eligibility
What kind of person makes a good candidate for an Education Entrepreneur
Fellowship?
Successful candidates are dissatisfied with the status quo and impatient for change. They are relentless problem-solvers who are able to influence and inspire others through their passionate beliefs and their ideas. They are driven by a commitment to children and a belief that all students can achieve at high levels. Finally, they have a past record of accomplishment that indicates that they can initiate and implement an ambitious plan and meet the highest standards of ethical behavior.
What type of ideas or initiatives is The Mind
Trust looking for from fellows?
The Mind Trust is open to any idea or initiative that fits our mission to dramatically improve public education. The Mind Trust is looking for bold ideas that will bring about transformative change. The Mind Trust is not interested in ideas designed only to tinker with the system.
Are faith-based initiatives acceptable for the Education Entrepreneur
Fellowship?
Yes. The Mind Trust will consider potential faith-based initiatives that directly work to improve public education. Any initiative developed by an Education Entrepreneur Fellow, however, must comply with the Indiana and United States constitutions as well as all other legal requirements.
What kind of governance structure is allowable?
As long as the initiative fulfills its mission of serving students, The Mind Trust is open to any type of governance structure that maximizes a venture’s opportunity to achieve long-term success and sustainability. Candidates can propose: 1) a new nonprofit; 2) an initiative in partnership with an existing organization (e.g., school district, charter management organization, community group, university); or 3) another entity that will further the tax exempt purposes of The Mind Trust.
Can the initiative I propose for the Fellowship be regional or national
in scope?
Yes. The Mind Trust fully expects and hopes that many initiatives launched by fellows will extend regionally or nationally. Fellows, however, must include Indianapolis as part of their initial growth plans.
In order to be eligible to apply for the Fellowship, at what stage
in development does my initiative need to be?
The purpose of The Mind Trust’s Education Entrepreneur Fellowship is to provide opportunities for promising education entrepreneurs to develop new solutions to public education’s most vexing challenges. Candidates may propose initiatives that are in the conceptual or early stages of development. Candidates may also be further along in their work but need additional support to fully develop and launch their ventures. All successful candidates will have compelling visions for dramatically better ways of educating underserved students and the entrepreneurial skills necessary to succeed.
Are you looking for people in a certain age group?
No. The Mind Trust has designed the Education Entrepreneur Fellowship to be attractive to people of all ages and experience levels. The competitive salary for the Fellowship and two-year commitment The Mind Trust makes to fellows is intended to remove barriers into the education reform sector for as many potential education entrepreneurs as possible.
