Convening Partners
Universities, hospital systems, companies, municipalities, newsrooms, media organizations, faith communities and professional associations that bring a cohort and shape the questions it carries.
Partnership
Institutions open the door. People create the relationship.
Every cohort we convene exists because an institution decided its people should meet their counterparts somewhere else. Partnership is how the work begins and how it endures.
Three kinds of partner
Different roles, one standard.
Host Partners
Institutions and communities that open their working days to visiting peers and receive the same courtesy in return.
Strategic Partners
Foundations, philanthropies and companies that underwrite programs and support their development over multiple years.
What we ask of a partner
- A defined professional community and a real question.
- One accountable contact through design and delivery.
- Commitment to preparation and continued engagement.
- Candor about what did not work.
What a partner receives
- A cohort designed for their people, not a packaged itinerary.
- Counterpart introductions vetted and briefed in advance.
- Full logistical, safety and communications management.
- A clear plan for debriefing and continued engagement.
Who we convene
Professionals across industries, and across faiths.
Cohorts are designed around the work participants already do: scientists and engineers, clinicians and researchers, founders, public leaders, and media and journalism professionals. Faith-based partnerships are equally central, with theologians, pastors and faith-community leaders traveling in cohorts built around vocation, service and the questions their communities carry.
Common ground
Relationships take root where people meet.
Standards
We are careful about who we work with.
We decline partnerships that require a predetermined conclusion, that treat participants as an audience, or that would use an encounter as an instrument of publicity. Funding roles and program responsibilities are made clear to partners and participants.
Programs are nonpartisan, and no cohort is designed to advance the position of any government, party or campaign.
An institution can open a door once. The people who walk through it decide what follows.
Partnership conversations usually begin with a single call and a short written brief. Nothing is committed until the design is agreed.