• Changemaking for faith-inspired advocates, community leaders...

Changemakers inspired by faith and leaders driven by deep purpose are needed now more than ever. Changing the world for the common good has always been central to faith traditions. Throughout history, changemakers driven by purpose and faith have brought fundamental innovations to our world, for the good of all, influencing sectors such as healthcare, education, the agri-food industry, and with those fighting for equity for all. 

We also know that making change happen can be tough lonely work! We all need peers from whom we can receive support and learning from, with whom we feel safe, and with whom we are able to have conversations that move beyond traditions and influences. Building a diverse and inclusive interfaith community with like-minded individuals can uncover common challenges, bring new insights, and help revitalize communities driven by purpose and faith to the common good in new and exciting ways. 

For over 40 years, Ashoka has been supporting the world's leading social entrepreneurs to do good. We have mastered the science and art of creating impactful change as we want to see everyone become a changemaker.

Now, in partnership with Trinity Church Wall Street, we introduce you to a Faith-Inspired Changemaking Masterclass – a 4-week workshop series designed to be useful for changemakers at all stages of their innovation across the generations. 

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About the Masterclass

What are the challenges in faith and sprituality today?

In today's rapidly changing world, faith and spiritual communities along with their leaders face enormous challenges - from shrinking participation, aging congregations and persistent loneliness, loss of engagement by young people and continuing lack of diversity. Leaders overwhelmed with social justice issues now need to adapt and explore dynamic ways to better reach communities.

At the same time, broad access to media and a continued yearning for meaning and community create opportunities for new ways of gathering, worshipping, learning, serving, and creating positive impact on society. Many leaders – young people among them, are stepping up to the point the way. 

Faith-Inspired Changemakers are responding. We want to create a space for changemakers across faiths and spiritual practices to learn from one another, as well as to dive deeply into the impact lessons from Ashoka's network of the world's top social entrepreneurs.

What is the opportunity?

We have looked for a diverse group of participants of any age with a variety of changemaking ideas, are inter-faith and are open to all faith traditions, denominations and alternate spiritual influences.

Participants may be community leaders, social innovators, entrepreneurs, and advocates who have already started an initiative or organization, or have an idea they would like to develop. 

With this Masterclass, select participants will:

  • Join a community of selected faith-inspired changemakers already making an impact across a diversity of sectors.
  • Learn strategies for how to best engage and empower young people in your community to step into their changemaker power. 
  • Increase the impact of your work by learning how the world's top social entrepreneurs create & scale impactful solutions. 
  • Master Ashoka's Levels of Impact framework to elevate your impact and framework change in society.
  • Become a movement builder for leading much needed system and framework change in society.
  • Get recognized as Faith-Inspired Changemaker, as part of the wider Ashoka and Trinity Church Wall Street leadership communities. 
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Who are Faith Inspired Changemakers?

Faith-Inspired Changemakers might be from a specific faith and/or interfaith tradition and alternative spiritual influence who exhibit entrepreneurial traits such as creativity, empathy, teamwork, and leadership.

They tackle pressing problems by creating new services, products, systems, experiences, or approaches while also activating other people. 

  • Social Entrepreneurs or innovators led by their faith to build solutions to social issues for the good of all
  • Spiritual Innovators creating new forms of spiritual community, new ways of practicing faith and engaging communities 
  • Institutional Intrapreneurs creating new approaches to living faith-led life based on love and respect for everyone across the generations

Does this sound like someone you know?

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What is the commitment?

We have looked for Faith-Inspired Changemakers who wish to help lead by creating solutions, building this supportive ecosystem, and collaborating with others to empower more and more people of faith as changemakers in their own settings. 

As such, we have carefully crafted a powerful experience – while keeping in mind busy schedules & other priorities. Select participants have committed to:

  • Attend all virtual sessions.
  • Commit to show up with presence, respect, and ready to contribute your love and wisdom to nurture the community. 
  • Help guide the vision of this community together with Ashoka & Trinity Church Wall Street. 

Applications have been closed.

 

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About the Organizers

The Faith Inspired Changemaker Initiative is a partnership between Ashoka and Trinity Church Wall Street to build an interdenominational ecosystem supporting changemakers creating powerful solutions to the challenges facing the faith sector today, and sustaining leaders of these efforts whether they are clergy, laypeople, individual innovators, academic players, or other institutional actors. We seek highly diverse group of participants with a variety of faith-inspired changemaking initiatives and are open to all faith traditions and denominations. 

We engage changemakers holistically in their varying roles in life, as an individual, as a family member, as a player in a variety of organizations, and as a member of a larger community.

Ashoka

Ashoka is a global organization founded in 1981 to identify and support the most innovative ideas for social change around the world. Its vision is of an Everyone a Changemaker world – where everyone is empowered to create solutions for the good of all. Ashoka coined the term ‘social entrepreneur’ and selects Ashoka Fellows: unique leaders who design and drive these ideas forward, turning them from notions to organizations to global movements.  

Over almost four decades, Ashoka has elected nearly 4,000 Ashoka Fellows in over 90 countries which uniquely enables Ashoka to identify trends and principles that can transform society at a systemic level. 

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Trinity Church Wall Street

Trinity Church Wall Street recently created its Leadership Development Initiative to grow and empower spiritual communities to address the challenges of a changing world and to train, empower, and network future leaders for the Church and the world. Trinity supports those who are responding to emerging challenges and interested in working together in dynamic partnerships with those who honor and activate the ministry of all believers and share our values. 

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