Community Newsletter February 2020

Workshop 'Everyone leads': Apply now!
This workshop, focusing on empowering teams, is for you if...
... you want to explore your role as a leader.
... you want to reflect on how to build strong self-managed teams.
... you look for more collaboration, co-creation, entrepreneurial freedom, risk-taking and empathy in your organization.

What: 'Everyone leads' Workshop

When: April, 27th – 29th​ 2020 | Apply by April 1st (We suggest early submissions; it's first come, first serve!)

Where: Munich, Germany
FELLOWS, their staff members & Ashoka staff: Apply here.
ASNs, Partners & other Change Leaders: Apply here.

Apply now and save your spot!

Meet the facilitators of 'Everyone leads'

We are proud to introduce the two facilitators to you:

Bettina Rollow is an executive coach and senior advisor, working as a freelance organizational developer and coach since 2014. Her experience ranges from team facilitation, one-on-one coachings to strategic change management. She is also the co-author of "New Work needs inner work" and amongst the top experts for supporting companies to transform into 'New Work organizations', where self-organization is amongst the guiding principles.

Rainer Höll is Ashoka’s Head of Fellow Selection for Europe. In his almost 10 years at Ashoka, he has supported dozens of social entrepreneurs with their scaling strategies, finance models and impact measurement. Rainer is also a partner at Ashoka Germany where he initiated and shaped the transformation of Ashoka Germany into a self-managed organization. He holds an MA in Philosophy and German Literature and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School.

New Leadership Retreat: Collective Impact

This Retreat is for you & your leadership team, if...

• you want to learn how to facilitate multi-stakeholder collaborations confidently and competently.
• you want to explore how to support collective action across your ecosystem.

What: The Collective Impact Retreat

When: June, 24th – 26th 2020 | Apply by June, 1st the latest.

Who & where: Exciting news about the facilitators & the (European) location are coming soon!
FELLOWS, their staff members & Ashoka staff: Apply here.
ASNs, Partners & other Change Leaders: Apply here.

Apply now and save your spot (it's first come, first serve)!

Democracy: Join our Social Lab!

Are you a leading social entrepreneur or key stakeholder in Europe around the issue of democracy & populism? Then, come and join our Social Lab on May 13th - 16th, 2020 (update on location will follow). Together, we'll share solutions, develop collaborations, new collective impact initiatives and a multi-year impact strategy, aiming for deep systemic change in democracy across Europe. The lab will be facilitated by the Ashoka Fellows Mike Sani and Noa Lodeizen. 

Express your interest, here! We'll get back to you with more details very soon!

Wellbeing Retreat: A wonderful community experience

Last month, 12 Ashoka Fellows, 4 Ashoka Staff members and the facilitators Mike Sani (Ashoka Fellow) and Luzette Jaimes got together to reflect and co-learn about the influence of wellbeing on our journey as change leaders. We learned how powerful our narratives and our intentions are, and how important it is to take care of ourselves, in order to be there for others. This is a thank you to all Change Leaders who contributed to this powerful experience that ignited a community of peers supporting each other on their changemaker journeys.

The Wellbeing-Team is recently working on a toolkit of resources to support your wellbeings. Stay up to date & sign up to our Newsletter!

What a Social Finance kick-off!

Our first Social Finance Workshop took place at the end of January. We are very happy about the positive feedback:  

• "It's the first time I'm learning how to connect insights with my personal story, to make it more powerful." Ashoka Fellow
• "I did so many pitches in the past, but never like this. It's very powerful." Ashoka Fellow
• "It taught me how to speak to investors." Ashoka Fellow
• "The insight is the secret weapon of Ashoka Fellows." Mark Cheng

If you want to know more... APPLY for the second workshop (in May) and WATCH the introduction webinar by Mark Cheng!

Launch in Davos: New Report on Funding Systems Change

Last month at the World Economic Forum we launched "Embracing Complexity" - a unique collaborative report by Ashoka, Co-Impact, Catalyst 2030, Echoing Green, McKinsey, Schwab Foundation, Skoll Foundation, and Systemiq. Based on the input of more than 200 funders, intermediaries, and systems change leaders, the report offers funders a set of five principles for effective systems change philanthropy.

As the Ashoka Europe Fellowship Program we are particularly proud that our team member, Florian Rutsch, has been one of the co-initiators of this groundbreaking report.

Beyond the report, we are working on shifting the funding ECOSYSTEM towards systems change. Get in touch with Florian if you would like to learn more about how you can be part of this!

Find out more about our ecosystem work & download the report here!

Visionary Program: Apply for the next start in October 2020

If you don’t want do a single module, but you aspire to undergo Ashoka´s core qualities in a transformational leadership journey: Sign up for the Ashoka Visionary Program in Europe. It's a part-time executive program for decision makers in the private and the public sector dealing with social innovations as well as social entrepreneurs. There is an early bird special: Apply until April 26, 2020 and save 1.000 EUR. 

Find out more and apply here!

The Good Lobby: Pro-bono advice for changemakers!

This is a call for changemakers that need legal, regulatory or advocacy advice. Is this you? Do you need to better engage with government and public authorities and would love to have pro bono professionals working with you?
About the Good Lobby: It's an Ashoka Fellow organization, based in Brussels with the mission to democratize lobbying to the many. If you think you might benefit from this assistance...

... reach out to [email protected] or fill in this form!

Tech for Impact Award: Apply now! 

The SEIF Awards Tech for Impact target European impact entrepreneurs with technologies to tackle social and/or environmental challenges and contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A total prize money of CHF 40’000 is at stake, additional to other opportunities and a final pitch in front of one of the largest networks of sustainable business leaders in Switzerland.
Find out more & apply for the SEIF Tech Award!

Future Skills Innovation Challenge: Apply by 28th of Feb!

This partnership between HSBC and Ashoka UK, focuses on two aspects of future skills: financial capability and employability. You can apply for this challenge, if you are a social innovator working with these topics and are from one of the following countries: France, Germany, Greece, Malta, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, Ireland. An innovation fund of $230k is at stake. Deadline of application: 28th of February. For further questions, reach out to Kelly Dos Santos.

Find out more and apply here!