Categories: Open Web Fellows

The Benefits of Fellowship

In just a few weeks, the application window to be a 2015 Ford-Mozilla Open Web Fellow will close. In its first year, the Fellows program will place emerging tech leaders at five of the world’s leading nonprofits fighting to keep the Internet as a shared, open and global resource.

We’ve already seen hundreds of applicants from more than 70 countries apply, and we wanted to answer one of the primary questions we’ve heard: why should I be a Fellow?

Fellowships offer unique opportunities to learn, innovate and gain credentials.

Fellowships offer unique opportunities to learn. Representing the notion that ‘the community is the classroom’, Ford-Mozilla Open Web Fellows will have a set of experiences in which they can learn and have an impact while working in the field. They will be at the epicenter of informing how public policy shapes the Internet. They will be working and collaborating together with a collection of people with diverse skills and experiences. They will be learning from other fellows, from the host organizations, and from the broader policy and advocacy ecosystem.

Fellowships offer the ability to innovate in policy and technology. The Fellowship offers the ability to innovate, using technology and policy as your toolset. We believe that the phrase ‘Move fast. Break things.’ is not reserved for technology companies – it is a way of being that Fellows will get to experience first-hand at our host organizations and working with Mozilla.

The Ford-Mozilla Fellowship offers a unique and differentiating credential. Our Fellows will be able to reference this experience as they continue in their career. As they advance in their chosen fields, alums of the program will be able to draw upon their experience leading in the community and working in the open. This experience will also enable them to expand their professional network as they continue to practice at the intersection of technology and policy.

We’ve also structured the program to remove barriers and assemble a Fellowship class that reflects the diversity of the entire community.

This is a paid fellowship with benefits to allow Fellows to focus on the challenging work of protecting the open Web through policy and technology work. Fellows will receive a $60,000 stipend for the 10-month program. In addition, we’ve created a series of supplements including support for housing, relocation, childcare, healthcare, continuing education and technology. We’re also offering visa assistance in order to ensure global diversity in participants.

In short, the Ford-Mozilla Open Web Fellowship is a unique opportunity to learn, innovate and gain credentials. It’s designed to enable Fellows to focus on the hard job of protecting the Internet.

More information on the Fellowship benefits can be found at https://advocacy.mozilla.org/. Good luck to the applicants of the 2015 Fellowship class.


The Ford-Mozilla Open Web Fellows application deadline is December 31, 2014. Apply at https://advocacy.mozilla.org/.