Community Leaders Resilience Fund — Sheri Eckert Foundation
Sheri Eckert Foundation
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Community Leaders Resilience Fund
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Sheri Eckert Foundation
est. 2021
CommunityLeadersResilience Fund
Supporting the people who support everyone else.
Proposal & 2026 Overview
On Burnout
Who holds the people who hold everyone else?
Faith leaders, nonprofit directors, public servants, climate organizers, and social justice advocates carry sustained contact with grief, trauma, injustice, and the weight of others' needs.
They serve as stabilizing figures for entire communities — often with no place where they themselves can be deeply held.
The result is burnout, moral injury, and attrition — not just for the individual, but for the movements and communities they sustain.
Conventional support is inadequate. Many leaders need a deeper reset — one that science is only beginning to validate.
I no longer feel emotionally numb. I feel alive again.
Nonprofit Leader
“
I feel grateful for my job, perhaps for the first time.
Religious Leader
“
Demoralization became action.
Local Government
“
The retreat reminded me that my work is not separate from my healing.
Nonprofit Leader
“
I feel less alone in carrying the weight of leadership.
Mediator, Conflict Work
“
Against all evidence, I have great hope for the world, and my place in it.
Nonprofit Leader
Thematic Analysis
What changes
01
Emotional Relief
Releasing chronic stress, grief, and shame — processing in days what therapy could not reach in years.
02
Renewed Purpose
Clarity about the work, reduced demoralization, and a reoriented relationship with service.
03
Allowing Suffering
A shift from anxious rescuing toward trusting others' resilience — interrupting the burnout cycle.
04
Spiritual Reconnection
Across traditions, leaders return deeply reconnected to what grounds their leadership.
05
Community & Belonging
The cohort itself becomes medicine — shared vulnerability creates lasting bonds across sectors.
06
Hope in Hard Times
Not naive optimism, but a grounded return to possibility, faith, and renewed agency.
How It Works
A full-arc experience
01
Application & Screening
Thorough intake to assess readiness and build right-fit cohorts.
02
Preparation Support
Preparation-focused work before the experience begins.
03
Peer Cohort Retreat
Multi-day retreat at Fernlove with licensed facilitators and Community Stewards.
04
Integration & Follow-up
Ongoing support, data collection, and community building after the retreat.
“Therapy is the core, psilocybin is the assist.”
— Participant, 2025
The Year Ahead
2026
Delivery, refinement, and the foundation for research.
Program Goals
9 retreat weeks · February–November
63–80 community leaders served
Dedicated venue at Fernlove
Intake & screening systems standardized
Academic research partnerships identified
IRB pathway & consent process developed
Budget Snapshot
$272,930
Total 2026 projected budget · ≈ $3,296 per participant
Direct retreat operations$237,330
Operations & overhead (15%)$35,599
The Long View
From powerful stories to usable evidence
Can state-regulated psilocybin group facilitation — paired with preparation, integration, and peer cohort support — improve the wellbeing and leadership resilience of community leaders in ways that produce measurable personal and organizational benefit?
Individual
Burnout & moral injury
Depression & anxiety
Spiritual wellbeing
Leadership clarity
Sense of purpose
Organizational
Team morale & culture
New initiatives launched
Reduced leader attrition
Mission alignment
Community ripple effects
Field-Building
Academic partnerships
IRB approval pathway
Peer-reviewed publication
Insurance coverage evidence
Colorado readiness
Invest With Us
The funding need
Three tiers. Each unlocks a different scale of impact.
$450K
Foundation
Fully funds the 2026 retreat calendar, operational infrastructure, and research preparation.
Recommended
$650K
Continuity
Funds 2026 in full plus early 2027 — bridging into the formal research and scaling phase.
$1.1M
Growth Study
Full 2026 plan plus a 2027 formal outcomes study with academic oversight and publication.
“If you take the time to explore yourself, to listen to your spirit, to walk among the many less frequented paths within your mind, I am sure you will be amazed at the mesmerizing beauty you will find.
Sheri Eckert Foundation