Update on the Fellowship roadmap

In 2019, the RSA underwent a strategic review that envisioned a united organisation, setting a clear purpose and vision for our future.

Our Vision: A world where everyone is able to participate in creating a better future.

Our Purpose: Uniting people and ideas to resolve the challenges of our time.

We Are: A global community of active problem solvers.

At this time, the Fellowship Roadmap project was identified as a key piece of work needed to support the RSA in delivering its purpose. As RSA Chair Tim Eyles says, we are working towards building

…‘one RSA’ by joining together more powerfully as a united force of all of our assets: the human talent in our global Fellowship and in the RSA staff team, RSA House itself and all our other resources, to deliver change and greater impact in the world.

The objective of the Fellowship Roadmap was to develop a plan to improve the Fellowship experience by moving away from a one-size-fits-all approach and refining our offer to Fellows, ensuring that Fellowship is inclusive, valuable, and engaging for all.

The Fellowship Roadmap project started with an extensive research programme, engaging with many thousands of Fellows and potential Fellows to seek their input and help us gain a better understanding their needs.

Thank you to everyone who took part in this process – your contributions were hugely valuable and will make a real difference to the way we do things.
You told us that you want us to:

• Create and share opportunities for greater participation by Fellows in RSA programmes, including through ‘bite-sized’ engagement;
• Develop and improve opportunities to connect and collaborate with other Fellows (including digitally);
• Find ways to build a diverse Fellowship and help both new and existing Fellows feel included and engaged in our community;
• Communicate more clearly about what Fellowship is, and what it means to be a Fellow;
• Share more about the RSA’s purpose and vision, and how the work we are all doing is having an impact;
• Be more transparent about the rationale and selection criteria for RSA programmes and projects;
• Improve internal processes to ensure we’re communicating with you about the things you’re most interested in, at the right time;

Next steps

We’re currently working on a phased implementation of the many changes and improvements the Roadmap project has generated.

 We’ll be starting with work to improve the ways in which we communicate with all Fellows, and will be taking a series of steps to provide the clarity and detail you wanted.  

These include:

• Reviewing the rationale behind the joining process and introducing a more honest and transparent application journey;
• Refining the current welcome and onboarding journey while longer-term strategic changes are being implemented, to create a more personalised journey for new Fellows;
• Sharing more information about the impact created by Fellows and our programmes with the Fellowship and beyond, and celebrating our collective efforts;
• Communicating with more clarity and transparency about the rationale and selection criteria for RSA programmes and projects;
• Improving communications to Fellows about current Fellowship opportunities and how to access them.
• Developing a detailed action plan for diversifying the Fellowship and improving inclusion, with input from the RSA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion staff group, Fellowship Councillors, and Trustee champions.

We are also working on a series of interconnected plans to develop other actions you told us were important to you. These include a digital strategy, improving our digital offer to Fellows, and helping you to connect more easily with each other and our work.

As with the research phase of the Fellowship roadmap project, we will continue to be guided by the needs and expectations of the RSA Fellowship as we make these changes, and we will look to our Fellows, Fellowship Councillors and potential Fellows to be involved in the continued development of a Fellowship that is a rewarding and engaging experience, but that also, crucially, has an impact in the world by developing positive solutions to the social, cultural, environmental, and economic challenges we all face. We very much hope you’ll continue to join us on this journey.