Changemakers is creating an online platform that allows anyone to collaborate on social innovation. This platform will revolutionize how social innovators think about and communicate their scaling goals, and create a culture of accountability, collaboration, and transparency in the social sector.

There is much inefficiency throughout the world of social innovation: 1) there are enormous amounts of duplication and uncoordinated efforts; 2) there is a pervasive lack of knowledge on how to scale innovations; 3) there are significant challenges to get capital and talent where and when it’s needed; 4) investors have difficulty staying up-to-date on the progress of the innovator; and 5) there is no simple way of telling the masses about innovations taking place throughout the world.

Changemakers, an initiative of Ashoka, is a hub of innovation for anyone and everyone interested in social change. Started as a print journal to share the stories of social entrepreneurs, Changemakers has evolved into a space for collaborative entrepreneurship - creating different engagement points for people interested in participating in changemaking. We do this in three primary ways: 1. Platform - A key part of our work is about reaching everyone who is interested in creating social impact in their community. Through our online platform, we allow both people and ideas to flourish. By providing users with individual profiles, Changeshops where innovators can showcase their ideas, and a space to post needs and offer services, we create a marketplace for the exchange of knowledge and resources within our community. With the Growth Tracker, innovators can track and share their progress with the community, enabling them to grow transparently and more efficiently. 2. Global Competitions - In addition to creating a community platform, we continue to open-source new ideas for social change. Our 50+ global competitions, across sectors such as sustainable housing, citizen media, and job creation, have sourced over 12,000 innovations and directed over $600 million in investment. We will work with partners to launch new global competitions while also leveraging partnerships that will help spread this methodology across the social sector. 3. Knowledge Aggregation and Feedback - We offer thought leadership and strategy support for leading corporations and foundations. Engaging Ashoka’s network of leading social entrepreneurs and leveraging Changemakers’ proprietary methodology for mapping innovation, we work with partners to define their social change objectives and outline the path to achievement. Working across a range of sectors, we identify where innovation exists, is most needed, and the opportunities to accelerate social change through investment.

Maria is the person Changemakers is working to help. She is the creator of an organization that brings quality, affordable health care to at-risk communities in Guatemala. Looking for ideas and resources that will help grow her impact, she decides to create a Changeshop. She enters the site and works through a framework to help her pinpoint her needs and appropriate goals for growth. She uses these ideas to create her Growth Tracker and add milestones that allow people to follow her progress. Maria's first milestone is to research a pipeline of potential funders for her work. By networking on Changemakers, she connects with Emmanuel who leads a similar operation in Zimbabwe. With his help, she identifies a list of potential funders to approach. Through this outreach, Maria secures a small grant, and uses it to buy new diagnostic tools for her doctors. She takes a video of a patient being tested with the new equipment and shares it on her Growth Tracker. Confident that her organization is deserved of additional contributions, Maria enters a competition the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has launched seeking global innovations in health care. Her organization is chosen as a finalist; she uses the recognition to engage new audiences and further raise her profile. She connects with the other finalists to trade strategies and tap networks. Maria is a changemaker. She is open and transparent about her work. She’s reaping the rewards. She’s growing her impact.

Many companies have aimed to create spaces that allows innovators, investors, and enthusiasts to collaborate; however, they often focus on niche segments of this ecosystem or hone in on specific purposes (money, talent, information resources). Changemakers will bring the strengths of all of these efforts into one multifunctional platform, offering a space for collaboration and sharing of resources as well as tools to measure impact, social change, and growth. We provide a package of products and services that social agents need to operate efficiently by mobilizing these niche communities to plug into one larger cross-cutting global network.