Newsletter #1– 31 August 2025

Written By The Meridian Guild

🌍 The Meridian Guild

Dear Guild Members,

Welcome to the Meridian Guild. First and foremost: thank you for stepping forward and joining this community. We know many of you have faced silence after sending résumés or filling out forms elsewhere. Here, you are not invisible:  you are part of a growing network that knows your experience, values your talent, and is determined to put it back to work.

📊 By the Numbers – Our Cohort So Far

  • 250+ Members signed on within the first weeks

  • Representing over 70 countries of experience

  • Covering every major sector of development and business — from finance to food security, health to tech

This is a one-of-a-kind community: highly experienced, globally connected, ready to pivot into new frontiers. We strongly encourage you to reach out to your friends and colleagues in the development space and encourage them to join.  We are going to keep the first phase of enrollment open for a while longer to allow those who were uncomfortable joining before the September 2nd RIF date.  However, we will be closing the first phase of enrollment at 5 pm EST on Sunday, September 7th in order to begin organizing the initial cohort into Spheres.

✨ The Scoop: Convergence 2025

We are excited to share this announcement first with you. The Guild is working with Howard University to host a hybrid conference:

Values add Value: Linkages 2025
 📅 November 19–20, 2025 | Washington, DC & Online

This gathering will pivot our community toward working with businesses in new and sustainable ways. Because we are working with a number of other partners, seating will be very limited, but we are setting aside a block of discounted early bird tickets just for Guild Members and the conference will be streamed globally.

We are also already planning for a much larger conference to bring the entire Guild Community together in a hybrid format for the Spring of 2026. 

🌐 Our Shared Purpose

The Guild exists to connect bold organizations with world-class talent — your talent — to solve real-world challenges and unlock local potential.

We are building a community where Members can:

  • Develop and test new ideas,

  • Find support for their own initiatives (profit or non-profit), and

  • Collaborate on the projects of others they see value in.

Together, we will prove that values add value.

Next week, we will launch the first call for Sphere project proposals. These can be any stand-alone project — consulting with a company, launching a startup, or responding to an RFP.  Begin thinking now about:

  • The beneficial purpose (how the world is better if your project succeeds), and

  • What support you would need from the Guild to advance it.

📅 What’s Next

  • Rolling: Membership sign-up open now until 5pm +Est, Sunday, September 7th.

1️⃣ USAID Colleagues (FSN, GS, FSL, FSO, PSC, EFM, ISCs, etc.)

2️⃣ Private sector, academia, and NGO Colleagues 

3️⃣ U.S. Federal, State, and Local Government Colleagues 

4️⃣ Foreign Government or Multilateral Organization Colleagues

  • September: First Spheres launched & spotlighted

  • October: Expanded opportunities for collaboration and outreach

  • November: Linkages Conference with Howard University

We are still in startup mode — and that means you are here at the ground floor, shaping what comes next.

Thank you for being part of this journey.
 We are building something rare and powerful, and it starts with you.

— The Founders of the Meridian Guild

Adriana, Clinton, Gerardo, Fadi, Juan Pablo, Mark, Matt, Shiraz

Follow us on Linkedin: or visit our website: www.Meridian-Guild.com

The Meridian Guild