Silicon Valley Next is a collaborative approach to develop high potential leaders for nonprofits serving our local community. A select cohort of Fellows – all individuals deeply rooted in the community – receive training, coaching, peer support, and other investments to prepare them for executive leadership.
Silicon Valley Next Fellows serve in their current org chart at one or two levels below the Executive Director/CEO role and have all been identified as individuals who could plausibly ascend to the top leadership role in an organization within the next five years. We also will consider leaders who have only very recently ascended into the top role in their organization.
This collaboration is led by Consulting Within Reach and funded by Heising-Simons Foundation, Sobrato Family Foundation, Morgan Family Foundation, Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, and Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Thanks also to the Knight Foundation for its past support. Participating nonprofits include agencies widely recognized as critical to our region. The program has been featured by the Stanford Social Innovation Review as a new paradigm for leadership development in our sector.
The inaugural program was completed in December of 2020 and subsequent cohorts have continued to demonstrate the success of this program. For instance, one quarter of the original cohort have since become new Executive Directors/CEO’s of key nonprofits (all of them are people of color).
Prospective Fellows are identified through a nomination process in our extended network. We do not take unsolicited applications. There is no cost to the program for the Fellows, as SVN relies on the generosity of our funders.
The commitment required of participating Fellows is centered around a monthly retreat that is a daylong experience. In addition, Fellows participate in a monthly executive coaching session and also a monthly peer coaching session. All told, the total time commitment is about 8 hours per month.
If you are seeking more information about the program, please contact info@siliconvalleynext.org.
