THE NETWORK AT WORK A GLOBAL NETWORK OF 3,800 + SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS WHO ARE CHANGING THE WORLD
Ashoka is a lifelong home for changemakers — a peer community that practices mutuality and gives unconditional acceptance. We evolve year to year as we welcome new Fellows, integrate their ideas and networks, and spot new opportunities for impact. How does Ashoka support Fellows? Let’s take a look:
CHANGEMAKER IDENTITY
EXPANDED VISION
STIPEND
Fellows see themselves as leading social entrepreneurs... for life!
Fellows explore the full potential and reach of their idea, and commit to creating new norms for society.
Ashoka provides earlystage Fellows with a 3-year stipend, allowing them to focus fully on their idea.
“Ashoka is a homecoming for social entrepreneurs who have been homeless. There is no better community that celebrates their commitment to cause, or understands the loneliness of leadership.” Mary Gordon Founder, Roots of Empathy
“Ashoka asks the right questions and helped me think so much bigger about my impact, like how to shift a whole system.” Imran Khan Founder, Embarc
“I literally would not have been able to continue building this solution if I hadn’t received the stipend from Ashoka in the development years.” Mitch Hedlund Founder, Recycle Across America
CATALYTIC CONNECTIONS
VISIBILITY
COLLABORATIVE ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Via tailored introductions, Ashoka connects Fellows with diverse partners, funders, entrepreneurs.
Ashoka elevates Fellows’ ideas through media opportunities, convenings, and brand partnerships.
Fellows join their ideas and networks to shape entire fields (e.g., justice reform, climate resilience).
“I almost always say yes to an Ashoka introduction because the Ashoka team knows me and what I look for in partners.” Bren Smith Founder, GreenWave
“Storytelling ignites social change. Ashoka has been a bullhorn for our call to action spreading our idea across the planet.” Morgan Dixon Founder, GirlTrek
“Ashoka brings together trusted thought partners who help me think through challenges and see our vision through to reality.” Kara Bobroff Founder, Native American Community Academy
RAJ JAYADEV
FOUNDER, PARTICIPATORY DEFENSE NETWORK
• Participatory defense practice refined in one community (San Jose, CA)
• National expansion begins via one-on-one relationships with a few justice groups; first attention from national media
• First national participatory defense gathering coalesces methodology; first generation ‘hubs’ from across the U.S. commit to support network expansion with fidelity to core principles
IMPACT Ashoka trajectory
Raj is growing a movement of “participatory defense” whereby families and communities most impacted by mass incarceration can effectively participate in the criminal defense process and transform the landscape of power in the court system.
2014
2015
2016
• Ashoka selects Raj as a Fellow for life, supports with catalytic stipend
• Attends Ashoka national convening and connects with broader peer network and with New York Times journalist for catalytic feature
• Featured in Ashoka magazine with wide distribution
• Raj is recognized as MacArthur ‘Genius’ Fellow
2017
• First signals of demand for the idea outside the U.S. (U.K.)
• Network growth to 30 hubs in 30 locations via national infrastructure and shared framework; total time ‘saved’ across network: 3,500 years; participatory defense seen as emerging new norm in justice reform landscape
2018 • Joins Welcome Change, Ashoka’s national tour of solutions, alongside 20+ Fellows
2019-2020 • Connects with Ashoka’s global network to explore expansion beyond U.S.
Ashoka reached out at exactly the right moment and brought connections and validation on many levels, in addition to the stipend. The impact level less talked about but truly profound: the validation of the “everyone a changemaker” framework that each of us Ashoka Fellows manifests - in my case, this translates to “every family who comes to court is a reformer of the court system.” This framework has power and is reflected across the network. My experience with Ashoka has been 100% consistent.
JILL VIALET
FOUNDER, PLAYWORKS
• Playworks is awarded $4.4 million by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) for expansion • Playworks founded in Berkeley, CA; expands to San Francisco
• Expands to East Coast, including Baltimore, Boston, Washington, D.C.
IMPACT Ashoka trajectory
2000 • Confirmed as Ashoka Fellow (2004)–vision expands to: ensuring every child in America gets to play every day
Jill Vialet wants to ensure every child in America gets to play every day. She founded Playworks to remake play in schools across the country by providing them with a full-time “coach” who organizes games and other structured activities during recess and after school programs. Playworks increases physical activity, reduces bullying, and improves the school and learning environment.
2005 • Ashoka connects Jill to RWJF for first national grant
• Playworks reaches 250 schools; renews RWJF grant at $18 million for national expansion; secures national partnerships with Mattel and New Balance • Hosts Play On, the first-ever national conference on play • Invited to become part of First Lady’s “Let’s Move” initiative
2010 • Jill becomes founding partner of Ashoka’s Start Empathy initiative to change the way young people grow up; collaborates with hundreds of Ashoka Fellows and partners worldwide
• Jill pens first book “Recess Rules” for further spread the idea • Playworks reaches 130,000 students in 300 schools in 23 cities (by 2013); invests in research about the efficacy and learning outcomes of play done well in the classroom, with RAND and other partners
2015 • Ashoka engages Jill in a number of ways that build mutual value: as a Fellow nominator, evaluator, ambassador, facilitator and much more
Before Ashoka, Playworks had offices in just a few cities. Now we have offices in 23 states plus D.C., reaching over 2,500 schools and 1.25 million kids. It’s pretty clear to me that had I not become an Ashoka Fellow, we still would have been great – but we’d be local.
• With Playworks highly successful and growing, Jill starts two allied efforts: Substantial (improving the experience of substitute teaching) and a new consultancy Workswell
2019-2020 • A lifelong home for changemakers across all impact phases, Ashoka champions and works alongside Jill in her new endeavors as a serial social entrepreneur
270+ IN THE U.S. reflecting the dynamism and diversity of America
ashoka-usa.org