“Ashoka Changemakers initiative is in some ways an 'idea factory' in which social entrepreneurs develop concepts that outlive and transcend the competition itself. Changemakers can help match participants to new funding, essentially building a marketplace for innovation in an issue area in just a few months.”

McKinsey & Company

“Ashoka is a great global organization, built on a brilliant idea. It picks up social innovators when they themselves don’t know what great changes they can bring. That’s the stage when budding innovators need the support most. Ashoka helps pool local innovations into global solutions.”

Muhammad Yunus, Founder, Grameen Bank; ‘06 Nobel Peace Prize Winner

“The Changemakers open source competition model let us shorten our three- to four-year call for proposals process for identifying investment-grade opportunities to three or four months, while delivering an equivalent number of quality projects.”

Nancy Barrand, Pioneer Portfolio, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“Our work with Ashoka Changemakers has really shown that much more out-of-the-box and sometimes more interesting solutions are coming forth in this collaborative competition model.”

Judith Rodin, President, Rockefeller Foundation, speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative

“At my magazine, we spend enormous time and effort unearthing innovative approaches to providing consumers great travel programs, while preserving the power of the places themselves. I was stunned by the quality of the applications. They showcased great innovation that can be exported to other countries, terrific successes against long odds, and a far-reaching global distribution of projects.”

Keith Bellows, Vice President of the National Geographic Society

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