2026
Leadership Longevity Fellowship
for food system leaders: Greater Boston Cohort
The 2026 Greater Boston Leadership Longevity Fellowship is designed for mid-career, frontline nonprofit professionals working to alleviate food insecurity who are ready to grow their individual capacity for well-being and impact, while forging partnerships and community with fellow food system leaders and organizations.
Program Overview
Supported by The Boston Foundation and The Cambridge Community Foundation, the 2026 Greater Boston Leadership Longevity Fellowship centers on the development and well-being of mid-career, frontline nonprofit professionals working at nonprofit organizations in the food system ecosystem.
Why food systems leaders?
According to a September 2025 Brief by Boston Indicators, recent rule changes and cuts passed in the “One Big Beautiful Bill” to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) put thousands of Massachusetts residents at risk of losing all or some of their SNAP benefits. With 1-in-3 Massachusetts families reporting being food insecure in the past year, there is increased urgency to stabilize critical food system nonprofits and the people that power them. As part of this effort, the Leadership Longevity Fellowship (LLF) will connect leaders within Greater Boston food system nonprofits to coaches, science-backed curriculum, and a network of support, so they are equipped with the skills, mindsets, and connections to persevere as long-term agents for transformative change. This moment demands expanding beyond the Fellowship’s crucial focus on individual resilience to systems-level strategic planning and collaboration among the organizations holding Greater Boston's social safety net together.
Why mid-career, frontline nonprofit professionals?
The current 2026 cohort builds upon the first two cohorts of the Leadership Longevity Fellowship program pilot in Greater Boston (2023 & 2025), which was brought to the region to help address burnout, high turnover, and leadership pipeline instability, facing nonprofits and their staff, particularly those working on society’s most pervasive inequities who often share common identities with the people most disproportionately impacted. In addition, a scan of leadership development programs in Massachusetts revealed a gap in support for nonprofit staff who are mid-career or in middle-management type positions, with most existing programs focused on either early-career leaders or Executive Directors. These factors converge, putting the bench of sector leadership at risk of leaving the sector altogether. The Greater Boston pilot’s intentional focus on these workforce issues serve to help retain, honor, and grow these leaders' important contributions to their nonprofit organizations and their communities.
Why the Leadership Longevity Fellowship?
Following the pandemic and amidst a shifting federal landscape, New Sector Alliance has met the challenges facing the nonprofit talent pipeline head-on, designing a first-of-its-kind fellowship to tackle the rising burnout and isolation impacting proximate leaders. With five cohorts (3 National, 2 Greater Boston) since 2022, the Leadership Longevity Fellowship (LLF) provides tangible strategies and capacity-building support, rooted in well-being, to sector leaders. The data shows that this innovative approach is working, with 95% of Fellows increasing leadership competencies, 98% expanding support networks, and 93% gaining confidence to remain long-term in mission-focused roles, generating ripple effects throughout the sector and their communities.
For more information, please refer to the following documents:
what’s included
January–April (Sessions 1–3 + peer circles): Explore and map the food system landscape. Using site visits, ecosystem mapping, and peer learning, Fellows will begin to identify opportunities to shore up the system and potential collaborators.
May 6: Mid-term call to action workshop, followed by “social hour”.
June 12 transition from peer learning to project development focus.
June–August: Dedicated project group sessions for collaborative project work. Project teams should leverage this time to design, engage stakeholders, and plan for “piloting” with support from facilitators and fellow cohort members.
August 21 (Session 4): Project completion deadline. Fellows finalize “pilots” and prepare to reflect on outcomes and learnings.
September 25 (Closing Convening): Fellows present collaborative project. Fellows will share Greater Boston food systems insights, project outcomes, and suggested next steps (e.g. further piloting, scaling, etc.).
Please note, there are no fees or tuition costs for participating in the fellowship program. As a participant, you’ll benefit from training, professional development, wellness support, in-person and virtual convenings, alumni benefits, and more. Each participant will also receive a $1,000 stipend to support their engagement in the program, including transportation to/from sessions and the Opening Retreat at Essex Woods.
Who is Eligible?
The 2026 cohort will support invited leaders within the Boston Foundation’s Sustaining Families Initiative and the Cambridge Community Foundation’s Food Access and Security Initiative, with an emphasis on leaders who meet the following criteria:
Location: Reside and work within Greater Boston, Massachusetts.
Partnership with The Boston Foundation or The Cambridge Community Foundation: Are employed by an organization that is a current partner/grantee of the Boston Foundation’s Sustaining Families Initiative or partner/grantee of the Cambridge Community Foundation’s Food Access and Security Initiative. If you are unsure of your organization’s grantee status, please reach out to Leigh Handschuh (Leigh.Handschuh@tbf.org) or Christina Turner (cturner@cambridgecf.org) to confirm eligibility.
Organization: Are currently employed full-time by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (or fiscally sponsored nonprofit*) within the food system, including food banks, soup kitchens, community gardens, nonprofit farms, nutrition programs, and food access initiatives, which are experiencing heightened demand due to SNAP benefit cuts.
Age: Are at least 21 years of age.
Current Role: Are currently a mid-level leader or in a middle-management position (managers, specialists, assistant directors, directors, etc.) where you lead others and/or are responsible for administering a program or initiative. As well, you currently hold or have held a frontline role recently, working in close proximity to the individuals, communities, and issues that your organization serves. Examples of frontline leaders include program staff, community engagement staff, social workers, therapists, attorneys, educators, trainers, etc.*
Please note: Executive Directors are not eligible. Early career leaders (individuals with approximately five or fewer years of work experience), are not eligible.
Experience: Have at least five years of paid work experience in the nonprofit sector. This may be through a combination of employment at your current and/or former nonprofit organization(s).
We are committed to advancing individuals who are disproportionately impacted by burnout and a lack of wellness programs in the sector; therefore, we seek to shape a Greater Boston cohort of mid-level, frontline staff that reflects the communities they serve. We encourage prospective nominees of marginalized identities to apply.
*A fiscal sponsor is “a nonprofit organization that provides fiduciary oversight, financial management, and other administrative services to help build the capacity of charitable projects” (National Council of Nonprofits).
Who is not eligible for the 2026 Fellowship?
CEOs, Executive Directors, or founders
Early career leaders (individuals with approximately five or fewer years of work experience)
Employees of private foundations focused primarily on grantmaking instead of operating foundations that create and execute on programming in addition to grantmaking
Employees at 501(c)(4) organizations
Employees of government entities/agencies, including federal, state, and local governments and government agencies
Board members of an eligible organization who are not also an employee at that organization
eligibility questions?
If you would like to confirm your eligibility and apply, please contact Leigh Handschuh at The Boston Foundation and Christina Turner at The Cambridge Community Foundation.