Fortis Fellowship 2027 | Free 5-Month Global Leadership Fellowship with Lifetime Membership

The Fortis Fellowship is the route into the Fortis Society, an international network of leaders the organisation describes as coming “from humble beginnings”. It runs for five months online, ends with four days in Medellín, Colombia in June 2027, and on completion fellows become members of the Society for life.

Two things set it apart from almost everything else on this site: there is no education requirement at all — Fortis states plainly “There is no education requirement” — and no nomination is needed.

The third thing is what most coverage of this fellowship gets wrong, and it matters most to readers in Pakistan, India and Nigeria. Fortis says the cohort days and the Summit are funded. It does not say anywhere on its official pages that international flights, visas or accommodation are covered — those words do not appear on the site at all. This article therefore does not call the fellowship fully funded, and sets out below exactly what is confirmed.

Key Highlights

Detail Description

The Fortis Society describes itself as “an international, lifelong network that identifies, connects, and catalyzes ambitious, altruistic leaders from humble beginnings”. Its stated reason for existing is one observation: “Talent is globally distributed. Access to trusted networks is not.”

Behind it is the Future Leaders Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit created in August 2014 by founder Jean Karoubi, who the Society says came from a disadvantaged background himself and was close with the philanthropist Charles F. “Chuck” Feeney. The Society was launched in 2018, with the first graduating class of Future Global Leaders Fellows — since renamed Fortis Fellows — as charter members.

That rename matters for your search. If you have seen this advertised as the Future Global Leaders (FGL) Fellowship, it is the same programme under its former name, and older pages about it may carry stale figures.

Summits have been held in Paris, Seattle, Marrakesh, Sitges and Athens, with Medellín hosting in June 2027. Members listed publicly by the Society work at organisations including the Gates Foundation, Google and DeepMind, McKinsey, BlackRock and the United Nations, and the Society names Rhodes Scholars, Schwarzman Scholars, Knight-Hennessy Scholars and Fulbright recipients among them.

Programme Structure

Months one to five, online. Fortis lists four components: one-to-one mentorship with a Member, trainings and brain trusts on the decisions in front of you, projects that put the learning into practice, and introductions across sectors and continents. The published commitment is 2 to 4 hours of monthly virtual sessions and mentorship from January to June 2027, set “at a pace that assumes you have a demanding job”.

The Gathering, in Medellín. Two days with your cohort at the Fellows Retreat, with activities and trainings built around your group, followed immediately by the Annual Summit with the full Society, where you are formally welcomed in as a Member. Four full days in total.

The Society, for life. Fortis describes membership as “people who open doors for you, take the call before a hard decision, and introduce you to the person you didn’t know you needed”. Beyond the annual Summit, members organise their own regional meetups through the year.

Cohort size is not published. Fortis says it builds “every cohort for global representation” but gives no number, so treat any figure you see elsewhere as unsourced.

The Four Pillars

Every application is assessed against four published pillars, and Fortis states it weighs “what you have done against what you had to work with”.

• Humble beginnings — you built your own way in. A low-income background, and being “the first in your family to take the path you’re on”. Fortis invites you to “tell us what you had to work out alone that others were handed”
• An altruistic focus — you are building for someone else too. Work that makes other people’s lives better. Explicitly “doesn’t have to be a nonprofit or a job with ‘impact’ in the title” — Fortis names hospitals, courts, ministries, classrooms, studios, banks, small businesses and startups
• Ambition at scale — you have already started. The scale of what you want to change, and what you have done so far that suggests you can
• Generosity — you are happy to help others. Fortis says “a network is worth what its members give it” and runs on people who make introductions and show up for other members

Take the first pillar seriously before spending three hours on this. Fortis is not using “humble beginnings” loosely: it asks for a low-income background and first-in-family status on your path. An applicant with a conventional professional background and no such history is applying against the programme’s central criterion.

Benefits

Eligibility Criteria

What Fortis asks for

• A humble-beginnings background — a low-income background, and first-in-family status on your path
• Work that benefits other people, in any sector
• Demonstrated ambition with something already started, plus a willingness to help other members
• English, which Fortis lists as the language of the programme

What it explicitly does not require

• A degree. “No. There is no education requirement”
• A nomination. Nominations are welcomed but “a nomination doesn’t replace an application”, and nominated candidates are assessed identically
• A particular sector. Fortis strongly encourages applicants in the arts, education, government and healthcare
• A minimum number of years of work, or a particular country

The thing most likely to catch you out

It is not a rule but a mismatch. The first pillar is about where you started, not what you have achieved. Applicants who lead with credentials and skip the background are answering a different question from the one being asked — and in reverse, a modest job title is no disadvantage here if the path to it was built alone.

Visa and Travel

This needs stating separately, because a fellowship ending in Colombia raises questions Fortis does not address anywhere.

• Visa support — not confirmed by the official source. The Society publishes nothing about visas, invitation letters or visa costs
• Flights and accommodation — not confirmed. No statement about international travel to Medellín appears on the official pages
• Your responsibility either way. Entry requirements for Colombia depend on your nationality, and you should check them with the Colombian authorities for your own passport well before June 2027
• The online part is unaffected. The travel question applies only to the four days at the end

Selection Process and Application Timeline

Fortis publishes three stages, and commits that “every candidate gets an answer, including those we turn down” — worth noting, because silence is the norm across most programmes covered on this site. Applications are evaluated against the four pillars by members of the Society, and the interview is virtual, so no travel is required to be selected.

If you are unsuccessful you can reapply: Fortis states there is a new cohort every year and each is chosen as a group, so a candidate may apply again in a later cycle.

Required Documents and How to Apply

Fortis lists exactly four things, submitted at form.fortissociety.org:

• A resume or portfolio — “whatever best shows your work so far”, so a portfolio is explicitly acceptable in place of a CV
• Three short written responses — “about where you started and where you are going”
• A two-minute video — “a two-minute introduction filmed on a laptop or phone”. No production quality expected, but it has to exist
• A virtual interview — shortlisted candidates only, not part of the initial submission

The video is what catches people out, because it cannot be done in the last ten minutes. Record it first, keep it to the stated two minutes, and answer the question Fortis is actually asking: where you started, not a list of achievements. Then check yourself against pillar one honestly, write the three responses, and submit before 8 November 2026 — and since no closing time is published, do not assume you have until midnight in your own time zone.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Is the Fortis Fellowship fully funded, and what does it actually cover?

It is free, but “fully funded” is not a phrase Fortis uses. The Society states there is “nothing to apply, and nothing for the fellowship”, and that “your cohort days and the Summit are funded”. It publishes nothing at all about international flights, accommodation or visa costs for the four days in Medellín, and offers no stipend. Email info@fortissociety.org to confirm travel before counting on attending.

2. What is the deadline for the Fortis Fellowship 2027?

8 November 2026 for the 2027 cohort, with no closing time of day published — so treat it as the start of that date rather than the end. Interviews follow in November and December 2026, and membership decisions are communicated by the end of January 2027.

3. Who can apply for the Fortis Fellowship — and do I need a degree?

Anyone from a humble-beginnings background, and no, you do not need a degree. Fortis states: “There is no education requirement.” There is no nomination requirement, no sector restriction and no nationality restriction, so applicants from Pakistan, India and anywhere else are eligible. What it does ask for is a low-income background and being the first in your family on your path.

4. How do I apply for the Fortis Fellowship 2027?

Through the official form at form.fortissociety.org, with a resume or portfolio, three short written responses and a two-minute video filmed on a laptop or phone. Shortlisted candidates then have a virtual interview with the recruitment committee. Fortis says most people spend two to three hours on it.

5. What disqualifies most applicants?

Not meeting the first pillar. “Humble beginnings” is not decorative here: Fortis asks for a low-income background and first-in-family status, and weighs what you have done “against what you had to work with”. A strong CV built from a comfortable starting point is applying against the core criterion, while a modest job title reached alone is exactly what the programme looks for.

6. How long is the Fortis Fellowship and what is the time commitment?

Five months, which Fortis describes as “months one to five, online”, ending at the Summit in Medellín in June 2027. The published commitment runs January to June 2027 and is 2 to 4 hours of monthly virtual sessions and mentorship, set “at a pace that assumes you have a demanding job”, followed by four full days in Medellín — two of cohort programming, then the Summit.

7. Do I need to be nominated for the Fortis Fellowship?

No. Fortis welcomes nominations from members and peer organisations, but states that “a nomination doesn’t replace an application” and that every candidate, nominated or not, submits the same application against the same four pillars. A nomination confers no advantage in the assessment.

8. What happens if I am not selected — will I be told?

Yes, and you can reapply. Fortis commits that “every candidate gets an answer, including those we turn down”, which is unusual among competitive fellowships. There is a new cohort each year and each is chosen as a group, so you may apply again in a later cycle.

9. Is this the same as the Future Global Leaders Fellowship?

Yes. The Fortis Society was launched in 2018 by the Future Leaders Foundation, and its first graduating class of Future Global Leaders Fellows are called Fortis Fellows under the current name. Older pages describing an FGL Fellowship refer to the same programme — check their dates and figures against the official Fortis site before relying on them.

Final Thoughts

The Fortis Fellowship is unusual on a site mostly full of scholarships, because what it gives you is not money. It is five months of mentorship and introductions, four days in Medellín, and then a network you keep for the rest of your career. For someone building a career without the connections others inherited, that can be worth more than a one-off grant.

It is also one of the most open applications covered here: no degree, no nomination, no fee, any sector, any country, any number of years of work. Set against most leadership programmes of this kind, which gate entry behind credentials, that is a genuinely low barrier — and unlike a remote technical fellowship, it is open whatever field you work in.

What it is not is fully funded in the sense that phrase usually carries. The fellowship costs nothing and the cohort days and Summit are funded, but Fortis says nothing whatsoever about flights, visas or accommodation for Colombia — and for an applicant in South Asia or Africa, that is the item deciding whether June 2027 is reachable. Ask before you assume.

If pillar one describes you, the application is two to three hours and the deadline is 8 November 2026. Record the video first, answer the question about where you started honestly, and verify every detail on the official Fortis Fellowship page before applying.