Up to twenty fellowships will be awarded and announced in October 2010, with new Fellows starting their personalised development programme in January 2011.

The Pears Foundation is partnering with the Programme to fund a Pears Fellowship for an aspiring leader working in education, community development or welfare for the benefit of the Jewish community in the UK.

Applications are open to UK residents working in, or closely with, the third sector in the UK as a paid member of staff or volunteer, involved in work of significant benefit to individuals and communities in the UK and committed to working in the sector in the long term. The flexibly designed Fellowships last between 12 and 24 months, on a full or part-time basis, during which time Fellows will attend two intensive residential courses, undertake mentoring and coaching, an extended secondment and engage in focused reflection and research. A bursary of up to £20,000 will be available to support Fellows or the organisations which employ them.

There will be at least four specialist fellowships: The Gulbenkian Fellowship for an aspiring leader working with children or adults and committed to innovative approaches to practice in a range of areas of special interest to the Gulbenkian Foundation; Paul Hamlyn Fellowship for those working with, or coming from, marginalised communities and committed to securing social change in line with the Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s social justice work; The Pears Fellowship for those working in education, community development or welfare for the benefit of the Jewish community in the UK; RNIB Fellowship for a registered blind or partially sighted aspiring leader.

Dame Mary Marsh, Director of the Programme, said: “We are delighted to be opening for applications for the second cohort of Clore Social Fellows, to attract the best talent amongst aspiring leaders in charities and social enterprises for this unique development opportunity. We are committed to securing a diverse group of Fellows – last year, we were delighted that we received 20% of applicants from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds. Our thanks go to our generous funders for their contribution to such a vital and timely investment in leadership capacity to tackle the growing challenges in the social sector.”

The Programme appointed its first cohort of Fellows in October 2009 who started their Programme in January 2010. Amongst the current Fellows, Caroline Beaumont is researching the contribution that non-financial resources make to the sustainable funding mix; Joe Ludlow, NESTA-funded Fellow, is piloting a new approach to social investment; John Ramm, RNIB Fellow, is researching barriers to blind and partially sighted people gaining senior positions in the third sector and in society as whole, while Rowena Lewis, Head of Fundraising and Development at The Fawcett Society is exploring women’s participation and representation in the voluntary sector. For more details on the current Fellows, visit the Clore Social Leadership Programme website.

The Clore Social Leadership Programme is an initiative of the Clore Duffield Foundation which is contributing £1.5 million to the Programme over its first three years. In addition to this support from the Clore Duffield Foundation, and the Specialist Fellowship funders listed above, the Programme is supported by a range of organisations including Capacitybuilders, the Leadership Trust and Resolution Trust.

The closing date for applications is 3 June 2010 with interviews taking place in September. Full details about how to apply are available at the Clore Social Leadership Programme website.