Ashoka Israel in Short

ASHOKA: INNOVATORS FOR THE PUBLIC
ISRAEL
Over the past 60 years, Israel and its social sector have grown tremendously and performed impressively. Yet the
country still faces multiple challenges -- political and religious tensions; issues of minority rights and exclusion;
social and economic inequalities; and inadequate environmental protection -- which require more than good will
and work. They need system-changing ideas led by people who can implement them and inspire others to act.
These people are social entrepreneurs.
WHAT IS A SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR?
Social entrepreneurs are visionaries who work to change the
patterns of how society operates. They have the same qualities as
business entrepreneurs: vision, creativity, pragmatism, innovative
ideas, determination – and they work with colleagues and local
people to create radically new solutions to social problems –
solutions with the potential to revolutionize a whole sector. Below
are some examples of Ashoka’s social entrepreneurs.
FABIO ROSA, BRAZIL
Fabio works to improve the living standard
of poor families in rural Brazil while
promoting sustainable development through
inexpensive electrification technology.
Results: Fabio’s efforts have cut rural
electrification costs by 70-80%, while, at
the same time, the idea has been spread
to Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and South
Africa – that is, more than a million people
in four countries have now gained access to
electricity.
FABIO ON ASHOKA: “Finally, someone
believed in me and I became recognized as
a professional, as a social entrepreneur.”
“It’s one of the most hopeful and helpful
trends around. These folks aren’t famous,
but they are showing that what it really
takes to change the world isn’t so much
wealth or power as creativity, determination
and passion.”
Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times
JEROO BILLIMOIRA, INDIA
Jeroo connects street children to vital
services through her organization,
Childline, a phone helpline system to
which they have access.
Results: More than two million calls
are now answered per year, and similar
programs have been spread to 38 cities
nationally and 158 cities outside of India.
JEROO ON ASHOKA: “Ashoka’s Global
Fellowship opens pathways for us to
build upon ideas at a broader level.”
J.B.SCHRAMM, USA
J.B. works to build and maintain a bridge
from high school to college for low-income
students who might not otherwise have had
the opportunity to go to college.
Results: J.B’s organization serves 1,800
students per year and is still growing. College
enrollment rates among the students who
have access to his program are double the
national average for low-income kids, and
80% of participants go on to graduate from
college.
J.B. ON ASHOKA: “What Ashoka does
is help us build a network through
which we can have impact.”
ABOUT ASHOKA
Ashoka (www.ashoka.org) is the world’s first and largest association of
social entrepreneurs: people who are pioneering new institutions and
innovative solutions to many of the world’s most intractable problems.
In 1980, Ashoka’s founder, Bill Drayton, developed a revolutionary
approach to philanthropy and social change: applying the principles
and methods of venture capital to the area of social investment, and by
seeking out entrepreneurs who had new approaches to the root causes
of the problems society faces. Ashoka was the first investment group to
focus solely on fresh, enterprise-based solutions to social problems, and
over the past 27 years has steadily built a new professional identity for
social innovators around the globe. Over 2000 social entrepreneurs in the
areas of healthcare, education, the environment, economic development
and human rights, in over 70 countries, are now members of Ashoka’s
global community.
ASHOKA’S VISION
Ashoka envisions a world where “everyone is a changemaker”: a global
community that is able to respond quickly and effectively to social
challenges anywhere and anytime. Every member of society would have
the freedom, confidence and societal support to create positive change.
Every part of society will benefit from having more changemakers, from
companies to schools to entire countries.
Muhammad Yunus, Founder and CEO of The Grameen Bank,
and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Winner and Bill Drayton, CEO and
Founder of Ashoka
“Ashoka is a great global organization, built
on a brilliant idea.”
Muhammad Yunus, Founder and CEO of The Grameen Bank,
and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Winner
WHY ASHOKA IS NEEDED IN ISRAEL
• Israel’s most persistent challenges require entrepreneurial
solutions. Economic growth, human rights, civic participation,
environmental challanges, health, and education issues will
only be addressed through long-term vision and sustainable
innovations.
• The traditional values of Tikkun Olam (repairing the world),
Zakaat (Purification, growth and charity) and Tzedakah (charity
with justice) infuse Ashoka’s approach. Ashoka supports
leaders who take a businesslike approach to social change,
offering scalable solutions that inspire others to act.
• No one sector will be able to solve Israel’s complex challenges.
The state, business, and citizen sectors must learn from and
rely on each other to initiate and spread social change. Ashoka
has 27 years of experience in fostering government-citizenbusiness partnership.
• “Social entrepreneurship” is gaining traction in Israel,
without a thorough understanding and full application of the
term. Ashoka will add essential conceptual and practical
components to the important work of other organizations
active in Isreal.
Toy guns are destroyed in Argentina as part of the work of
Ashoka Fellow Dario Kosovsky.
“The most important contribution any of us
can make now... is increase the proportion of
humans who know that they can cause change.”
Bill Drayton, CEO and Founder of Ashoka
OUR PROPOSAL
We propose to increase the proportion of people who
are changemakers and social entrepreneurs in Israeli
society.
In the next 3 years we will:
1. Identify and invest in six leading social
entrepreneurs. Ashoka will financially and technically
support these innovators while increasing public
awareness and understanding of social entrepreneurship
in Israel. These social entrepreneurs, as Ashoka
Fellows, will be supported in spreading their innovative
approaches beyond Israel’s borders, leading to significant
social change across the region and beyond. Each Israeli
Fellow will be closely connected with Ashoka’s global
collaborative Fellowship and therefore will be able to
bring to Israel the best social change innovations and
approaches from all the rest of the world.
Ashoka Fellows collaborating in Poland.
2. Launch at least 50 teams of Youth Venture, Ashoka’s movement of young people (ages 12-18) who are
powerful changemakers. These teams of young people will have the transformative experience of launching and leading
their own lasting social ventures early in life, with the guidance and mentorship of Ashoka. The teams will be linked into our
international network of 2000 other Youth Venture teams in 14 countries - demonstrating that investing in helping young
people to become changemakers is a key factor for the future of social change in all sectors, schools, universities and every
part of society.
3. Bring the business and the social sectors closer together by replicating in Israel the Ashoka-McKinsey
business plan competitions, which have been successfully run in 11 countries. In addition, Ashoka will support a mentorship
plan, as well as master-classes of entrepreneurs from around the world, and the creation of a wider public awareness.
All of these will help to make the Israeli citizen sector much more effective, successful, accountable, transparent and
professional.
LOW COST, HIGH LEVERAGE INVESTMENT
Because Ashoka identifies and invests in its Fellows in their early (launch) stages, Ashoka’s investment is highly leveraged,
with a relatively small injection of funding, in the form of a stipend, leading to the growth of the entrepreneur’s institution/
project/innovation at the national, regional or even global scale. The average scale of impact of an Ashoka entrepreneur
is upon 175,000 people within the first five years of Ashoka’s investment. There is an 83% persistence rate of Ashoka
Fellows’ ventures after 10 years, and 71% of Ashoka Fellows have affected national-scale policy.
“You’re not going to find a better bang
for your philanthropic investment dollar
than investing in Ashoka and Ashoka
Fellows.”
James Jensen, Executive Director of the Jenesis Group
“Ashoka has launched one key
environmental innovation after another
worldwide for 25 years now. It is one of
the environment’s most effective secret
weapons.”
Fred Krupp, Executive Director of the Environmental
Defense Fund
Innovating throughout sectors
Ashoka is innovating throughout sectors, including changes in
education, environment and even philanthropy. One example is
the Eye Fund backed by Deutsche Bank, which shifts social giving
from charitable grants to investment tools that give social returns
as well as financial returns.
“The Eye Fund is a real demonstration
of a new market-based approach
to address a fundamental human
need. Our goal is to capitalize on our
expertise in the financial markets in
order to expand this approach.”
Seth Waugh, CEO of Deutsche Bank
Americas
HOW WE ELECT FELLOWS
Ashoka’s rigorous five-step selection process is a tried and tested way to find the world’s most powerful ideas and its
truly gifted social entrepreneurs. Starting with a network of highly qualified nominators, site visits, due-diligence and
interviews, and ending with board approval, the selection process is the basis of the consistently high quality of the Ashoka
Fellowship. Seven years of evaluations consistently show that over 90% of Fellows have seen independent institutions
replicate their innovations.
HOW WE HELP SOCIAL CHANGE TO GROW AND SCALE
Ashoka incubates system-changing innovations that collectively are creating a more competitive, entrepreneurial and
productive civil society – one that is more globally integrated. Ashoka’s innovations include:
• Fostering the first ever “group entrepreneurship” projects among social innovators
Worldwide. Ashoka connects its entrepreneurs allowing them to refine and combine
their ideas into larger solutions.
• Sourcing new solutions that address specific problems (e.g. reduction of human
trafficking, provision of clean water, and protecting young men at risk) via Ashoka’s
open source website, www.changemakers.net. Through online competitions,
innovators around the world present their solutions to investors in a highly efficient,
transparent manner. The process improves deal flow,
decreases the typical funder’s investment costs and
lag time, and aggregates knowledge in the given field to
everyone’s benefit.
“The engaged global community of
social entrepreneurs that Ashoka has
fostered helps each one of them to
have more impact than would have
been possible individually.”
Pierre Omidyar, Founder of eBay
• Bringing leading corporations, such as Cemex, Hilti
and Amanco, together with Ashoka Fellows to redefine
their processes for R&D, production, sales, delivery and
servicing of products to better serve the needs of lowincome consumers. By doing so, we are creating new,
highly profitable opportunities for the corporations, as well
as generating greater income for Ashoka’s entrepreneurs
– thus providing win-win-win opportunities all around.
• Partnering with leading financial institutions such as
UBS, JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank, to change the way
capital flows to social innovators, while also changing the
way investors evaluate their returns on investment. These Ashoka Fellow Dario Funes is building community businesses using local natural
banks have sought out Ashoka to help them address a resources such as marine products.
major gap in their client service: how to advise their clients on intelligent, effective social investment with real, measurable
returns that are both financial and impact-based.
Ashoka’s international network will help local solutions to scale up, and replicate successful models
from around the world in Israel. Ashoka’s experience shows that this is a winning combination, as it
transforms societies while creating a culture of social innovation in which everyone is a changemaker.
More information, including a detailed
proposal and budget, is available from
Nir Tsuk, [email protected]
www.ashoka.org