Echoing Green is proud to announce that 347 incredible emerging social change organizations have been selected as semifinalists in our 2008 fellowship competition. Out of a record-setting pool of nearly 1,500 applications, 25 percent were selected to advance to next phase of the application process. Every application was reviewed by our team of dozens of Echoing Green staff, alumni, and social change experts.

At the next stage, candidates will be challenged to:

• Provide letters of recommendation from the people they serve
• Compare themselves to other players in their fields
• Draw up an organizational budget for the next two years
• Complete a root cause analysis of the problems they hope to solve

Based on this information, hundreds of past Echoing Green Fellows, social entrepreneurs, academics, venture capitalists, program officers, and leaders in areas from educational reform to human rights advocacy, will select approximately 30 finalists. These finalists will come to New York this May for in-person interviews and the chance to earn an Echoing Green Fellowship.

A tremendous good luck to all of our amazing semifinalists and thank you to all who participated in this year's competition!