Fellowship & Learning Community Design
You know a fellowship or learning community could transform your field. But how do you design something that's strategically aligned, measurably impactful, and sustainable with your team's resources?
We help VCs, foundations, accelerators, and impact organizations translate strategy into reality—designing fellowships, cohort-based learning experiences, and community engagement strategies that create lasting change.
Whether you call it a fellowship program, cohort-based learning, professional community, or learning network—we help you design the complete ecosystem.
THE CHALLENGE
You're facing questions like:
"How do we design a fellowship or learning community that actually advances our strategy—not just creates another program?"
"How do we demonstrate tangible impact to funders and stakeholders?"
"How do we build something sustainable given our team's capacity and budget constraints?"
"How do we create real community, not just a cohort or network that disperses after the program ends?"
"How do we activate our alumni network instead of letting it go dormant?"
These aren't just operational questions—they're strategic ones.
The right fellowship or learning community design becomes a lever for field-building, talent development, and ecosystem change. The wrong one drains resources without moving the needle.
WHAT WE DO
We design the complete learning community ecosystem—not just curriculum, but the entire system that creates transformation:
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From concept to launch, we help you design every element: selection criteria that identify the right participants, curriculum arc that balances learning and application, cohort composition that sparks peer learning, facilitation approach that builds connection, and sustainability model that ensures impact beyond year one.
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We design learning journeys that go beyond content delivery—creating the structure, rituals, and engagement strategies that help cohorts gel, learn from each other, and stay connected. Whether it's a 6-week intensive or a year-long program, we help you balance expert input with peer learning.
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Your program doesn't end when the cohort ends. We design member engagement strategies, alumni activation plans, and community rhythms that keep the network alive and productive—whether that's volunteer chapter leaders, regional networks, or online communities.
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If you need help designing the selection process or supporting recruitment, we can be part of that phase—helping you identify criteria, design application processes, and create selection frameworks that find the right participants.
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The best program design means nothing without skilled people to bring it to life. We provide training and coaching for the team members who will build, run, and sustain your community—whether that's community managers, facilitators, volunteer chapter leaders, or internal staff. This includes both group training programs and 1:1 coaching to build the capacity your team needs to succeed.
WHY CAPACITY BUILDING MATTERS
No matter how well-designed your fellowship or learning community is, execution depends on the people running it—the community managers, facilitators, and leaders who embody your values and bring the program to life day-to-day.
That's why our approach includes building organizational and individual capacity alongside program design.
We help you think through:
Who needs to be involved in building, running, and sustaining this?
What capabilities do they need that they don't have yet?
How do we develop those capabilities—through training, coaching, or mentorship?
How do we create systems that don't depend on a single person?
This might include:
Facilitator training programs for staff or volunteers running cohort sessions
Community manager coaching for those managing member engagement
Leadership development for chapter leaders or regional coordinators
Train-the-trainer approaches so your team can scale the work internally
1:1 coaching for key staff navigating new roles
We bring decade-long experience designing and delivering training programs, so this isn't an add-on—it's integral to how we work.
How We Work
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We start with a conversation about your goals, strategy, and context.
What impact are you trying to create?
Who are you serving?
What resources do you have?
What does success look like?
This helps us determine if we're a good fit and what kind of engagement makes sense.
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Together, we design the full program architecture:
Theory of change - How does this fellowship advance your strategy?
Participant profile & selection - Who should be in this cohort and how do you find them?
Program structure - What's the arc of the experience?
Curriculum & learning design - What do participants learn and how?
Community & engagement design - How do you build connection and sustain it?
Impact measurement - How do you demonstrate results to stakeholders and funders?
Sustainability model - How does this work with your team's capacity and budget?
Timeline: Typically 3 months if recruitment/selection is handled separately, 4-6 months if I'm supporting that phase.
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Depending on your needs, we can:
Create facilitator guides and training materials so your team can run the program
Design and deliver facilitator training programs for staff or volunteers
Provide 1:1 coaching for community managers and program leaders
Facilitate key sessions myself (onboarding, retreats, critical conversations)
Design and deliver participant materials
Build train-the-trainer systems so your team can scale internally
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We can support the actual launch—troubleshooting in real-time, coaching facilitators, and helping you learn from the pilot so you can iterate intelligently for future cohorts.
WHY THIS APPROACH WORKS
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We help you connect the fellowship design directly to your organizational strategy and impact goals—so you can demonstrate to funders and stakeholders why this matters.
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We understand the constraints of small teams and tight budgets. We design for sustainability from the start—creating systems that work with your capacity, not against it. And we help build the internal capabilities your team needs to run the program well.
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Impact measurement isn't an afterthought. We build it into the design so you can show tangible results and make the case for continued investment.
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The best programs have clear architecture but leave room for community ownership and organic connection. We help you find that balance.
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We've designed programs serving 200+ people across 8 regions, managed volunteer networks in 20+ cities, and navigated major transitions (COVID, geographic expansion, evolving needs). We know what works and what breaks as you scale.
WHO WE WORK WITH
VCs & Accelerators building portfolio communities and founder learning programs
Foundations & Impact Investors creating fellowship programs for field leaders and changemakers
Impact Organizations designing member engagement strategies and learning communities
Social Enterprises building internal leadership development programs
HR Consultancies creating communities of practice and cohort-based learning for clients
ABOUT TMATSU
TMatsu brings nearly a decade of experience designing and scaling fellowship programs and learning communities at Acumen—including curriculum integration across 8 regions, volunteer networks spanning 20+ cities, and gatherings for 700+ participants.
FEATURED PROJECTS
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Acumen Fellows Program: Scaling Leadership Development Across 8 Regions
Challenge: Integrate and scale a fellowship program from 3 to 8 regions while maintaining quality, navigate COVID transition, revamp selection process.
Approach: Designed curriculum framework adaptable to regional contexts, created franchise model for new regions, led pivot to virtual/hybrid delivery, overhauled selection criteria.
Outcomes: Successfully scaled to 8 regions globally, maintained community coherence through major disruption, created sustainable model balancing central coherence with regional ownership.
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Global Volunteer Network: Designing for 20+ Cities
Challenge: Create structure and community for volunteer chapter leaders running local events globally.
Approach: Designed annual retreats and regional gatherings, created facilitation frameworks adaptable to local contexts, built rhythms sustaining connection between gatherings.
Outcomes: Sustained engagement across diverse regions with volunteer leaders who felt equipped, not isolated. Created replicable retreat format that evolved over multiple years.
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Global Fellows Gathering: Designing for 700 Alumni
Challenge: Bring together 700 participants, including fellows from 8 regions, in Kenya—creating experiences that deepen relationships and celebrate community.
Approach: Designed large-group sessions creating shared experience without sacrificing intimacy, created small-group formats enabling meaningful connection across regions, balanced structured programming with emergence.
Outcomes: Successfully created lasting connections and collaborations extending beyond the event.
COMPLEMENTARY SERVICES
Executive Coaching for Fellows & Alumni
Many fellowship programs benefit from integrating 1:1 coaching—either as part of the program or as ongoing leadership development for alumni. We offer executive coaching that can be embedded into your program design or offered as a separate service.
This can include:
Coaching for individual fellows during the program
Alumni leadership development coaching
Facilitator/fellowship program leads/community manager coaching
READY TO START?
Whether you're launching your first fellowship, scaling an existing program, or reimagining how your community engages—let's talk about what you're building.