The global non-profit building an “Everyone A Changemaker” world
[EN] Ashoka is the global non-profit organization that has pioneered the social entrepreneurship sector since the 1980s - building the first and largest community of outstanding, systems-changing social entrepreneurs. Now, we’re on an ambitious mission: to change whole mindsets and systems towards an “Everyone a Changemaker”-world. What kind of world is that? Find out below.
Our vision and mission
Our vision
Ashoka envisions a world where everyone can embrace their agency, live with dignity, has the skills to solve problems, and creates positive change for the common good. Let’s build together a more resilient, regenerative, and equitable society, one where everyone is a changemaker for the good of all.
Our mission
Ashoka identifies and supports the world’s leading social entrepreneurs, learns from the patterns in their innovations, and mobilizes a global community that embraces these new frameworks to build an „everyone a changemaker" world.
Three ways to understand social change – through Ashoka
Welcome Change Series: be inspired by leading changemakers, in 30 minutes per week
Which great ideas are shaping the planet and why don't we hear more about them? Join us every week (via Zoom) when Ashoka-colleagues interview the world's best social entrepreneurs, or rewatch previous episodes to be inspired. Topics include: a national movement of 150 community banks, strategies for companies against human trafficking & exploitation on a continent, young sea rangers for marine protected areas, ending homelessness, learning platforms build by students, Roma women leading across generations, solutions journalism, drones for good, LGBTQ+ liberation in the Arab world, the future of food systems or...grandmothers democratizing mental health care!
Online Courses: Learn to change systems, shift mindsets and work with the government
Are you a changemaker from any sector? The Ashoka Globalizer has created open knowledge products, based on the wisdom of advanced social entrepreneurs on changing systems. You can analyze systemic roots of the problem of your concern and then develop a detailed journey to systems change with specified milestones in the system change masterclass. Identify existing mental models which fuel the problem of your concern, understand their influence and offer alternatives with the mindset shift course. Learn different ways in which social entrepreneurs have been working with governments to achieve systems change sooner. Video-led, self-paced, free & online.
Knowledge Hub: discover the system change we all need, social entrepreneurs driving it & Ashoka's role
Meet the innovations of the Leading Social Entrepreneurs who recently became part of Ashokas largest global network of social entrepreneurs. On the topics of health, citizen participation, growing up, environment, human rights & more. Learn how international NGOs and social entrepreneurs combine their know how & co-create programs to better serve their target populations and increase the effectiveness of aid. Reimagine international development in this New Allies report. Dive into the strategies of social entrepreneurs based on a 2021 survey of 800+ Ashoka Fellows, in the Unlonely Planet Report 2022. Learn about funding systems change, or solutions for planet & climate.
"Ashoka makes people believe that change is possible. That belief can go viral."
Want to be inspired by the stories of groundbreaking social entrepreneurs, the Ashoka Fellows who've joined a community of 4000 across the world through a rigorous selection process? Watch them on our Ashoka Fellows page.
Ashoka: Everyone a Changemaker
In a rapidly changing world, everyone must feel confident and capable of creating change for the good of all. Join us in building a happier, healthier, and more equitable planet! Learn how.
Ashoka is...
Ashoka is "a day-by-day tutorial in how the world works, where the world is going -- and also in courage and values." Our story, told by our community.
Ashoka Changemaker Summit 2022 - Brussels
On November 29-30 2022, over 400 social entrepreneurs, philanthropists, corporate leaders, Ashoka Staff and young changemakers met in Brussels for the fifth global Ashoka #ChangemakerSummit. See what it feels like when hundreds of changemakers from 38 different countries get together!
Ashoka Welcome Change - Trailer
Our weekly news series features surprising takes on timely topics from the world’s leading changemakers. Jump on Zoom with us every Wednesday – and bring your questions!
The Story of Ashoka
"What it takes to change the world is a person who can articulate her solution with such passion and intelligence that all of those old institutions can't help but take notice."
Ashoka Changemaker Summit 2021 - A New Togetherness
In Turin, we rediscovered A New Togetherness during the Changemaker Summit, with over 400 participants gathering after nearly two years. Policymaking, fundraising, changemaking, youth leadership... the day covered 22 sessions on topics that are close to Ashoka's community of social innovators and changemakers.
Watching list
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Ashoka: Everyone a Changemaker
In a rapidly changing world, everyone must feel confident and capable of creating change for the good of all. Join us in building a happier, healthier, and more equitable planet! Learn how.
Ashoka is...
Ashoka is "a day-by-day tutorial in how the world works, where the world is going -- and also in courage and values." Our story, told by our community.
Ashoka Changemaker Summit 2022 - Brussels
On November 29-30 2022, over 400 social entrepreneurs, philanthropists, corporate leaders, Ashoka Staff and young changemakers met in Brussels for the fifth global Ashoka #ChangemakerSummit. See what it feels like when hundreds of changemakers from 38 different countries get together!
Ashoka Welcome Change - Trailer
Our weekly news series features surprising takes on timely topics from the world’s leading changemakers. Jump on Zoom with us every Wednesday – and bring your questions!
The Story of Ashoka
"What it takes to change the world is a person who can articulate her solution with such passion and intelligence that all of those old institutions can't help but take notice."
Ashoka Changemaker Summit 2021 - A New Togetherness
In Turin, we rediscovered A New Togetherness during the Changemaker Summit, with over 400 participants gathering after nearly two years. Policymaking, fundraising, changemaking, youth leadership... the day covered 22 sessions on topics that are close to Ashoka's community of social innovators and changemakers.
Ashoka's global programs - a selection
The E2 Network - social & business entrepreneurs meet here
The Entrepreneur-to-Entrepreneur — or E2 — Network is a growing yet exclusive network ofworld-class founders and CEOs. Its members have built businesses that transformed the world around them. Now, they support select Ashoka Fellows as mentors and thought partners. They catalyze our Fellows’ impact by deploying their network, influence, and financial capital. Co-creating solutions through Ashoka's lense of systems thinking and collaborative leadership.
Ashoka Globalizer - accelerating systemic change of changemakers
The Ashoka Globalizer has been helping changemakers identify and address systemic root causes of social and environmental problems since 2010. Its Systems Change Strategy Accelerator has helped 350+ social entrepreneurs around the world develop clear and robust systems change strategies. Added in 2018, the Systems Change Research Lab has produced online courses, podcasts and reports. Additionally, the Globalizer co-creates a supportive environment for changemakers working to improve systems through its Ecosystem Inititiatives.
Ashoka Changemakers - materials to grow your impact
Ashoka Changemakers creates opportunities for companies, foundations, and impact-sector organizations to co-create large-scale social change. Their tools: online challenges, social innovation mappings, course-activated communities, changemaker bootcamps and network mappings. The community of action at changemakers.com is a place for stories of changemakers, how-to-guides and beginners' courses cause anyone, anywhere can be a changemaker.
Ashoka Youth Years - equipping youth with skills for change
Youth Years programs are co-created with schools/educators, youth, universities, parents, and companies and include: LeadYoung collects a series of stories about young people changing their worlds and successful adults who started things in their teens. Your Kids [In development] working with corporations to foster employee/parent support for their kids becoming changemakers while building a changemaker culture within these corporations. Ashoka Young Changemakers selecting young people aged from 12 to 18 in East Africa.
Ashoka U - innovating education for millions of students
Ashoka U collaborate with colleges and universities to break down barriers to institutional change and foster a campus-wide culture of social innovation. By recognizing innovative colleges and universities, convening educators and innovators from higher education, and producing free publications.
The Ashoka Support Network community of committed leaders
The global community of Ashoka Support Network Members strengthens the impact of Ashoka Fellows by supporting Ashoka financially, with their network, experiences and ideas. According to the study behind The Unlonely Report 2022, ASNs helped most Fellows receive strategic guidance, recognize the importance of changing collective mindsets on the social issue they work on, see themselves as a leader and acquire new partnerships.
Next Now - a collection of solutions on 4 global topics
From a bird’s eye perspective, Next Now sees patterns and frontiers of innovation that show a way to a better future. We weave a community of innovators committed to building it and share our findings and insights with the world – helping people and institutions see and build a radically new future in the fields of new longevity, gender, planet & climate and tech & humanity.
WISE - Women's Initiative for Social Entrepreneurship
A global initiative led from the global South that aims to elevate the number, knowledge, and power of women in social entrepreneurship by redefining success from a gendered lens and celebrating the unique ways in which women successfully lead and make impact. WISE believes that there are 3 types of scaling: scaling up (laws and policies), scaling out (large areas or populations), scaling deep (mindsets and cultural norms).
ABOUT ASHOKA: We help social entrepreneurs & changemakers change systems and shift mindsets
There are already countless ideas to do good in the world. But few of them go beyond symptoms and have the real potential to redesign systems to better serve the needs of all. And even fewer of them are in the hands of an entrepreneur. Butto solve complex social challenges at the pace necessary, we need more and more citizens to become creative problem-solvers – pioneering and implementing real-life solutions. We call them changemakers.
Are you one of them? If you're still on your way and a little lost, the Ashoka Changemakers website is a great place to dive head-first into inspiring stories and beginner resources. Cause anyone can be a changemaker, and Ashoka is committed to making changemaking accessible to all. Just read on to learn the difference between a changemaker and a social entrepreneur.
Changemakers are people who, no matter how old they are or what their profession is, feel empowered to lead a change for the common good. They may stand up to a bully, run a campaign, organize a march, or write a series of provocative articles. Some of them build organizations that deliver services improving the lives of many. They are driven by the desire to make a positive impact on the world and to find innovative solutions to unsolved challenges. For that, they envision a new reality and take action by building a team. They understand change, take up responsibility and never stop learning.
◉ Social entrepreneurs
Among changemakers, there are transformative guides for society who go beyond building one organization and developing important services. They develop participative, people-centric solutions and undertake systemic measures to address a deep-rooted societal problem. We call these people systemic or system-changing social entrepreneurs. By taking an indirect impact approach such as changing policies, industry norms, power structures, incentives, mindsets and more, social entrepreneurs can shift a system to produce better outcomes itself and as a result achieve a significantly greater and longer lasting change.
These people who help us keep pace with global problems deserve support and financing, and our superpower lies in serving them in that. In the past, social entrepreneurs didn’t even have a name, and they didn’t know they were social entrepreneurs.
Till everything changed in 1980.
Ashoka’s first system change: the world’s first and biggest community of leading social entrepreneurs
Ashoka's Founder Bill Drayton believed in the idea that the most powerful force for good in the world is a social entrepreneur: a person driven by an innovative idea that can help correct an entrenched global problem. He also saw the opportunity and need to help social entrepreneurship become mainstream. It's 1980 in Washington D.C., and Bill Drayton founds the international non-profit organisation Ashoka to pioneer the field of social entrepreneurship. Its approach? Selecting groundbreaking social entrepreneurs and accompanying them along their impact journey – with catalytic investments, strategic guidance, and an unmatched peer-to-peer community.
Ashoka created the term of “social entrepreneur” and built the first and largest community for social entrepreneurs, making the world recognize their achievements. Now, after four decades, the community stands at 4000 “Ashoka Fellows” in 90+ countries. This global network ensures that no social entrepreneur feels isolated. Social entrepreneurs today have both a name and a valued place in society, and the field has developed in irreversible ways.
Do you know them and their impact? Here are a few of them.
Baart, Kailash, Claire, Jeroo, Sue, Jos – 6 successful social entrepreneurs from a network of 4,000
Social entrepreneurs change systems, shift mindsets and activate others as changemakers.
And Ashoka supports selected social entrepreneurs to amplify their impact.
Mozambique’s landmine problem was once one of the most severe in the world. Bart’s APOPO deployed its unique mine detection rats to clean up the country. Rats ignore scrap metal making them much faster at detecting landmines than metal detectors. Today, the "HeroRATS" detect landmines across Cambodia, Angola, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Vietnam, Lao DPR and Thailand, as well as tuberculosis in Tanzania, Mozambique and Ethiopia.
90,000 children were rescued from trafficking and exploitation in India by a movement built by Kailash. Kailash became an Ashoka Fellow in 1995. Among other initiatives, in 1998, he led a global march against child labor, leading the ILO to adopt its fastest-ratified convention. In 2014, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
With BLOOM, Claire led a focused, data-driven advocacy campaign against the destructive fishing practice of deep-sea bottom trawling, successfully shifting French supermarket giant and fleet owner Intermarché‘s fishing practices and getting the European Commission to protect a significant area of the ocean.
Jeroo closed her organization, Child and Youth Finance International, in 2019. Her work on financial literacy and financial inclusion policies achieved its mission after she had worked with 64,000 partners in 175 countries. Today, every child can have their own bank account and save up for their future.
Sue’s Bioregional initiated the BedZED eco-village in London, based on 10 principles to live within the Earth’s boundaries. She systematized its approach by creating a sustainability framework called “One Planet Living”, which has been applied in $30 billion of real estate development, and by local governments and companies worldwide.
Jos revolutionized community health and elderly care in the Netherlands. Today, Buurtzorg employs 15.000 nurses, has won “Best Employer of the Year” multiple times, and client satisfaction rates are the highest of any healthcare organization—all that while saving the Dutch social security system hundreds of millions of Euros every year.
With 40+ years of experience, Ashoka Fellows from 95+ countries & a 300+ team Ashoka has been facilitating impact across the world
Beginning in India in 1981, Ashoka started identifying and supporting the world’s leading social entrepreneurs who have ideas for far-reaching social change. It started by first distilling their unique qualities and pioneering a rigorous global system for vetting and electing them to the Ashoka Fellowship. Ashoka began expanding rapidly in 1986 with the election of Ashoka Fellows in Brazil and then Mexico, Bangladesh, and Nepal in 1987. It continued to add countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe during the 1990s. By the late 1990s, the network stood at 1,000 social entrepreneurs and Ashoka started to work on a new big vision: "Everyone a Changemaker™".
Now, Ashoka has country and regional offices around the world that work closely together to design and implement many programs. In this way, we can access experiences and trends from different cultural and regional contexts, involve and network changemakers internationally — in short: use the power of a global network. And we ensure financial sustainability by accepting donations from a strong base of individuals, funding foundations and companies (more in our FAQs, in German).
"Ashoka leverages the most powerful social innovations and innovators."
The global non-profit and its network in the words of Ashoka Fellows, partners and media:
Ashoka finds, helps launch, and then links and leverages the most powerful social innovations and innovators.
Carol Bellamy
Former Executive Director, UNICEF
Ashoka provides us with a great model for best practices. The engaged global community of social entrepreneurs that Ashoka has fostered helps each one of them to have more impact than would have been possible individually.
Pierre Omidyar
Founder and Chairman of Ebay, Chair of the Omidyar Foundation
Most important about what Ashoka is doing is that they make people believe that change is possible. That belief can go viral.
Anne Wojcicki
Co-Founder and CEO, 23AndMe
Ashoka is a living encyclopedia of social innovation in every field around the world.
Jimmy Wales
Founder of Wikipedia, Ashoka Fellow
Ashoka’s Global Fellowship opens pathways for us to build upon ideas at a broader level.
Jeroo Billimoria
Ashoka Fellow since 1998, Founder of Childline
Ashoka is a world-class organization, internationally renowned for its pioneering work in the field of social entrepreneurship.
Jeff Skoll
Founder of Skoll/Foundation and First President of E-bay
Forbes knows that the story is change. No one sees that more clearly than Ashoka. It has an extraordinary ability to both envision the big, new patterns and to engineer their emergence.
Forbes
But wait, why did it need Ashoka in the first place?
Social entrepreneurs, whether they see themselves as such or not, don’t have it easy. These are some of the challenges they've faced, be it now or a century ago:
1) Being lonely: Many social entrepreneurs find themselves answering key strategic questions alone. They often have no peer community or “home” that would allow for continual support and exchange. This can negatively affect their emotional and personal wellbeing.
2) Lacking time: Some social entrepreneurs cannot fully devote themselves to their solutions, as they must earn their living at day jobs not related to their ideas. They see too few opportunities for early-stage, trust-based funding.
3) Missing tools and strategic advice on the way to systems change: Social entrepreneurship is a relatively new field. Quality tools that help increase efficiency and effectiveness are hard to find. Outsourcing tasks is rarely affordable. This can be an obstacle for reaching a certain level of professionalism and building eye-level partnerships with savvy business partners. In many cases, social entrepreneurs also have no partner at their side who can challenge and help refine their strategy towards systems change.
4) Being disconnected: Busy with maintaining operations, social entrepreneurs are often not connected to the key players in business, philanthropy or public sector who are tackling the same social issues and interested in joining resources.
Learn more in the impact book of Ashoka Central and Eastern Europe, now Austria. So how could a non-profit like Ashoka help them? Read on to find out.
The solution through Ashoka's Fellowship – the organisation's core work and community
To increase impact without necessarily increasing the size of organisations, requires new, unconventional know-how and expertise, new business and organizational models, peer and cross-sectoral support. The business infrastructure supporting business entrepreneurs is not enough. In short: we need to build new instruments of support to help social entrepreneurship become mainstream.
We support them to achieve their goals. Social entrepreneurs strive to increase the impact of their solutions. Their main driver is to improve the life quality of more people in wider geographies and anchor these improvements for the future via systems change and mindset shift.
Seasoned social entrepreneurs find that increasing social impact is best achieved by opening up the solution and influencing others to adopt and promote it - through dissemination, replication, public policy. Ashoka directs its efforts to support social entrepreneurs in multiplying their impact without necessarily expanding the size of their organization. In other words, we help our Fellows embark on the pathway of indirect impact and trigger the “ripple effect”.
For decades, we've been electing social entrepreneurs as “Ashoka Fellows”, most of whom receive a 3-year stipend, pro-bono support, access to an international network of social entrepreneurs and a boost for their scaling & internationalisation. You can read more about Ashoka's process and the stories of recently elected Ashoka Fellows in the resources linked. But this is only a part of what we do.
Now, how does this fit with an "Everyone A Changemaker" world?
Ashoka Fellows are builders of an everyone a changemaker world – they create new roles for others to be changemakers in unexpected ways.
Having passed a tipping point that firmly established social entrepreneurship, Ashoka formally shifted its focus to the "Everyone a Changemaker™" (EACH) vision in 2005: Ashoka believes that because we are living in a truly historic moment where anyone can create positive change; everyone needs to become a changemaker in order to thrive; and everyone should be equipped with the qualities that most define a social entrepreneur. Ashoka has unlocked this strategy by drawing on the inspiration, depth of knowledge and expertise, accumulated experience, and collective insights from the Fellows’ work that enables a broader flowering of effective social change. It is taking action through, for example, young changemaking programs to support, fund and bring together youth in their journey. See Ashoka Austria's Generation Changemaker program.
How Ashoka Fellows build a world of changemakers — global data in one report
Every three years, Ashoka conducts a study to understand how its Fellows are driving lasting social change. In 2021, we quantified how Ashoka Fellows shift mindsets, change policies, and activate others as changemakers in their communities - drawing out their 11 "how-tos". Through the survey underlying the report, a vast majority (above 80%) of the 800+ Ashoka Fellows who participated report that Ashoka changed how they see themselves as a leader, helped them to understand how their work can contribute to generating systems change, allowed them to focus full-time on their idea thanks to the stipend.
The findings on the impact of Ashoka and the social entrepreneurs in its network have been published in The Unlonely Planet 2022 - How Ashoka Fellows Accelerate an Everyone a Changemaker™ World.
of Ashoka Fellows create opportunities for employment
0%
of Fellows are putting young people in charge
0%
of Ashoka social entrepreneurs have had their innovations replicated in other geographies
0%
of Ashoka Fellows changed or influenced government policy
This is what it feels like, when changemakers from Ashoka's world come together in one place
Every year, we bring together more than 300 systems-changing social entrepreneurs, young leaders, corporate partners and philanthropists to multiply their social impact. Ashoka’s most important global milestone, the Ashoka Changemaker Summit, is the space for these pioneering changemakers to connect, learn and work together to build a world where everyone is a changemaker and therefore, a world where everyone can thrive. See some impressions from #ACMS2022 in Brussels and watch out for the next one.
Ashoka works with companies and organizations that are just as committed to creating a just world. We work closely with our partners to develop initiatives with local and global impact.
LEGO Foundation and Ashoka believe that playful learning can change the world. Together, Ashoka and Lego have begun to identify play-based learning innovations around the world and to re-imagine learning for the 21st century.
LEGO Foundation and Ashoka believe that playful learning can change the world. Together, Ashoka and Lego have begun to identify play-based learning innovations around the world and to re-imagine learning for the 21st century.
Ashoka Deutschland ist Partner der Google Impact Challenge, bei der Projekte gesucht, ausgewählt und gefördert werden, im Rahmen derer mit Technologie das Gemeinwohl gefördert wird.
Ashoka Deutschland ist Partner der Google Impact Challenge, bei der Projekte gesucht, ausgewählt und gefördert werden, im Rahmen derer mit Technologie das Gemeinwohl gefördert wird.
Boehringer Ingelheim
Die globale Kooperation zwischen Ashoka und Boehringer Ingelheim hat seit 10 Jahren zum Ziel, innovative Lösungen im Bereich Gesundheit zu finden und zu fördern. Als Teil der Zusammenarbeitet hat BI die Stipendien zweier thematisch passender Ashoka Fellows aus Österreich übernommen.
Wir bringen Social Entrepreneurship, betriebliche Talententwicklung und bestehende Netzwerke im Bereich Gesundheit zusammen: Das erlaubt uns auf besondere Weise die Förderung vielversprechender Ansätze für globale Gesundheitsherausforderungen. Mehr erfahren unter www.makingmorehealth.org
Boehringer Ingelheim
Die globale Kooperation zwischen Ashoka und Boehringer Ingelheim hat seit 10 Jahren zum Ziel, innovative Lösungen im Bereich Gesundheit zu finden und zu fördern. Als Teil der Zusammenarbeitet hat BI die Stipendien zweier thematisch passender Ashoka Fellows aus Österreich übernommen.
Wir bringen Social Entrepreneurship, betriebliche Talententwicklung und bestehende Netzwerke im Bereich Gesundheit zusammen: Das erlaubt uns auf besondere Weise die Förderung vielversprechender Ansätze für globale Gesundheitsherausforderungen. Mehr erfahren unter www.makingmorehealth.org
American Express’s vision is to bring to life the American Express value of good corporate citizenship by supporting diverse communities in ways that enhance the company's reputation with employees, customers, merchants, business partners and other stakeholders.
American Express’s vision is to bring to life the American Express value of good corporate citizenship by supporting diverse communities in ways that enhance the company's reputation with employees, customers, merchants, business partners and other stakeholders.
J. P. Morgan works with community partners to create pathways to opportunity by supporting workforce development, financial capability, small business development and community development in the regions where they do business. They use their strength, global reach, expertise, relationships, and access to capital to make a positive impact in cities around the world. The foundation is supporting Ashoka Switzerland's Impact programme.
J. P. Morgan works with community partners to create pathways to opportunity by supporting workforce development, financial capability, small business development and community development in the regions where they do business. They use their strength, global reach, expertise, relationships, and access to capital to make a positive impact in cities around the world. The foundation is supporting Ashoka Switzerland's Impact programme.
Accenture, a consultancy firm specialised in management, technology and outsourcing, supports since 2012 initiatives improving access to employment and skills development through its "Skills To Succeed 'approach.
Accenture, a consultancy firm specialised in management, technology and outsourcing, supports since 2012 initiatives improving access to employment and skills development through its "Skills To Succeed 'approach.
Forbes and Ashoka have a long-standing media partnership in North, Central, and Latin America. Ashoka publishes business-related stories from an Ashoka lens on its own Forbes’ channel, promoting Ashoka Fellows and other social entrepreneurs in our network.
Forbes and Ashoka have a long-standing media partnership in North, Central, and Latin America. Ashoka publishes business-related stories from an Ashoka lens on its own Forbes’ channel, promoting Ashoka Fellows and other social entrepreneurs in our network.
Four ways Ashoka accelerates impact beyond Venture, the selection of social entrepreneurs to its Fellowship
Just a little reminder. What of this do you see the biggest need in? What makes you want to get involved?
◍ Source & Select
...the most impactful social entrepreneurs and young changemakers.
◉ Scale
...their solutions through tailored support, partnerships and topic-specific initiatives.
◎ Connect
...communities of changemakers locally and at the European level to leverage the network’s power.
◍ Analyse & Share
...innovation trends, learnings and most impactful solutions coming from our experience.
◉ Influence
...new discussion spaces through ecosystem initiatives, communication campaigns, events and policy work.
How to engage with Ashoka
Whether you want to stay connected to the stories of social entrepreneurs driving change in their communities, get the tools and opportunities you need for your own changemaker journey, nominate an innovator in your circles for their next big adventure, offer your support orbring in your organisation to amplify its impact — we have you covered.
Want to dive into stories of changemakers on our website? Read up today. And did you know that the new Ashoka Community website is up now - with opportunities for learning, connection and collaboration? The good news: it has a newsletter featuring successes and opportunities from the world of Ashoka! With a focus on Europe — more below. You can also follow us on our international LinkedIn. Or subscribe to any other communications by navigating through Ashoka's websites, just like Ashoka Austria's newsletter (in German).
Did you know that you can recommend a social entrepreneur as a Ashoka Fellow? We can't source the world’s leading social entrepreneurs on our own, so we need you. Ideal candidates are characterised by possessing a new idea, creativity, entrepreneurial quality, social impact of the idea and ethical fiber. Also, keep an eye out for any of Ashoka's calls for social entrepreneurs, young changemakers & Co. and help us reach more doers and dreamers with these opportunities. Thank you!
Are you here because you share the vision of Ashoka? You can become part of the Ashoka Support Network (ASN) today! ASN members provide Ashoka with financial support while lending Fellows their time and expertise. These committed leaders join to give back to, learn from and co-create with our community of changemakers. Are you one of them? Do you want to instead provide resources or collaborate on projects as a partner organisation? Discover the partners of Ashoka Austria, or those of your local branch.
The Austrian branch of Ashoka was founded in 2011, formerly as Central and Eastern Europe in collaboration with neighboring countries. Besides selecting Ashoka Fellows in Austria, the team has been involved in both local and international projects and collaborating with a variety of partners, based in the House of Philanthropy in the heart of Vienna. More on our country page [DE].
Wait, are you based in Europe and want to see what the community has to offer?
Then don't leave yet. The new Ashoka Community website ? features resources for everyone passionate about social impact to connect, learn, collaborate and explore. Participate in events and a network with like-minded people. Learn how to make a difference with resources in multiple formats and for all skill levels. Dive deep into our changemaking platform with toolkits, articles, podcasts or reports created by and for our community. Develop new initiatives together with others.
Ashoka
An Israeli and a Palestinian Talk Peace, Dignity and Safety | Ali Abu Awwad and Ami Dar | TED
How to Build Democracy — in an Authoritarian Country | Tessza Udvarhelyi | TED
Why Are We Making Pizza Boxes Out of Endangered Trees? | Nicole Rycroft | TED
Why Is It So Hard to Get Effective Birth Control in the US? | Mark Edwards | TED
A Foster Care System Where Every Child Has a Loving Home | Sixto Cancel | TED
How to Participate in Your Own Legal Defense | Lam Ho | TED
How to Revitalize a Neighborhood -- Without Gentrification | Bree Jones | TED
Mental Health Care That Disrupts Cycles of Violence | Celina de Sola | TED
The Most Powerful Untapped Resource in Health Care | Edith Elliott and Shahed Alam | TED
How to meaningfully reconnect with those who have dementia
Technology can't fix inequality -- but training and opportunities could | 'Gbenga Sesan
Why are drug prices so high? Investigating the outdated US patent system | Priti Krishtel
Community-powered criminal justice reform | Raj Jayadev
The trauma of systematic racism is killing Black women. A first step toward change...
Science didn't understand my kids' rare disease until I decided to study it | Sharon Terry
What Islam really says about women | Alaa Murabit
The reporting system that sexual assault survivors want | Jessica Ladd
Roberto D'Angelo + Francesca Fedeli: In our baby's illness, a life lesson
Tristram Stuart: The global food waste scandal
Amory Lovins: A 40-year plan for energy
Jennifer Pahlka: Coding a better government
Caroline Casey: Looking past limits
The economic injustice of plastic | Van Jones
Saving Money to Save the Planet | Neil McCabe | TEDxHa'pennyBridge
Can the Catholic Church solve the climate crisis? | Molly Burhans | TEDxBoston
Accelerating Science Learning in Africa | Solomon King Benge | TEDxBYU
ChangeMaker: Tutti possono essere attori del cambiamento | Alessandro Valera | TEDxBologna
Time to use your superpower | Agata Stafiej-Bartosik | TEDxWarsaw
Healthcare: humanity above bureaucracy | Jos de Blok | TEDxGeneva
Ashoka Fellow | Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka | TEDxAshokaAfrica
Un dolor que no se ve | Aldana Di Costanzo | TEDxUCA
Fairphone -- changing the way products are made: Bas van Abel at TEDxAmsterdam
The challenge of Islamic fundamentalism in Nigeria | Femi Fani-Kayode | TEDxJabi
Unusual Suspects in Energy Transition | Aart van Veller | TEDxAUCollege
Forget the money, conservation is all about people | Wietse van der Werf | TEDxAUCollege
Ashoka Fellow | Dr. Priscilla M Achakpa | TEDxAshokaAfrica
Elderhood rising -- the dawn of a new world age | Bill Thomas | TEDxSF
Youth sports as a development zone: Jim Thompson at TEDxFargo
Otra forma de enseñar a leer y escribir | Beatriz Diuk | TEDxRiodelaPlata
Ashoka Fellow | Haron Wachira | TEDxAshokaAfrica
New solutions for dyslexia: Luz Rello at TEDxMadrid
TEDxABQ - Jill Vialet - What Play Can Teach Us
Recuperar el rol de las mujeres en la tecnología | Melina Masnatta | TEDxRiodelaPlata
Salir de la cárcel | Andrea Casamento | TEDxRiodelaPlata
Mudar dói, mas não mudar mata o futuro das crianças | Celmira Macedo | TEDxPorto
Caso Tadeo: Redefiniendo el autogobierno en México | Saskia Niño de Rivera | TEDxTecdeMty
Ashoka Fellow | Jennifer Uchendu | TEDxAshokaAfrica
|LO QUE TÚ PUEDES HACER POR LA DEMOCRACIA| | Mariana Niembro | TEDxCiudadDeMéxico
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