The Boundless Fellowship
Breakthrough Leadership for Nature
Our Mission
Boundless is a two-year program for rising leaders brought together by a commitment to protecting the most vital ecosystems in the Americas.
Group travel experiences, called Encounters, are the beating heart of the Boundless Fellowship. Twice during each year of the fellowship — four times in total — Boundless Fellows embark on a 10-day trip to a site of critical conservation importance. These fully funded travel opportunities offer fellows the chance to learn from innovators doing cutting-edge work, engage with peers from across the hemisphere, and cultivate space for reflection in nature.
NOTE: The following itinerary is provisional and may change, but illustrates of the types of experiences a Boundless cohort may share.
October 2026
Peru
Hosted in the Madre de Dios region of the Peruvian Amazon.
Values & LeadershipBiodiversityScienceClimate Corridors
Each Boundless Fellow is invited, but not required, to develop a Boundless Initiative — a creative, bold project that is incubated during the Fellowship. Fellows who choose pursue an Initiative will be eligible for seed funding from Boundless, as well as mentorship and support from other Fellows, Boundless staff, and Boundless mentors. Fellows who choose not to pursue their own Initiative will act as peer mentors and advisors for other Fellows.
“The climate and biodiversity crises demand urgent and bold action to achieve the change needed to accelerate system-wide progress. Boundless is designed to cultivate leaders with vision and courage, who can stand up for the land-, water- and seascapes we deeply care about.”
“To solve the challenges facing nature today, we must find shared values that come from different perspectives and traditions. Boundless offers fellows a chance to broaden their horizons and grow, with support from mentors with many backgrounds and areas of expertise.”
“Leaders must seize opportunities to make a difference, but they can never do it alone. What Boundless offers is a network of peers and mentors who are committed to supporting the most exciting emerging leaders working to protect nature.”
“Conservation has gone through all kinds of intellectual phases and fads, and it is still in constant change, but the future is promising if the next generation of conservation leaders can collaborate, innovate, and inspire. That is what we aim to achieve with Boundless.”
“It's important to think about the whole place, not just the people, the animals, the plants, but the magic cord that runs through all of it. This program is designed to spur the next generation of leaders to see the whole and take action.”
Fellows are required to attend all four encounters over the course of their two year fellowship and to actively participate in online programming.
We believe there is a scarcity of rising leaders who can act as bridge-builders and problem solvers in defense of nature.
We are committed to cultivating and supporting a particular type of conservation leader: the multi-disciplinary generalist who can bridge worlds, absorb the entirety of the challenges facing an ecosystem, and craft solutions with a holistic mindset.
We believe that to successfully protect an ecosystem, leaders must learn to “see the whole” of a place and engage the kaleidoscope of local and global forces that affect its future.
Our fellows will learn to develop holistic strategies for protecting nature — strategies that take into account local communities, politics, and ways of knowing — while also engaging with food production systems, protected areas, global supply chains, geopolitics, international treaties, and more.
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