CAIRF Byron Hanke Fellowship

The Byron Hanke Fellowship is available to graduate students working on topics related to community associations. Community associations govern common-interest communities of any kind - condominiums, cooperatives, townhouse developments, planned unit developments, and other developments where homeowners support an association with mandatory financial assessments and are subject to use and aesthetic restrictions. Applicants must be enrolled at the time of application, and through the period of research, in an accredited master's, doctoral, or law program in the United States of America or Canada. Students of all disciplines are welcome to apply for the Hanke Fellowship, provided their studies relate to community associations/common interest communities generally and to the topic of the candidate's proposed community associations research project. Applications for the 2026 scholarship are accepted through May 1, 2026, and stipends range from $3,000 to $5,000 over one year. Hanke Fellows are expected to produce a comprehensive paper or thesis related to the Foundation's priority research topics. Authoritative research sponsored by the Foundation for Community Association Research supports the aspirations of the more than 74 million Americans who live and work in an estimated 358,000 U.S. community associations. Our mission — with your support — is to provide research-based information for homeowners, association board members, community managers, developers and others.