ACLS Leading Edge Fellows: Information for Potential Host Organizations

ACLS invites applications from organizations interested in hosting Leading Edge Fellows.

ACLS invites letters of inquiry (LOIs) from organizations interested in hosting Leading Edge Fellows from September 2025 to September 2027. LOIs are due midnight ET, September 26, 2024.

The ACLS Leading Edge Fellowship program offers recent PhDs in the humanities and interpretive social sciences two-year fellowship positions with organizations dedicated to advancing justice and equity. The program demonstrates the value of qualitative methods, and the capacity of those with advanced training in the humanities to contribute to urgent and meaningful social justice work in communities across the United States. The Leading Edge Fellowship program is administered by the American Council of Learned Societies and is made possible by the support of The Mellon Foundation. The program parameters, our criteria for selecting host organizations, and the process for submitting a letter of inquiry to our online portal are described below.

Quick Facts

ACLS Leading Edge Fellows

  • Since 2020, the program has placed more than 100 recent humanities PhDs with 91 nonprofit organizations across the United States, including Thurgood Marshall College Fund, PolicyLink, Campaign for Southern Equality, Southern Poverty Law Center, and Asian Americans Advancing Justice. Learn more about the hosting experience here.
  • ACLS provides a stipend of $70,000 per year for fellows, to be administered through the host organization, and provides up to $8000 to defray the cost of providing employee benefits to the fellow.
  • Host organizations provide fellows health insurance and other applicable benefits, pay the requisite taxes associated with having the fellow on payroll, and other costs associated with hosting a fellow, including necessary equipment and resources.
  • Host organizations provide supervision and additional mentorship for fellows; ACLS offers peer mentorship and other professional development resources.
  • Host organizations fully integrate fellows into their workplace as colleagues, offering them a portfolio of significant responsibilities.
  • Deadline to submit initial letters of inquiry to host a 2025 Leading Edge Fellow: Midnight ET, September 26, 2024. Select organizations will be invited to submit a full application due November 18, 2024.
  • This program is made possible by the generous support of The Mellon Foundation.
For more information, visit the Leading Edge Fellowship program page.

What kind of organization is eligible to host a Leading Edge Fellow?

ACLS will partner with a diverse group of organizations in each competition. Host organizations are selected according to the following criteria:

  • Their mission and core work are dedicated to expanding equal access to education, economic resources, civic engagement, and/or civil rights across lines of racial, gender, and class difference;
  • Maintaining a workplace that respects and values colleagues from diverse backgrounds;
  • Their ability to support and devise substantive positions for fellows that meet the program’s goals of providing support to organizations working for social and economic justice in their communities and fostering meaningful work and professional development opportunities for recent PhDs;
  • Their demonstrated capacity to provide mentorship, networking opportunities, and other career advancement support for the fellow; 
  • Their demonstrated interest in drawing on the capacities of a recent PhD in the humanities or interpretive social sciences, including their advanced skills in communication, facilitation, ethical story gathering and storytelling, ability to synthesize and reformulate large amounts of information, and systems-based approaches to problem solving;
  • Their standing in the sector(s) in which they operate; and
  • Their contribution to the diversity of organizations represented in the year’s roster of partner organizations.

For this competition, ACLS is partnering exclusively with nonprofit organizations and government agencies whose mission and core work is dedicated to advancing social justice. ACLS does not accept applications from ACLS’s member organizations or from foundations. Since the program aims to demonstrate the value of humanities training beyond the academy, it does not place fellows in organizations that are located on college or university campuses.

How are Leading Edge Fellows selected to join my organization?

Applications to the Leading Edge Fellows program are subject to a multi-stage review process. Applications are reviewed first by a peer review committee of humanities PhDs working in a variety of professional contexts outside of the academy. Finalists identified by this process are forwarded to the host organization for a second round of review and interviews before an offer is made to the top candidate by ACLS. Fellows selected in this competition will join host organizations in two-year, full-time positions starting in September 2025.

What types of roles could a Fellow take at my organization?

Advanced training in the humanities imparts a diverse array of skills and competencies that entrepreneurial PhDs have successfully deployed in a variety of career fields. These skills include writing and research, project management, information management, strategic planning, interviewing, diverse cultural competencies, digital media production and more. In past rounds of this fellowship competition, ACLS has paired fellows and organizations for projects to advance policing reform, housing access, services for the elder LGBT community, reproductive rights, expanded SNAP benefits, voting rights, and more. Fellows’ portfolios should contribute to the core social justice work of the organization, or a particular capacity-building initiative to advance the organization’s mission. Please review the listings of our current fellows selected in 2024 here.

Once selected, host organizations work with program staff at ACLS to define and refine substantive roles for fellows. Host organizations agree to provide the requisite resources and support to do this work, along with supervision and guidance, opportunities for networking, and mentorship. Each two-year placement should allow fellows to develop a portfolio of concrete accomplishments that will help them embark on careers in your sector after the fellowship.

How does my organization apply?

Prospective hosts should submit a letter of inquiry (LOI) to our online portal by midnight ET, September 26, 2024. This portal will ask for your contact information, answers to a few questions about your work and workplace, and some ideas for work and projects a humanities PhD might contribute to as a colleague at your organization. Please note that the LOI must be completed in one session. See the questions in advance on the SAMPLE LOI form.

After ACLS’s review, a select group of organizations will be invited to submit a full application no later than October 31, 2024. Full applications will be due November 18, 2024, and include a detailed position description, an IRS form 990, benefits information, and letter of endorsement from a leader in your organization.

Competitive host organization applications will demonstrate an informed interest in leveraging a fellows’ advanced training in qualitative methods and humanistic approaches, while providing opportunities for further professional development. Learn more about the skills and capacities of humanities PhDs in ACLS’s recent report, Public Pathways 10 Years of the Mellon/ACLS Public Fellows program.

See our FAQs below for more details.

Frequently Asked Questions

Preliminary letters of inquiry will be accepted via our online portal until midnight ET on September 26, 2024. If you are invited to submit a full application, you will be notified and given instructions for submission by October 31, 2024.

Our letter of inquiry portal asks for contact information, answers to questions about your work and workplace, and your interest in the program. You will also be asked to provide some details about the possible work or roles you envision a fellow taking on at your organization. The LOI form must be completed in one session. See the questions in advance on the SAMPLE LOI form.

Yes, you must complete the letter of inquiry in one session. You will not be able to save your progress if you close your browser. It is recommended that you consult the SAMPLE LOI form to see the questions in advance. Once you have submitted the application, you cannot work on it again.

ACLS will notify applicants of their status by October 31, 2024.

You will be asked to prepare a detailed position description, an IRS form 990, benefits information, and a letter of endorsement from an organization leader with contracting authority. These full applications will be due November 18, 2024. You may also be asked to participate in an interview with an ACLS program officer in early December.

Leading Edge Fellows work in person, remotely, or in a hybrid format according to the practices of the host organization and the specific requirements of their position/role. We understand that remote work may emerge given public health circumstances, and organizations that operate remotely by default are eligible to host a fellow, though we will want to learn more about your remote work culture and practices for onboarding and engaging remote staff. Our preference is for the fellows to be onboarded and given the onsite resources that are customary for staff at a commensurate level of seniority in the host organization. If your organization’s work culture is primarily remote, please let us know in your answer to the relevant question on the submission portal.

Contact

If you have questions about the program or your organization’s suitability as a host, please contact us at leadingedge@acls.org.

SAMPLE LOI Form

Sample LEF Host Organization LOI SubmissionDownload

Please submit your letter of inquiry no later than midnight ET, September 26, 2024 to our online portal: http://ofa.acls.org/proposal/leadingedgehost/.