Inspired by the fellowship itself, we, for the first time, invited others in to select the new fellows we would support.
2016
YEAR IN REVIEW
In cultivating our fellowship programme, we started by applying the values and processes of the free and open source software world to philanthropy. Once we saw the fellowship develop and grow, we wanted to understand why it worked so well. The concepts of freedom, equality, community, collaboration and trust helped articulate the change we wanted, and resonated with the activists we supported.
Shuttleworth Fellows realise their vision for social change by committing themselves fully to leaving the world a better, more equitable place than they found it. That is as true for their substantive work as it is for their interactions with others. It is only by them making these values their own, that change happens. It all comes down to the individual.
Inspired by the fellowship itself - both in embracing the power of the person and continuously including fresh thinking - we, for the first time, asked an individual from outside of the Shuttleworth group to select the new fellows we would support. We thank Joi Ito for being the first to step into this role. He helped us not only choose exceptional fellows, but also refine and develop the process going forward. We are tremendously excited for the second iteration, which we currently working on with Cory Doctorow.
Inviting support from individuals, as we support the Fellows, has been both challenging, in the best possible way, and fulfilling. It has brought diversity of thinking and helped us avoid getting stuck in a rut of inherent bias. It has also forced us to examine and articulate our vision and core values more strongly, to really pinpoint the non-negotiables and be so much more open to the rest. It is taking us to places we have not been before, which is the best way to learn and grow.
We measure our own success in terms of the success of others. In order to be effective in picking the right person at the right time, and enabling them to make a real contribution to positive change, we must constantly check we are not just professionally delivering philanthropy, but offering real value.
Year in
THINKING
Doctorow/Shuttleworth collaboration
The September 2016 Fellowship round was the first for which we invited an Honorary Steward to make the final decision on new Fellows. We had a brilliant experience with Joi Ito. He brought his individual experience and perspective. He also invested considerable time and energy in thoughtful review and reflection...... >>
Open for business
Four years ago, we wouldn’t have thought we’d fund a music venture. Like most people, we tend to think musicians are doing fine because there’s so much music around. But that’s like thinking journalists are fine because there’s so much news on TV. When culture is centralised in big, closed...... >>
Eating our own dogfood - individuals
Individuals carry their learnings, experiences, passions and hopes for the future with them throughout their lives. Supporting them to work on what is broken in their world and share their approach openly, equips them to continue to affect change far beyond the life of a specific grant. Mark Shuttleworth has...... >>
Open Locks: Legal commitments that lock in trust
Contributors to your open project invest their time and energy because they trust you with their gift to the world. So the challenge is this: How can you keep their trust? Can you seal it in for the long term? There are many successful projects that have managed this, notably...... >>
Ito/Shuttleworth collaboration
At the heart of the Shuttleworth Foundation Fellowship Programme are two key values - openness, and supporting individuals. Inspired by the programme itself, we are evolving how we award Fellowships. Not only will we be selecting individuals to support, we have selected an individual to help us make that decision...... >>
Year in
PEOPLE
We focus our energy by supporting openness in intellectual property, data, privacy, hardware, education, publishing, government, science, telecoms, environment, music, transparency and the Web. Move your mouse cursor over a fellow or an area of focus for a breakdown.
