Ashoka: Innovators for the Public
Vision: | A world where "Everyone is a Changemaker" | ||
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Mission: | To shape a global, entrepreneurial, competitive citizen sector. | ||
Founded: | 1980 in Washington, DC | ||
Key People: | Bill Drayton, Founder, CEO and Chair Anamaria Schindler, Co-President Diana Wells, Co-President Sushmita Ghosh, President Emeritus |
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Structure: | Ashoka operates in over 60 countries investing in the work of over 1,800 Ashoka Fellows. Ashoka’s staff serves in 25 offices worldwide. Global headquarters are located in Arlington, VA. | ||
Status: | Ashoka, a global organization registered in many countries and with 501(c)(3) nonprofit status in the United States. Funding comes from private sources on six continents, two-thirds of which is from business entrepreneurs.[1] | ||
Name: | Named after the Indian leader who unified the Indian subcontinent in the 3rd century BC, considered the first social entrepreneur. In Sanskrit, Ashoka means “the active absence of sorrow”. | ||
Symbol: | Ashoka is represented by the image of a sturdy oak tree. |
Ashoka: Innovators for the Public is a nonprofit organization supporting the field of social entrepreneurship. Ashoka was founded by Bill Drayton in 1981 to identify and support leading social entrepreneurs though a Social Venture Capital approach with the goal of elevating the citizen sector to a competitive level equal to the business sector. The organization currently operates in over 60 countries and supports the work of over 1,800 social entrepreneurs, elected as Ashoka Fellows. Ashoka also creates mosaics of best practices that map the commonalities and intersections of key principles that guide Fellows’ individual solutions. [2] Ashoka’s initiatives include Changemakers, Youth Venture, and Full Economic Citizenship.
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History
Ashoka was founded in 1981 by Bill Drayton, who is credited as the “godfather of social entrepreneurship.” [3] Ashoka was founded on the premise that the most effective way to promote positive social change is to invest in social entrepreneurs with innovative solutions that are sustainable and replicable, both nationally and globally. Ashoka began with an annual budget of $50,000, and elected its first Fellow in India in 1981. During its first decade, Ashoka focused exclusively on finding and investing in leading social entrepreneurs in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Central Europe. During the 1990’s, Ashoka expanded its services beyond directly supporting fellows. Today, Ashoka has an annual revenue of nearly $30 million, [4] and has expanded into North America, Western Europe, East Asia, and the Middle East.
Ashoka's Work
Ashoka describes its approach as working on three levels: 1) supporting individual social entrepreneurs—financially and professionally—throughout their careers, 2) bringing communities of social entrepreneurs together to help leverage their impact, scale their ideas, and capture and disseminate their best practices, and 3) helping to build the infrastructure and financial systems needed to support the growth of the citizen sector and facilitate the spread of social innovation globally. [5]
Ashoka's Search and Selection Process
Ashoka states its selection process is based on five criteria on which all Fellow candidates are evaluated[6]:
- A New Idea
- Creativity
- Entrepreneurial Quality
- Social Impact of the Idea
- Ethical Fiber
The selection process is described as following five stages[7]:
- Nomination of the Fellow Candidate
- "First Opinion" Interview
- "Second Opinion" Interview
- Selection Panel
- Executive Board Approval
There is no term limit to Ashoka's Fellow designation, the award is for life. Ashoka provides Fellows with start-up stipends, professional services, and access to a network of social and business entrepreneurs.
Other Programs
Changemakers
Changemakers sponsors collaborative competitions intended to develop innovative solutions to social problems. The open sourcing social solutions model aims to challenge the traditional focus of issues like human trafficking and conflict resolution with a broader, more complete set of stakeholders. Participants include individuals, nonprofits, nongovernmental organizations, public corporations, private companies, and government agencies.
Youth Venture
Youth Venture invests in teams of young people to start and lead their own social ventures. The concept for Youth Venture emerged following an Ashoka Fellow collaboration around youth and civic participation. Currently, Youth Venture operates in the US, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, India, South Africa, Thailand, and across Europe.
Full Economic Citizenship
Full Economic Citizenship (FEC) attempts to find solutions to the vast number of poverty-stricken people in the world. FEC relies on the over 1,000 Ashoka Fellows working to resolve problems of low-income people around the world. To do this, the Hybrid Value Chain establishes partnerships between business and social organizations intended to make products and services available to low-income citizens. Since 2004, Ashoka has been working with Cemex, a global cement and building products company, to identify ways in which Cemex can leverage social distribution networks to deliver housing products and services to the poor.[8]
Social Financial Services
Ashoka started the Social Financial Services (SFS) program to address the lack of quantity and diversity in financial support for social ventures. SFS works with leading financial intermediaries to educate them about the value inherent in the social sector and helps them develop new products and services with the goal of having those institutions invest strategically in the sector. [9] In 2006, SFS partnered with Deutsche Bank to launch Eye Fund I, a fund intended to provide loans and guarantees to support the development of affordable, sustainable and accessible eye care for the world's poor while providing a near-market return for investors. [10] In 2007, this partnership was selected as number 13 on Fast Company magazine’s ‘Fast 50: 50 Profit-Driven Solutions for what Ails the Planet’. [11]
Global Academy
The Global Academy is a group of social entrepreneurs. Members of the program attempt to direct and advance the field of social entrepreneurship, and to bridge social and business entrepreneurs. Founding members include Muhammad Yunus, Alice Tepper Marlin, Bill Drayton, Peter Eigen, Oded Grajew, and Fazel Abed. The Global Academy also established the University Network, a network of academics and practitioners focused on strengthening teaching and research in social entrepreneurship so that more action will result.
Notable Fellows
Muhammad Yunus – Founder, Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, Yunus was elected as a founding member of Ashoka’s Global Academy in 2001. In November, 2003 Yunus collaborated with Ashoka to host the Grameen-Ashoka Dialogue to explore the emerging trend of social-business ventures for poverty eradication. In 2006, Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Rodrigio Baggio – Founder, Committee for Democracy in Information Technology, Baggio equips young people in low-income communities in Brazil with computer skills and expands job opportunities and access to modern technology. The organization has expanded to 15 countries on 2 continents. He was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 1996.
Vera Corderio – Founder, “Associanção Saúde Criança Renascer”, Corderio provides poor patient families with support to create the best environment for discharged children. Her program has spread throughout Brazil. Corderio was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 1993.
Mary Gordon – Founder, “Roots of Empathy” (ROE), Gordon works to reduce childhood aggression by teaching students emotional literacy and fostering the development of empathy. In 2005, she was named a Member of the Order of Canada. Gordon was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 2002.
Fabio Rosa – Founder, “Project Light”, Fabio has cut rural electrification costs 70 to 90 percent in Brazil and has transformed the finance of rural solar so that poor people can lease/purchase at the same cost they were paying for prior electricity equipment. The organization has spread to 23 more communities. Rosa was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 1989.
Jeroo Billamore – Founder, Childline, Billamore instituted a 24-hour emergency telephone service and follow-up program to alleviate the distress of street children. Childline is India's first attempt at giving street children quick access to supports, such as police assistance and health care. Billimoria was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 1998.
Zackie Achmat – Founder, Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), Achmat holds the state accountable to its constitutional obligation of guaranteeing a right to life to all citizens by providing affordable AIDS medications. Achmat was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 2003.
David Green – Founder, “Project Impact”, Green enables developing countries to produce, distribute, and service high-quality, affordable health care products, including intraocular lenses and surgical sutures. Green was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 2002.
Ebrahim “Eboo” Patel – Founder, Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), Patel engages young people of various religious identities in the United States in interfaith community service. Patel was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 2004.
Sakena Yacoobi - Founder, . Elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 2006.
Measuring Social Impact
Ashoka conducts a Measuring Effectiveness study once a year to better understand the impact Ashoka and Ashoka Fellows are creating worldwide. The study focuses on the class of Fellows elected five or ten years prior. [12]
Notes
- ^ http://www.ashoka.org/facts
- ^ Drayton, W: "Everyone a Changemaker: Social Entrepreneurship's Ultimate Goal". Innovations, Vol. 1/No.1, p. 80-96, 2006
- ^ Gergen, D: "The New Engines of Reform". U.S News & World Report, 2006
- ^ "Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax". 2003
- ^ http://www.ashoka.org/approach
- ^ http://www.ashoka.org/support/criteria
- ^ http://www.ashoka.org/files/5StageSelection%20Process_0.jpg
- ^ http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/90/open_ashoka.html
- ^ http://www.ashoka.org/financial_services
- ^ "Deutsche Bank to launch Investment Fund supporting Eye Care Hospitals in Developing Countries". Deutsche Bank, 2006
- ^ Fishman, C: "Deutsche Bank: A Perfect Vision of What's Needed". Fast Company, 2007
- ^ "Measuring Effectiveness Overview". Ashoka.org website. Retrieved 2007-05-04
References
- Bornstein, David. How To Change The World: Social Entrepreneurs and The Power of New Ideas. Oxford University Press, NY: 2004, ISBN 0195138058.