an impact.
As an FAO Schwarz Fellow, you’ll learn to lead by engaging in both direct service and strategic projects. From your first day as a Fellow, you’ll work side-by-side with experts at your host organization to shape and lead a project that will strengthen the organization and develop your managerial skills.
The Fellowship includes professional development along with individualized mentoring. You’ll grow as a Fellow—both individually and alongside the other Fellows in your cohort. Our goal is to jumpstart your career as a successful and effective social impact leader.
ALUMNI/AE FELLOWS SINCE 2006
PURSUE GRADUATE DEGREES
HIRED BY THEIR HOST ORGANIZATIONS
CHOOSE WORK IN SOCIAL IMPACT
DIRECT SERVICE AND SPECIAL PROJECTS
Each Fellowship offers a combination of direct service and strategic projects that deepen the Fellow’s knowledge of social challenges and build their skills and expertise.
PAID POSITIONS IN THREE FOCUS CITIES
The Fellowships are paid two-year positions with benefits at leading nonprofit host organizations in Boston, New York and Philadelphia.
UNIQUE OPPORTUNITIES FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The Fellowship focuses on professional development and leadership skills through regular retreats, mentoring and special community experiences.
A VALUABLE NETWORK
Fellows become part of a cohort of future leaders and connect to an extensive network of alumni Fellows and other social innovation leaders.
(BOSTON) The FAO Schwarz Family Foundation has selected five nationally recognized nonprofit organizations to host the 2019-2021 cohort of FAO Schwarz Fellows. New Host...
As I thought about my “next step” during my senior year at Northwestern University, pursuing a fellowship seemed like a good option. It’s not like I totally underst...
My name is Pamela Martinez and I am the FAO Schwarz Fellow at Playworks in Philadelphia. I had experience at Playworks, first as a volunteer then as a direct service......
My name is Jaiwantie Manni and I am the current FAO Schwarz Fellow at the Museum of the City of New York. My direct service work involves working with students......
My experiencence as an FAO Schwarz Fellow at the Museum of the City of New York had a tremendous impact on my career. For two years I educated school students......
My name is Ciara Williams and I am the FAO Schwarz Fellow with Mural Arts’ Restored Spaces Initiative in Philadelphia, PA. Restored Spaces uses socially engaged public ...
