Join Fuse Corps

Who are we looking for?

Fuse Corps is looking for highly motivated professionals from the private sector with:

What is Fuse Corps?

Fuse Corps is a prestigious, highly-selective fellowship program (only 10-20 are selected nationwide each year from hundreds of applicants). Fuse Corps Fellows are selected for distinguished, “cabinet-level” positions working with leaders in state and local governments (such as governors or mayors and their senior staff) or community-based organizations. Fellows spend one year working full-time on a grassroots project addressing issues of national importance in a local context (e.g., education, health care, low income housing, economic development, workforce development, and green initiatives). Fellows participate in the best, hands-on, public service / entrepreneurial leadership experience in the country.

Why become a Corps member?

After spending 8-10 years in the private sector spend a year working in the trenches with our country’s most visionary leaders and help solve real community problems. Fuse Corps gives you a powerful platform to give something back to your community.  You’ll have an unprecedented chance to expand your leadership capabilities and to network with top national and state leaders. You’ll learn how government works (and doesn’t) and discover new ways to address the challenges facing our country.  The innovation you’ll help drive in your communities will demonstrate the power and potential of public and private sector collaborations.  Ultimately, as a Fuse Corps alum, you’ll become part of a prestigious ecosystem of top corporate, political and social sector leaders who share a lifelong commitment to bringing positive change to the country.

The Fuse Corps Institute

The Fuse Corps experience is as much about your personal and professional growth as it is about your impact on the communities you serve during the fellowship year.  Fuse Corps provides you with the critical skills and motivation to be an entrepreneurial change agent well beyond your fellowship year and in any career field.  To start your year, you’ll gather with other Fellows in Silicon Valley for an intensive 2-week leadership institute.  You’ll focus on the core skills needed to be successful in government and cross-sector environments.  These competencies include team building, creative problem solving, innovation, design, communication, influence, change management, how to leverage networks, and more.  A key part of the program is a distinguished speakers series.  You’ll have access to dozens of top leaders in government and industry.  Through these interactions, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of public policy and effective leadership.  You’ll also develop your networks and get inspired.

Highlights of the Fuse Corps Institute include:

• A highly-sophisticated and interactive curriculum developed in collaboration with leading management,
  design, social sector and government organizations (including McKinsey, Stanford Graduate School of    Business, the Hasso Plattner School of Design at Stanford, the Aspen Institute, the White House    Fellows program, and many more).
• Guest lectures and interactive sessions with top leaders in government, industry and the social sector,
  including, members of Fuse Corps’ prestigious Board of Advisors.
• On-site visits to government agencies and entrepreneurial companies to share ideas on how to navigate
  bureaucracies and how to develop and implement cross-sector solutions to social problems.
• Through various events, Fellows have a chance to get to know each other and to network with
  prominent government and entrepreneurial leaders.

Fuse Corps is fundamentally a learning organization and offers a leading-edge learning community to all of its Fellows and alumni.  In addition to the orientation session, you’ll come together with other Fellows during the fellowship year for a mid-year leadership retreat and a final wrap-up session.  You’ll also connect with the Fuse Corps Institute each month for seminars and workshops.

Each Fellow has an executive coach and mentor for on-going support and development.

Informal learning is also core to the experience.  All Fellows access and share best practices and experiences with their peers throughout the year, using the Fuse Corps knowledge platform, social media and other tools.  The wrap-up session is held jointly with the out-going and in-coming class of Fellows and includes national and state leaders.  This helps train the new Fellows, as well as capture the outgoing Fellows’ experiences.  Fellows provide an important grassroots perspective to national policy makers on how things get done at the state and local level.  They also highlight ideas that can be applied to the nation’s greatest challenges.  In this way, the Fuse Corps Institute serves as a center for knowledge not just for the Fellows, but for the entire country.

How are Fellows compensated?

Fellows receive compensation in one of two ways.

1. Some Fellows are “on-loan” from their companies and continue to receive their salary and benefits from their company.
2. Others receive a $90,000 stipend in their Fuse Corps placement.  Limited travel and other program-related expenses are provided by Fuse Corps.  Fellows receive a 1099 form; however, Health care and other benefits are not provided.

All Fellows are responsible for their housing and moving costs. Fuse Corps pays for travel related to fellowship program responsibilities (e.g., travel to training institutes); travel required by the host organization to carry out job duties are paid for pursuant to their travel reimbursement policies.

Dates to keep in mind.

New in 2013! We have 2 applications cycles per year. (We are beginning Cycle 2 March 2013)

CYCLE 1: PLACEMENTS BEGIN IN MARCH AND CONCLUDE IN MARCH THE FOLLOWING YEAR

August/September: Applications accepted
October/November: First round interviews conducted – finalists selected
January: Finalists interviewed – Fellows selected
March/April: Leadership Institute – Fellowship begins

CYCLE 2: PLACEMENTS BEGIN IN SEPTEMBER AND CONCLUDE IN SEPTEMBER THE FOLLOWING YEAR

April/May: Applications accepted
June: First round interviews conducted – finalists selected
July: Finalists interviewed – Fellows selected
September: Leadership Institute – Fellowship begins

Spark A Movement

Fuse Corps is now accepting applications for our Fellowships starting in September 2013. Our Fellowship program places mid-career professionals for cabinet-level positions with innovative local governments or community based organizations in which the Fellows have the ability to work on real issues and drive social change.

Potential placement cities/states include: Austin, TX; San Antonio, TX; Nashville, TN; Chicago, IL; Denver, CO; Fresno, CA; Newark, NJ; Los Angeles, CA; Philadelphia, PA; Boston, MA; Louisville, KY; Seattle, WA; New York, NY; San Francisco, CA; Alaska

NEW! Application Extension Deadline: May 26, 2013

You cannot save once you begin the application, CLICK HERE to see a list of the questions before you begin the application.

Please contact Fuse Corps’s Program Manager, Nora Donaldson if you have additional questions: nora@fusecorps.org.

Do you know an entrepreneur or business leader who has the passion, drive, and innovative ideas to make real change in local government? If so please nominate them to apply for Fuse Corps.

First enter your nominee’s first name, last name and email, followed by your own as the nominator. When you click submit, we will send your nominee an email on your behalf letting them know about the Fellowship opportunity. You may nominate multiple superheros by returning to the Apply Now page. Once your nomination is accepted you will be directed to our home page.