Put together by the Google Foundation, this video while an hour-long is more than interesting and well worth watching by any aspiring social entrepreneur. It focuses on the Ashoka Foundation, but so much more.
Ashoka: Innovators for the Public
Ashoka (named after an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty, who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from c. 268 to 232 BCE.) is a nonprofit organization supporting the field of social entrepreneurship. It was founded by Bill Drayton in 1981 to identify and support leading social entrepreneurs through 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 2,000 social entrepreneurs, elected as Ashoka Fellows. The nonprofit also creates mosaics of best practices that map the commonalities and intersections of key principles that guide Fellows’ individual solutions. Ashoka’s initiatives include Changemakers, Youth Venture, and Full Economic Citizenship.
While not an elevator pitch, Bill does a great job of clearly presenting what his value proposition is, gets his point across well, and articulates what he wants from the audience.
If you found this video interesting let us know. The video series is something new that we’re experimenting with and if it’s positively received by the community, we’ll extend it to cover other subjects.
