Tory Burch Foundation 2026 Fellows Program (Closed): Fellowship for Women Entrepreneurs

Captured cycle: This page is retained for historical guidance. Confirm whether the program has reopened before planning an application.

Tory Burch Foundation 2026 Fellows Program (Closed)

The Tory Burch Foundation 2026 Fellows Program is a closed application cycle. The official application portal says that the cycle opened on September 30, 2025 and closed on November 11, 2025 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. The Foundation’s FAQ repeats the November 11, 2025 deadline and says that incomplete applications were not valid.

There is no active application call-to-action here because the verified deadline has passed. No newer cycle is posted on the official Fellows page, the 2026 portal, or the Foundation FAQ reviewed for this update. The Foundation FAQ directs people who missed the deadline to its newsletter for notice when the next application period begins. Keep the Foundation’s Fellows Program page bookmarked for that announcement:

https://www.toryburchfoundation.org/fellows/

The 2026 portal remains useful as a record of the most recent cycle:

https://fellows.toryburchfoundation.org/prog/2026/

At a glance

What the 2026 program offered

The Foundation describes the Fellows Program as support for women entrepreneurs who are building early-stage and growth-stage businesses. The emphasis is not limited to a single grant payment. The official Fellows page describes four central parts of the experience: a premier peer network, collaborative coaching, advisor access, and self-paced education.

The peer network includes more than 500 women entrepreneurs, according to the current Foundation page. The FAQ describes the community as hundreds of business owners working across more than a dozen industries. That breadth matters for a founder whose next problem may not be solved by another founder in the same sector. A product company may learn from a service business about hiring or cash planning; a professional-services firm may find useful examples from a company managing inventory or wholesale relationships.

Collaborative coaching is intended to address the company’s specific challenges. The Foundation’s wording points to experts helping Fellows face those challenges rather than asking every founder to follow an identical business curriculum. A useful preparation exercise is to identify one or two decisions that need better information: pricing, hiring, customer acquisition, operations, partnerships, or a financing choice. A precise question gives coaching and advisory conversations somewhere practical to start.

The 2026 terms describe a one-year fellowship that includes access to workshops, webinars, consulting sessions, advisory sessions, mentoring activities, networking events, and other program activities made available by the Foundation. They specifically list webinars on topics such as financials, marketing, and partnerships, one-on-one meetings with volunteers from Tory Burch LLC and other experts in the Foundation network, and access to the Foundation’s online community.

The terms also describe an opportunity to participate in a mentoring session where Fellows share their business growth goals with industry influencers, plus access to an in-person experiential event or events related to entrepreneurship and leadership development. The Foundation determines the specific programming. Selected Fellows are expected to participate actively, and costs, taxes, fees, and expenses associated with program elements are the Fellow’s responsibility.

The Foundation’s current materials do not state a cash award for the 2026 cycle. Older descriptions of this opportunity may mention a $5,000 business education grant, but that figure is not confirmed in the verified 2026 program page, FAQ, or terms reviewed here. Applicants should wait for the next official cycle’s materials before assuming that a grant, its amount, or its permitted uses will be available.

Eligibility for the 2026 cycle

The 2026 criteria were specific about both the founder and the company. The applicant had to be a woman entrepreneur who owned the largest or equally largest stake in a qualifying business. The applicant also had to have a significant personal role in managing that business on a day-to-day basis. Ownership alone was not enough if the founder did not meaningfully operate the company.

The applicant had to be at least 21 years old as of the application due date, be proficient in English, and be a legal resident of the United States and its territories. The Foundation’s FAQ spells out the geographic scope as the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. The 2026 terms also excluded employees of the Foundation, Tory Burch LLC, or affiliated entities, along with certain immediate family and household members.

The qualifying business had to meet all of these conditions:

• It was a for-profit business from any industry.
• Women owned and controlled at least 51% of it.
• It generated at least $75,000 in annual revenue.
• It was formed under United States law and operated in the United States.
• It was in early-stage growth rather than merely an idea.

The terms identify nonprofit organizations, idea-stage ventures, and subsidiary businesses as examples of non-qualifying businesses. The Foundation’s FAQ also says that a business must already be operating and generating revenue. It gives an example in which a woman founder with a 33% stake can qualify when she owns the largest or equal stake in a business operated with two other women founders. Only one entrepreneur per business could apply.

The $75,000 threshold should be treated as a real eligibility test, not a target to estimate or round up. A founder who has not reached it may still find the Foundation’s education and newsletter resources useful, but the 2026 Fellows application was for revenue-generating companies that met the published criteria.

How the closed application worked

Applications for the 2026 cycle were submitted online only through the Foundation’s program site during the application period. The terms allowed one application per person, email address, or business. An application had to be complete, accurate, include a valid email address, and arrive by the deadline to be considered.

Applicants were directed to complete the requested application fields and upload a photo and video when applicable. The terms specify that photos had to use JPG, GIF, or PNG format, that files over 2 MB in total size would not be accepted, and that videos could be no longer than two minutes. Applicants also had to acknowledge the program terms in the application. These technical rules applied to the closed 2026 submission window; they should be checked again against the next cycle’s instructions if the Foundation opens applications again.

The FAQ clarifies that a business plan was not required, although one could provide additional insight into the founder’s vision and the company’s standing. The Foundation did not accept physical product samples for consideration. It did encourage applicants to photograph a product and include the image as part of the application where relevant.

The 2026 terms say that eligible applications were reviewed using the personal and company statements, the video introduction, and corporate social responsibility. The review committee could also consider the business’s positive and lasting impact, what differentiated it, the problem it addressed, the founder’s passion, the substance and quality of the statements and video, obstacles overcome, growth opportunities, and the diversity of the overall Fellow group by industry, stage, and geography.

Timeline recorded by the Foundation

The official Fellows page records the 2026 timeline as follows:

• September 30, 2025: applications opened.
• November 11, 2025: applications closed.
• Winter 2025–26: review period.
• May 2026: Fellow selection.

The portal gives the closing time as 11:59 PM Eastern Time. The FAQ gives the deadline with seconds as 11:59:59 ET and warns that incomplete applications were not valid. The terms say that selected applicants would be contacted by email and/or telephone around April 2026, while the current Fellows page presents May 2026 as the selection point. Because those official materials differ slightly on the selection month, this listing does not promise a more precise notification date.

What to prepare if a new cycle opens

There is no current application to submit. For a future cycle, a founder can use the published 2026 requirements as a preparation checklist while waiting for the Foundation’s next announcement:

1. Confirm that the company is operating, for-profit, formed under United States law, and based in the United States.
2. Document annual revenue of at least $75,000 and confirm that women own and control at least 51% of the business.
3. Identify the woman founder who owns the largest or equal-largest stake and manages the company day to day. Only one person from the business should submit an application.
4. Prepare a clear company statement explaining the customer, business model, traction, and the next growth problem to solve.
5. Prepare a personal statement that connects the founder’s experience to the company and its direction. Keep it concrete and tied to leadership.
6. Gather an appropriate company or product photograph. Do not send physical product samples unless a future cycle expressly asks for them.
7. Outline a concise video introduction. The 2026 terms capped videos at two minutes, but the next cycle may set different technical requirements.
8. Describe the company’s social or economic contribution with evidence: jobs, customer access, community benefit, environmental practice, or another specific result.
9. Keep copies of submitted answers and verify every ownership, revenue, residency, and contact detail before submission.

These preparations are useful because the Foundation evaluates more than a founder’s idea. The 2026 criteria asked reviewers to understand the company, the person managing it, the obstacle or opportunity ahead, and the way the business creates positive and lasting impact. A strong future application would connect those points instead of relying on broad claims about ambition.

Questions founders should not assume

Is the $5,000 grant part of the 2026 cycle? The verified 2026 materials reviewed for this page do not state a cash award. Do not rely on older listings that present $5,000 as guaranteed.

Can an idea-stage company apply? No. The FAQ says the business must already be operating and generating revenue, and the terms list idea-stage ventures among examples of non-qualifying businesses.

Is a business plan required? The FAQ says no. A plan may still help explain the company’s direction, but it was not listed as a required application document in that answer.

Can both co-founders apply? No. The FAQ says only one entrepreneur per business may apply. The applicant must also own the largest or equally largest stake and have a significant management role.

Does the company need to be in a particular industry? No industry restriction is stated. The company must be for-profit and meet the ownership, revenue, legal-formation, and operating-location requirements.

What should someone who missed the deadline do? The FAQ points applicants to the Foundation newsletter for notification when the next application period begins. No newer cycle is posted on the verified official pages used for this update, so the Foundation’s Fellows Program page is the correct place to watch for future instructions.

Official sources

• Tory Burch Foundation Fellows Program — current program description, criteria, and timeline.
• 2026 Fellows Program portal — opening and closing times for the 2026 application period.
• Fellowship Program FAQ — deadline, application method, business-plan guidance, eligibility clarifications, and newsletter guidance after a missed deadline.
• 2026 Fellows Program Terms and Conditions — application mechanics, eligibility details, review factors, and program components.