Ashoka UK

Mission

Ashoka's mission is to shape a citizen sector that is entrepreneurial, productive and globally integrated, and to develop the profession of social entrepreneurship around the world.

Activities

Ashoka supports individual social entrepreneurs, financially and professionally, throughout their life cycle. It brings communities of social entrepreneurs together to help leverage their impact, scale their ideas, and capture and disseminate their best practices. It also helps build the infrastructure and financial systems needed to support the growth of the citizen sector and facilitate the spread of social innovation globally.

The areas it works in are education, health, environment, human rights and civic engagement.

Ashoka Fellows are leading social entrepreneurs who have innovative solutions to social problems and the potential to change patterns across society. They demonstrate unrivalled commitment to bold new ideas and prove that compassion, creativity, and collaboration are tremendous forces for change. Ashoka Fellows work in over 60 countries around the globe in every area of human need.

Ashoka recognises that it cannot possibly source the world’s leading social entrepreneurs on its own. Good nominators ensure that Ashoka receives a constant flow of promising candidates as well as an invaluable perspective on the current innovation in the sector. These are partner organisations, businesses, social entrepreneurs, community leaders, academics, and journalists within the sector who have the expertise to identify potential fellow candidates. Nominators have the opportunity to get connected to their network of 1800 fellows across the globe to exchange ideas with their great innovators and supporters.

If you are interested in nominating a social entrepreneur to the Ashoka Fellowship, they welcome any information about a candidate and their work that you can provide. You can do this by sending an email to the appropriate Ashoka country office found on their website contact page: http://www.ashoka.org/contact

Learn more about

- how a social entrepreneur is defined: http://www.ashoka.org/social_entrepreneur
- what the five criteria for electing a fellow are: http://www.ashoka.org/support/criteria

For individual donors

Ashoka provides three tiers of investment opportunities:

• For an investment of up to £1,300, donors receive an annual publication featuring the newest Ashoka Fellows.

• For between £1,300 and £ 7,500, donors also receive personalised updates about Ashoka's work in the geographic region(s) of their choice, and invitations to events.

• An investment of £7,500 or above entitles donors to membership in the Ashoka Support Network (ASN).

Ashoka Support Network (ASN)

ASN is an international group of Ashoka supporters - chiefly business entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, investment bankers and successful business people who support social entrepreneurs.

Ashoka's vision for ASN is to transform the voluntary and community sector by fostering the development of social entrepreneurship and building strong bridges with the business sector.

Currently, there are four types of engagement opportunities available for ASN members:

• Personal engagement with Fellows: Members can interact with visiting Fellows, act as coaches or consultants, aid social entrepreneurs with their business models, facilitate introductions and come up with new forms of business-social collaborations.

• Experience travels: Visits to Fellows' projects can be organised by Ashoka for ASN members when they travel abroad.

• Internships: Internships will be organised for the supporters' children at Fellows' organisations.

• Community: Members will have the opportunity to meet like-minded business executives, entrepreneurs and professionals.

To receive an ASN Brochure and for more general information on how to join ASN in the UK, contact Silvia Giovannoni at infouk@ashoka.org.