Community Service 2009

Ashoka uses its $30 million annual budget to invest in innovative people rather than projects. Since 1980, when a former McKinsey consultant started the U.S.-based nonprofit, it has provided living stipends to nearly 2,500 social entrepreneurs — people who have big ideas about how to achieve social change, such as ways to alleviate poverty or improve access to education, that are sustainable and replicable. Says Ashoka's president, Diana Wells: "Our mission is to build a world where everyone is a changemaker."

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