What are the responsibilities and job description for the TRANSform Culture Fellowship 2025-2026 position at Pride Foundation?
Description
Background
Pride Foundation's TRANSform Culture Program supports the powerful leaders and organizations working to end gender and sexuality-based violence while nourishing futures rooted in the dreams of Transgender, Two-Spirit, Nonbinary, and Intersex people in the Northwest (see: TRANSform Culture Program Webpage). This program is driven by a fundamental belief that people who are Transgender, Two-Spirit, Nonbinary, and Intersex have always existed and will always exist in what we now call Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.
At the heart of the TFC program is our TFC fellowship project for individuals across the Northwest. The theory of change for our fellowship is that by financially investing in individual fellows, while simultaneously creating opportunities for those fellows to co-develop regional infrastructure and practice narrative power, we will increase the capacity of all LGBTQ people in and outside the fellowship to reside and thrive in the Northwest.
The TFC fellowship currently consists of ten paid fellowship slots, and it runs twelve-months starting on June 1st and ending the following May 31st. In 2023, Pride Foundation welcomed our first class of ten fellows, composed of existing TRANSform Culture contractors and new members (identified through their involvement in regional advocacy). In 2024, the majority of the inaugural class was retained to refine the fellowship and Pride Foundation launched its first open application process for one available slot in Alaska. The 2025-2026 cycle is the first year that all ten fellowship slots across all five states are open for application.
The TFC fellowship currently consists of ten paid fellowship slots, and it runs twelve-months starting on June 1st and ending the following May 31st. In 2023, Pride Foundation welcomed our first class of ten fellows, composed of existing TRANSform Culture contractors and new members (identified through their involvement in regional advocacy). In 2024, the majority of the inaugural class was retained to refine the fellowship and Pride Foundation launched its first open application process for one available slot in Alaska. The 2025-2026 cycle is the first year that all ten fellowship slots across all five states are open for application.
Graduates of the TFC fellowship have the opportunity to join the Village Council Alumni Project, which provides additional opportunities to access resources and build collective power.
PRIORITY DEADLINE: April 28, 2025
PRIORITY DEADLINE: April 28, 2025
Fellowship Scope of Work
The following reflect the activities we expect fellows to complete during their fellowship and which we encourage prospective applicants to consider before applying:
- Participation in monthly meetings for the fellowship.
- Participation in a semi-monthly alumni webinar series designed for the fellowship (three to six additional stand-alone webinars over the course of the fellowship, facilitated by alumni, no more than once a month).
- Participation in two in-person gatherings of the fellowship (the first will be in either July or August 2025 and the second is the following February or March 2026). Travel and accommodation costs are covered by Pride Foundation. The first retreat will focus on narrative power skills-building. The second retreat will combine opportunities for wellness with individual fellow oral history collection.
- Participation in at least one opportunity of your choosing for cultural change and public policy work in your state during your fellowship.
- We welcome input and feedback through a Baseline Survey, Post-Baseline Survey, Fellowship Evaluation, and survey on Future Cohort Priorities.
- At the second retreat, we ask each fellow to contribute to the TRANSform Culture oral history archive. Interviews are conducted by the CARE team with protocols co-developed with the fellows over the course of the fellowship year. Among other practices, each fellow will sign a Creative Commons license agreement to protect their story according to their wishes. Please note: we will be prioritizing applicants who are willing to participate in the oral history interviews.
2025-2026 Timeline Overview
This is a living timeline, and we will be responsive to the evolving needs of the fellows, the capacity of Pride Foundation, and the broader socio-political landscape.
- June 2025 | Fellowship Application Opens & Cohort Launches – No activities this month.
- July 2025 | Monthly Meeting – Virtual
- August 2025 | In-Person Retreat
- September 2025 | One Virtual Monthly Meeting & One Virtual Alumni Webinar
- October 2025 | One Virtual Monthly Meeting & One Virtual Alumni Webinar
- November 2025 | One Virtual Monthly Meeting & One Virtual Alumni Webinar
- December 2025 | One Virtual Monthly Meeting
- January 2026 | One Virtual Monthly Meeting & One Virtual Alumni Webinar
- February 2026 | One Virtual Monthly Meeting & One Virtual Alumni Webinar
- March 2026 | In-Person Retreat & Application for next cycle opens.
- April 2026 | One Virtual Monthly Meeting & One Virtual Alumni Webinar
- May 2026 | Fellowship Graduation Ceremony & Application Closes/New Cohort Identified.
Eligibility
This fellowship is open to adults 18 years old or older. If you are 16 or 17 and have legal guardian approval and wish to apply, please contact the CARE Director to discuss this further (omni@pridefoundation.org).
There are a few key priorities for this fellowship that are consistent every year, and there are priorities for the fellowship that shift each year based on the input from the fellows from the prior year. The consistent priorities are for individuals who:
- Reside in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington (at the time of application).
- Are Black, Indigenous, People of Color,
- Identify as Trans, Nonbinary, Intersex, and/or Two-Spirit.
The 2024-2025 cohort has also recommended adding the following priorities for consideration in the open application:
- Lived experience of a disability,
- Lived experience of migration, and
- Lived experience in a rural area,
For more about the application review process, see “Application Review Process” section below as well as our Frequently Asked Questions Document. Each final cohort is determined by the CARE team.
Application Review Process
Application Review Process
Applications are currently reviewed by the CARE Department Director and Senior Manager. To foster relationships across cohorts and further democratize decision-making, the CARE team will survey each cohort during the second half of the fellowship to identify eligibility criteria they would like to see reflected in the subsequent cohort. The CARE team (currently the Director of CARE and Senior Manager of CARE) will use a four-point Likert Scale to individually score and review responses to these foundational questions with the criteria from the previous cohort in mind: state of residence, interest in the fellowship, advocacy experience, reflections on narrative justice, and experience with systems for accountability. Following this, CARE staff may request an interview with sub-finalists to determine a final candidate.
Compensation
This is a paid fellowship with a one-time stipend of $15,000 for the fellowship year. This stipend is paid out in one taxable installment at the beginning of the fellowship.
Financial guidelines will be shared with the fellows in a separate document detailing the process for payments and reimbursements.
About Pride Foundation
Pride Foundation fuels transformational movements to advance equity and justice for LGBTQ people in all communities across the Northwest. We envision a world in which all LGBTQ people live safely and openly as our whole selves in the communities we call home.
Pride Foundation is the only community foundation by and for LGBTQ people and communities serving the Northwest region of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Founded in 1985 during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Pride Foundation is the result of generations of leaders who brought simple but revolutionary values to our movement: the courage to truly see one another, the compassion to recognize our shared humanity, and the conviction to show up every day to protect one another. Pride Foundation has an operating budget of more than $6 million with 16 full time employees working from across the region we serve. Pride Foundation is governed by a Board of Directors with 17 members from across the five-state region with diverse professional and lived experiences.
As an organization and as individuals, we are committed to anti-racism, and strive to center racial equity and justice throughout our organization and all aspects of our programmatic work. Together, we are intentionally and actively building an internal culture that reflects this commitment, and an organization where our team members can thrive. All team members are a part of this work and are active participants in building our culture. Read more about the work culture we are building here and our 4 day work weeks here.
Salary : $15,000
