THE PHLANTHROPIC OBSERVATORY
Cohort Sponsorship
Cohort Sponsorship lets a single funder underwrite a defined group of foundations, grantees, or partners through the Philanthropic Observatory together, so an entire network builds shared foresight and strategic literacy on the same cycle, rather than individuals arriving separately and at different times.
Sponsors work with us to select participants, confirm seats across a set number of cohorts each year, and receive synthesis across their full group's participation, so the investment compounds across your network rather than staying siloed in each person's individual experience.
Guaranteed Seats
A fixed number of seats reserved in advance, across a defined number of cohorts per year, at a locked group rate.
Participant Selection Rights
You nominate or approve who fills your seats each cycle. This is a program built around who you send, not who happens to sign up.
Full Program Access, Every Seat
Each sponsored participant moves through all three phases:
Studying Change: Building a shared view of emerging signals across governance, security, technology, society, and the environment
Envisioning Change: Using those signals to build and pressure-test alternative future strategies
Leading Change: Converting that foresight into tools, partnerships, and capital strategy
Every seat includes the same tools, including the Foresight Radar, and the same cross-institutional cohort experience as any participant in the program.
Cross-cohort Synthesis for Your Network
We pull together findings and signals specific to your group, surfacing patterns across your network that no individual participant would see moving through the program alone.
A Standing Relationship
Sponsorship agreements run across multiple cohorts and years. Onboarding, curriculum input, and program design happen once, then carry forward smoothly cycle to cycle.
Sponsor Visibility (optional)
Recognition as the sponsoring institution for your cohort group, offered, not required, for funders who want field visibility around the investment.
Sponsorship Includes
How It Works
Single-Organization Cohorts
Virtual
Cadence
3 cohorts/year
Cohort Size
8 participants
Cross-Organization Cohorts
Hybrid
Cadence
3 cohorts/year
Cohort Size
24 participants
Is Cohort Sponsorship Right for You?
Sponsorship works best for funders who:
Support a defined network of grantees, portfolio organizations, or partner institutions who would benefit from shared strategic literacy
Want to build foresight capacity across a field or region, not just within their own institution
Prefer a single relationship and invoice over managing individual enrollments
Are thinking in multi-year terms, not a single cohort cycle
If that's your organization, the next step is a scoping conversation. We'll talk through your network, the right cohort mix (single-organization, cross-organization, or both), and a sponsorship structure sized to your goals.