Impact Beyond the Booth: Invest in the Inaugural Sprint of the Rural Education Fellowship
A rural fellowship sponsorship focused on humanizing education, offered in partnership with the Thinkering Collective
Most conference sponsorships end when the exhibit hall closes. This one keeps going.
Invest in the future of rural education by sponsoring the Inaugural Sprint of the Rural Education Fellowship, which launches in February 2027. We are starting with 10 cohorts of 12 rural teachers, totalling 120 participants. Sponsors for this Inaugural Sprint will be named Founding Sponsors of the Rural Education Fellowship – a lifetime recognition that won’t be offered again.
About the Rural Education Fellowship
The Rural Education Fellowship is a 10-week program built for people who are already teaching full-time, and the format is designed to fit a rural educator’s real calendar. Educators work alongside mentors and researchers to pitch a project solving a problem in their own school or community. Then, selected projects receive funding to actually get built.
Sponsors receive a year of story, not just a logo placement.
Fellowship Sponsors are tied to NREA’s annual conference, the National Forum to Advance Rural Education (NFARE). Before NFARE, the sponsors are interviewed and the partnership is captured through social assets and co-branded media. During the fellowship, sessions with the educator are recorded, and the sponsor is recognized on the capstone presentation. Afterward, that educator’s project becomes a story the sponsor can carry into the following year, including at the next NFARE. A lead sponsor funding a full cohort of 12 receives more than 30 pieces of co-branded media across the year.
Get involved at a level that suits you.
This opportunity is available to current NREA sponsors as an add-on, or to anyone who wants to make a one-off investment. Fellowship Sponsors can fund a single educator for $550, or a full cohort of 12 educators for $6000. Of the $550, $100 supports NREA’s rural programming and the remainder goes directly to the Thinkering Collective to fund the mentor program that makes the fellowship work.
Contact Dr. Melissa Sadorf to Get Started!
Don’t miss your chance to be a Founding Sponsor.
The Thinkering Collective is a nonprofit working with more than two hundred partner organizations, including the University of Chicago and Arizona State University, to support educator innovation. NREA is grateful for their partnership at this year’s forum.