Distribution of Ashoka Fellows in 2018 (current numbers pending)

Ashoka's Unlonely Planet Impact Reports Find that Ashoka Fellows are Building a World of Changemakers


In 2018 and 2021, Ashoka led two of largest and most diverse studies of system changing social entrepreneurs ever conducted. The results: Ashoka Fellows change policy, market dynamics, and how people think from them, and how people can visualize their role in helping to co-create the change.

Along with the rest of our Changemaking Community (Ashoka Young Changemakers, Ashoka Fellows, Partners, Changemaking Institutions, etc.), Ashoka is paving the way for what it looks like to accelerate and support systems change around the world.

You can find the results of each of these studies below. Please consider donating to Ashoka to help our impact continue!

Graphic of the Unlonely Planet Report Cover page.

Unlonely Planet 2022


Building on the 2018 Impact Report Findings, Ashoka's Unlonely Planet Impact Report 2022 found that:

  • 63% of Ashoka Fellows changed or influenced government policy  
  • 82% of Ashoka social entrepreneurs have had their innovations replicated in other geographies
  • 89% of Fellows are putting young people in charge
  • 88% of Ashoka social entrepreneurs encourage people to think differently
  • 95% of Ashoka Fellows create opportunities for employment
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Unlonely Planet 2018


Ashoka's Unlonely Planet 2018 Impact Report found that Ashoka Fellows are having systems-level impact:

  • 74% have achieved change in public policy or legislation, others are changing market systems, and mindsets.
  • All Fellows report they are working towards an Everyone a Changemaker world by engaging countless others in their efforts to realize change for the good of all.
  • 84% of Fellows reported that Ashoka has helped increase their impact.

Survey Findings

First Significant Funding

92% of Fellows report the Ashoka stipend helped them focus full time on their idea. Identifying and supporting these individuals often gives them their first significant source of funding.

Partnerships Between Fellows

Fellows report collaborating or partnering with 4 other Ashoka Fellows after being elected. Ashoka gives Fellows access to a powerful global network, and helps them think in system-change terms that leads to changes in their strategy.

Systems Change

86% of Fellows report that Ashoka helped them see their work at a systems change level. Of those Fellows, 92% made changes to their strategy

Riccarda Zezza

Riccarda, Ashoka Fellow 2016, is redefining work-life balance through Maternity as a Master(s)

"When you have such a dream, as I think we [social entrepreneurs] all have, it’s so strong. It really gives you a lot of energy. But everyday you also ask yourself, 'Am I crazy? What am I doing?' And you need to keep you vision very high. You need to look very far, because if you look too close, you’re going to stop: you’re going to feel like you can’t do it. 

"And if someone like Ashoka selects you and they decide you are an Ashoka Fellow, somehow you feel a lot of energy added to you. On a personal level, it makes a huge difference. It gives you a lot of strength. The normal market, the normal economy is all the time doubting what you’re doing. All the time telling you why it won’t work. When someone like Ashoka comes in and says, ‘What you are doing is really important and it can really change the world’ - they tell you that you can really do it.”

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Creating the Everyone A Changemaker World

Through our network of students, schools, universities, corporations, and citizen sector organizations, we’re building a movement towards an Everyone a Changemaker World where every person is powerful and can take creative action for social change in their communities.

2,000 parents

reached through our workshop on parenting changemakers, Your Kids

30 online Changemaker Challenges

to encourage youth social innovation

150+ young changemakers

selected for their social innovations through Youth Venture

70 senior leaders

engaged across 23 countries in our Executive in Residence program

230 participants

representing 33 countries participated in Changemaker Bootcamps

500+ higher education institutions

engaged in 50+ countries, with approximately 5,000 individuals engaged directly in AshokaU

Anju

Selected by the Youth Venture program, this young changemaker is making her village child labor free

"Ashoka helped me immensely. It is not only the way that I talk that has changed, it is also the way I think. Earlier, I thought that it was only me who was preoccupied with social problems. It was when I joined Youth Venture that I realized that there are other people who are also working towards solving such problems. There was a time when my plans were confined to my village. After Youth Venture, it is my dream to make the entire state of Haryana child labor free.”

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