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Honorary Steward

“It was a tremendous joy and honor to read the applications of so many passionate and committed people...they remind us that when we work openly and collaboratively, every one of us can be powerful.”

  • Beth Simone Noveck
We select an Honorary Steward each fellowship round to choose our new cohort from a small shortlist of potential fellows. This is a significant change from our early iteration as a more traditional funder when our founder Mark Shuttleworth made the final decision. We made the shift because inviting an independent figure to choose incoming fellows is a check against potential bias or nepotism.
‌ It also allows us to breathe new life into the process. With every Honorary Steward comes a new lens and different insight into our thinking. It adds a tremendous amount of value to our work as philanthropists.
‌ Successful interviewees are put on a shortlist for review by our Honorary Steward, an independent individual selected especially for each round. They will decide who becomes a fellow, and this process is overseen and ratified by our board of trustees. We aim to make our final decision by the end of the year, although this sometimes runs over to January.
Our Honorary Stewards so far: