Kairos Fellowship

The Kairos Fellowship is a non-profit organization designed to build the next generation of leaders in the field of technology, analytics, digital campaigning, and online organizing. Launched in 2016, the fellowship emerged from a recognition of the racial, gender, and power gaps in digital campaigning and a concern that nonprofit and organizing technology were adopting approaches similar to Silicon Valley that often excluded communities of color. The organization is dedicated to strengthening the digital organizing sector by creating opportunities to diversify its workforce, supporting leadership development, and advocating for a more inclusive and ethical digital and social media sphere.

Through the Fellowship, Kairos invests in leaders, now and for the long term, with training, mentorship, and strategic support. The Fellowship is an 8-month program where fellows are placed at leading national and state-based organizations to work on issue advocacy campaigns. Fellows receive a salary and full benefits for the duration of the program, as well as ongoing support, mentorship, and training from their placements and Kairos. The organization believes in thorough leadership development, political education, and training as core components to long-term power building. The program is designed to teach a unique strategic framework and pillars of digital campaigns, which are rooted in racial and gender justice.

In response to the increasing dependency on the internet and digital technologies, Kairos expanded its mission to create the conditions for a more equitable and safer internet for all. It rolled out new programming to hold large technology platforms accountable for disinformation and hate speech spread on their platforms. The organization also trains community groups on how to identify and combat mis- and disinformation in their communities. By integrating the power of organizing and narrative to fight for structural change, Kairos ensures that in-person and online campaigns reinforce and strengthen each other, with relationships and relational organizing being core to this approach.