The Founding Cohort

Why this lab

Utah gives generously to care. Leaders rarely get to learn how to do it together.

Funders, founders, and frontline leaders make critical decisions every day, but rarely have the opportunity to learn alongside one another. IHLab brings fifty leaders into one Salt Lake City cohort to explore different perspectives, see the humanity behind the work, and build practical skills for navigating complex decisions together.

Utah’s leaders care deeply. What’s often missing is the chance to learn alongside each other across sectors — so the relationships, the trust, and the ideas that could change things actually get built. That’s what IHLab is for.

Do good better.

Diverse colleagues collaborating around a shared table

Who belongs here

Some of the best lessons come from the lives we live and those of the people we love.

If you run a nonprofit, lead a civic team, award grants, or sit on a board — and you care about how Utah’s care system actually works for people — this room was built with you in mind. You bring your experience. The cohort gives you fifty people who understand the weight of it.

This is for you if…

You lead a nonprofit as an executive director or founder, and you’ve outgrown the advice that got you here.
You serve on a board and want it to be stronger.
You fund or advise nonprofit leaders and want to learn alongside them.
Hard conversations with your board, your community, or your team are costing you relationships.
You want the money you spend to build your organization’s capacity.
You want peers who know you and your work.

What you’ll practice

Three moves.

01
See people as worth investing in.
Treat the people you fund and manage as partners.
02
Lead with dignity when conflict gets expensive.
Use the Dignity Index in your real meetings.
03
Put your budget and your people behind the same goals,
so the work strengthens the people and the organization.

What You Gain

A clearer way through hard conversations. You’ll practice the Dignity Index so a tense board meeting, pushback from the community, or a team that isn’t on the same page doesn’t cost you the relationship.
Accountability your team can actually sustain. TOSLI leads a session on radical accountability, grounded in lived experience at The Other Side Village.
Your budget and your people behind the same goals. Spend money in ways that leave your organization stronger next year.
Relationships with leaders who know your work. Fifty leaders, plus facilitators trained by Dignity.Us, who take the time to understand your organization and stay in your corner.
A plan you can take home. Start mapping out your next three years with tools you can use right away.
Somewhere to go next. After the cohort, you can bring a full partner program into your organization.

How it works

A focused talk, then table work.

Each session starts with a talk, then moves to the table. You’ll work through real situations — your own and your peers’ — using the Dignity Index when conversations get hard, and leave each session with something worth trying that week.

Session format

Each 3.5-hour session opens with a focused talk, then moves into table work on your own organization.

Peer tables

Your table is other leaders from the cohort, and they get to know your organization as the sessions go on.

Trained facilitators

Facilitators trained by Dignity.Us guide each table and bring the Dignity Index into the conversation.

Planning tools

Start mapping out your next three years with tools you can use right away.

The sessions

Eight sessions, in four parts.

The draft program moves from investing in people, to relationships, to organizations, and ends with graduation.

Human Capital

Investable Humans

The Investable Human · Dignity Index · Dignity In Action
Social Responsibility · Radical Accountability

Social Capital

Investable Relationships

Emotions as Information
Strength In Healing
Bridge Building

Financial Capital

Investable Organizations

Financial Literacy
Impact Investing

Graduation

Ambassador Launch

See the full program

When & where

Early 2027 at The Other Side Village.

Sessions: 8 biweekly master sessions, 3.5 hours each
Venue: The Other Side Village, Salt Lake City, UT
Starts: Early 2027 (session dates to be announced)
Registration: Seats open December 2026
Cohort size: Capped at 50 leaders

Investment

$2,000 by January 15

$2,500 after

8 biweekly master sessions, 3.5 hours each
A seat at a peer table guided by facilitators trained by Dignity.Us
Dignity Index practice for hard conversations
Practical tools for planning your organization’s next three years

Scholarships. Donors can pay for a leader’s seat through a $2,500 Scholarship Seat. Ask us what’s available.

Join the list

After the cohort

Where it can go from here.

After the cohort, you can bring a full partner program into your organization (Dignity.Us or another lab that fits).

FAQ

Common questions

Who is the Founding Cohort for?

Nonprofit executives, founders, and board members, plus the funders and business leaders who work with them. The cohort is capped at 50 leaders.

When does registration open?

December 2026. Register by January 15 and you pay $2,000 instead of $2,500. Join the list and we’ll tell you when it opens.

When and where does the cohort meet?

Early 2027 at The Other Side Village in Salt Lake City. There are 8 sessions, every other week, 3.5 hours each. We’ll share dates with the cohort.

What does it cost?

$2,000 if you register by January 15, $2,500 after. Donors can also pay for a leader’s seat through a Scholarship Seat, so ask us what’s available.

How is the November 3 launch related to the cohort?

The launch lunch on November 3, 2026, at the Zions Bank Founder’s Room introduces the Lab, with keynotes from Dr. Timothy Shriver and Dr. Jody Olsen. Cohort sessions start in early 2027. Request your seat at the launch.

Who is behind IHLab?

Dignity.Us, The Other Side Leadership Institute, and Utah Advocacy Coalition. Meet the organizations.

What happens after the cohort?