About the Institute
Grassroots leaders equipped to transform lives and neighborhoods
The DFREE® Bottom Up Leadership Institute identifies community leaders ready to create change and equips them with the knowledge, strategy, and tools to do it. Through cohort based learning that blends online courses, immersive retreats, and real world site visits, participants emerge as trained leaders with sustainable, replicable plans for their communities. By investing in people at the community level, the Institute multiplies impact, preparing a new generation of trainers and leaders to carry the DFREE® mission forward and build a more just and equitable economy from the ground up.
Core areas
Literacy, empowerment & justice
Based learning
Train alongside a community of peers
Modes of learning
Online courses, retreats & site visits to best-practice orgs
Who is a DFREE® Fellow?
A leader well equipped for the community
Every leader who completes the Bottom-Up Leadership Institute is formally recognized as a DFREE® Fellow — a credential signifying mastery across financial literacy, financial empowerment, and economic justice. DFREE® Fellows are authorized to carry the DFREE® curriculum into their communities, train others, and serve as credentialed ambassadors of equitable economic transformation. The DFREE® Fellow designation is a mark of rigor, trust, and community accountability — recognized by partner institutions, sponsors, and municipalities nationwide.
Three Core Areas
The Institute’s pillars of expertise
Every participant develops deep, applicable knowledge across three interconnected domains
each building on the last
Building the foundation of money knowledge
Foundational understanding of money management, debt elimination, credit, and wealth-building principles — with targeted emphasis on nonprofit and micro-business leaders driving community impact.
Practical strategies for economic control
Equipping individuals and families with actionable strategies to take meaningful control of their economic futures — moving from financial survival to freedom and generational wealth.
Responding to systemic inequity
Preparing leaders who can identify, address, and respond to systemic economic inequities in their communities — transforming awareness into advocacy and advocacy into lasting structural change.
How do we develop leaders?
A blended, immersive learning model
The Institute uses a cohort-based approach that immerses participants in proven content and real-world strategies — not just theory, but transformation in action.
Online courses & presentations
Structured digital curriculum covering all three core areas designed for community leaders balancing full lives and full commitment to change.
Immersive retreats
Deep-dive gatherings that build community among cohort members and deepen content mastery — creating the relational foundation essential to leadership.
Site visits to best-practice orgs
Real-world visits to organizations modeling successful financial empowerment work — connecting participants to proven strategies and inspiring networks.
"By investing in people at the community level, the Institute multiplies impact preparing a new generation of trainers and leaders to carry the DFREE® mission forward."
How it works
One leader trained.
A community transformed.
The Bottom-Up Leadership Institute doesn’t just build individual capacity it multiplies impact. Every graduate returns equipped with sustainable, replicable plans and the credibility to lead real change
Identify
Community leaders with proven commitment and local trust are identified and recruited into cohort programs.
Train
Participants complete the blended learning journey online courses, retreats, and site visits over the program term.
Graduate
Graduates earn the DFREE® Fellow designation, return with sustainable plans, DFREE® tools, and the authority to train others in their communities.
Multiply
Each leader replicates the model, building a more just and equitable economy from the ground up.
Support the institute
Invest in the Next Generation of Leaders
Your partnership helps expand access to training, resources, and real-world experiences that create lasting change.
$250
Supports one participant
$2,500
Supports a 10-person cohort
$10,000
Supports a community partner site
$25,000
Supports a full-year scholarship fund
Start Leading Change Today
Join a movement committed to building financially empowered communities from the ground up.