A project of the Sun Valley Policy Forum

Planned launch 2027

TheHeadwatersSociety

The future of American leadership
begins upstream.

Serious ideas. Exceptional people. An enduring community. Help prepare the next generation to build, lead, and preserve a free society.

Help fund Headwaters Explore the vision

Headwaters Society crest with a classical column, mountains, and laurel branches

SUN VALLEY, IDAHO
ROOTED HERE. REACHING NATIONWIDE.

The launch threshold is reached. Help fund what comes next.
Launching in 2027. Join our founding supporters.

$320,000Capital investment to launch

68 young leadersPlanned initial impact

One communityA connection that endures

The Headwaters difference

Before the title.
Before the influence.
At the source.

The leaders who will shape American industry and communities are already at work. Their influence may not yet be visible, but like the headwaters of a great river, something consequential has already begun.

The Headwaters Society will identify and invest in promising students and young leaders across American life. Through Institute programming, fellowships, and internships, the Society will connect those impacted by SVPF’s work to a nationwide community rooted in its ideas, relationships, and mission.

Rooted in SVPF’s commitment to the principles of a free society, Headwaters will equip young leaders to think independently, defend individual liberty and free enterprise, and carry those convictions into the institutions and communities they will shape.

CHARACTER / INDEPENDENT THOUGHT / RESPONSIBILITY

Three pillars. A lasting purpose.

An education in ideas.
An introduction to possibility.

Academic inquiry, practical experience, and relationships across generations—connected through the life of the Forum.

01 / Headwaters Society Institute

The Summer Consortium.
A wider world of ideas.

In partnership with the University of Austin (UATX), the flagship Summer Consortium will bring 16 hand-selected young leaders to Sun Valley for two weeks of residential study in public policy, America’s founding, and political thought.

The summer program will pair serious academic study with participation in SVPF’s Summer Institute, giving students direct access to leading thinkers and accomplished civic leaders across business, finance, technology, medicine, and public life.

Additional SVPF events and programming will support 40 more young leaders throughout the year. All Headwaters Society programming will be designed to strengthen members’ ability to preserve and defend Western Civilization.

16Summer Consortium participants

40Additional young leaders

Sun Valley’s green hills and Trail Creek area at sunset in summer

Two weeks in Sun Valley.
A foundation for what follows.Summer in Sun Valley · Photo: Sun Valley Resort / Hayden Gilmour

A speaker in conversation at an SVPF event

Headwaters Fellows

Three fellows will undertake six months of research, writing, and substantive discussion while contributing to premier SVPF programming. Selected for character, initiative, curiosity, and promise.

3 fellows · 6 months

An SVPF team member assisting an event attendee

Headwaters Internships

Hands-on experience supporting the Forum’s work, virtually and in person. Interns will engage with its ideas and community while developing a deeper grounding in liberty, enterprise, and responsibility.

9 interns · Practical experience

Membership in the Society

A nationwide community.
An enduring connection.

The Headwaters Society is a nationwide membership community for students and young leaders impacted by SVPF’s programming. It brings together participants from the Society’s three pillars—Institute programming, fellowships, and internships—and sustains their connection to SVPF’s mission, ideas, and relationships beyond any individual program.

Members will receive complimentary access to SVPF’s flagship events, including the Fall Symposium, Winter Summit, and Summer Institute, as well as specially curated events for young adults and students in Sun Valley and across the country.

Members of the Sun Valley Policy Forum community at the Summer Institute — The Sun Valley Policy Forum community · Summer Institute 2026

Participants will be selected not for academic pedigree or political experience, but for their character, initiative, professional seriousness, and potential to carry meaningful responsibility.

Four commitments of membership

Access

Members will gain access to substantive conversations and networking opportunities that are rarely available at this stage of their education or careers.

II.

Formation

Members will engage with ideas concerning individual liberty, free enterprise, innovation, professional excellence, and personal responsibility, strengthening their ability to preserve and defend Western Civilization and contribute to America’s continued growth and renewal.

III.

Relationships

SVPF will thoughtfully connect members with accomplished leaders who can offer perspective, encouragement, practical counsel, and an example of responsible leadership.

IV.

Belonging

Members will become part of a nationwide alumni network within SVPF’s intergenerational community, connecting students and young leaders with one another and with accomplished leaders across American industry and communities. This network will sustain their connection to SVPF’s work and support their ability to preserve and defend Western Civilization.

The Sun Valley Policy Forum occupies a rare position

A bridge
between generations.

Our community includes accomplished business leaders, CEOs, investors, philanthropists, and public thinkers who have built organizations, navigated consequential decisions, and established distinguished careers.

SVPF can create a bridge between generations: connecting rising leaders with people who understand the opportunities, responsibilities, sacrifices, and challenges that accompany meaningful leadership.

A central benefit of Headwaters Society membership is the opportunity to build authentic relationships with accomplished leaders who have spent decades building companies, institutions, and communities.

The founding investment

Build the leadership
infrastructure America needs.

The launch threshold is reached. Help us fully fund the inaugural year’s Institute programming, fellowships, and internships.

$320,000Launch funding goal

Planned allocation of launch funding.
This graphic shows the budget, not funds raised.

Select a pillar to explore the investment.

Serious inquiry. Uncommon access.

Help bring 16 young leaders to the Summer Consortium and connect 40 more with Institute programming throughout the year.

Early investment will allow SVPF to build programming, establish fellowship and internship programs, recruit exceptional students and young leaders, and create the year-round infrastructure necessary to endure and grow.

Become a founding supporter

The invitation

Invest upstream.
Shape what follows.

The Headwaters Society is an opportunity to invest upstream—before titles are conferred, before networks are established, and before the habits of leadership are fixed.

With the partnership of visionary donors, SVPF can create a community where talented students and young professionals encounter the very best of American enterprise and leadership; where medical professionals, founders, engineers, investors, educators, and innovators are recognized and supported; and where today’s accomplished leaders help prepare the next generation to carry this work forward.

Help fully fund the Headwaters Society’s inaugural year in 2027.

A founding year.
A lasting contribution.

Give at a level meaningful to you, or speak with us about a founding investment in Headwaters.

Support Headwaters

Discuss a founding gift

Launching in 2027 · Help fully fund the mission

Give online

Visit SVPF’s donation page to make your gift. For help directing your support to Headwaters, contact us.

Give by check

Sun Valley Policy Forum
PO Box 14001, PMB 283
Ketchum, ID 83340

Stock gifts & wire transfers

For students & young leaders

Your work is beginning.
Your community can begin here.

Interested in participating when Headwaters launches in 2027? We invite students and young professionals to express interest in membership and the Society’s Institute programming, fellowships, and internships.

An inquiry with substance.

Headwaters will invest in students and young leaders preparing to build and lead across their chosen fields. Tell us about your work, your interests, and the responsibility you hope to carry.

To be considered for membership, prospective members must provide both a résumé and a letter of inquiry. An inquiry expresses interest; it does not confirm membership or a place in a program.

Questions about membership?

Your inquiry materials

Your résumé

Share your education, professional experience, projects, service, and other work that helps us understand your background.

Required

A letter of inquiry

Introduce yourself, explain your interest in Headwaters, and describe how its ideas and community connect to the work you hope to pursue.

Required

Membership and programming are planned for 2027.

Membership inquiriesheadwaters@svpolicyforum.org

The Headwaters Society · Planned launch 2027

What begins here
can shape what follows.

Invest upstream in the next generation of American leadership.

Help fund Headwaters Explore membership

Big Wood River & Boulder Mountains · Near Ketchum, Idaho
Frank Kovalchek / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0 · Cropped with motion effects