New suggested title: Exploring the Demographics of Fellowship Applicants
GGF is once again deeply grateful for the overwhelming response to this year’s Fellowship recruitment, as we received an incredible 3,185 applications from around the world. The sheer volume of applications reaffirms the pressing need for our leadership development services among innovators with an unyielding desire to create a positive social change.
The recruitment process commenced after an extraordinary summit and gala in Washington DC, where we proudly celebrated a decade of global good with the 2023 Fellowship cohort and our global community. Embracing the spirit of innovation, we implemented several new techniques to attract the most promising applicants this year. We introduced an eligibility quiz, revised our age recommendation to be more inclusive, and prioritized strategies to increase the number of female applicants.
Geographic diversity was another paramount objective for us, with diversity actually including fostering greater engagement with domestic U.S. applicants. By embracing these new strategies and approaches, we are confident that our cohort for this year will be exceptionally talented, diverse, and united in their dedication to driving meaningful change across the globe.
These are some of the countries from which we received applications for the first time:
- Peru
- Uruguay
- Venezuela
- Vietnam
- Cambodia
- Azerbaijan
- Portugal
- Kazakhstan
- Mauritania
GGF remains steadfast in its dedication to empowering social entrepreneurs who drive positive change on critical issues related to health, education, environment, economic mobility (through job creation), and financial inclusion. This year’s application pool demonstrated the powerful intersection of these key issues, with more than 10% of applicants expressing alignment with two or more of these focus areas. The breakdown of applications by sector is as follows:
- Environment 25.2%
- Education 24.8.%
- Health 16.9%
- Economic Mobility 2.5%
- Financial Inclusion 9.8%
- Other 10.5%
- Multiple sectors 10.3%
We also invited applicants to self-identify their demographics so that we can better understand where there might be gaps in whom we reach and fine tune our processes to reach those groups in the future. The demographic breakdown is as follows:
- African, African American, Black 74.7%
- Asian (Including Indian Subcontinent) & Asian American 14.2%
- Hispanic, Latin American, Latino 3.42%
- Caucasian, European, White 3.32%
- Middle Eastern & North African 2.91%
- Prefer to self-describe race and ethnicity 1.42%
- Part of the LGBTQIA community 28.63%
- Having a disability 28.42%
We appreciate how sensitive this data is and value the trust we have developed with the applicants, our partners, alumni, donors, and those others in our community who shared the application. We are grateful to work alongside you as we continue to develop the leaders who are tackling the world’s greatest challenges. Stay tuned for more information about those who move forward to the second phase of the application process.