The Sport for Changemaking Impact Fund

About the Fund

A better look at the details

Why This Fund Exists

Many of the most powerful, innovative solutions to social problems never reach scale because they can’t survive the early years. New ideas often emerge from people closest to the issues, but they lack access to the resources needed to turn those ideas into sustainable organizations. The Sport for Changemaking Impact Fund exists to close this gap by providing early-stage funding to social entrepreneurs using sport to solve complex problems. It ensures that promising initiatives have the financial support to survive, grow, and thrive right from the beginning.

Who We Fund

This fund supports social entrepreneurs using sport as a platform to address systemic issues like inequality, exclusion, and youth disempowerment. These changemakers aren’t just running programs, They’re reimagining how sport can be used to shift mindsets, build community, and influence policy. We fund scalable, systems-changing solutions with demonstrated potential for impact, and we prioritize initiatives led by people with lived experience and deep community trust.

Key Features

The fund uses a low-risk, high-impact model that provides 3-year unrestricted stipends to a carefully selected portfolio of social innovators. Fellows are chosen through Ashoka’s globally trusted selection process, which includes rigorous due diligence, community evaluation, and board review. Once selected, changemakers join a global network of peers and receive matched funding and ecosystem support. The model is flexible, proven, and designed to meet the needs of entrepreneurs working in complex, evolving environments.

Why Invest

The Right Ideas

Ashoka has spent over 40 years refining a due diligence process that identifies social entrepreneurs with the potential to reshape entire systems. The changemakers supported through this fund don’t just improve lives, they alter the very conditions that create the problem in the first place. More than half of the ideas selected through this process go on to shape national or state-level policies within five years. By investing in this fund, you're supporting innovations that are already demonstrating clear, scalable impact at structural levels.

The Right People

The entrepreneurs supported by Ashoka are deeply committed to the communities and issues they serve. These are not just projects, this is their life’s work. They often come from the communities they aim to uplift, bringing deep cultural understanding and long-term dedication. Investing in the Impact Fund means supporting leaders who are embedded in the problems they are solving and uniquely positioned to lead lasting change.

The Right Network

Ashoka’s global fellowship includes over 4,000 social entrepreneurs in more than 90 countries. These changemakers aren’t working in silos, they are part of a powerful, peer-to-peer support system that spans sectors and continents. Fellows benefit from shared learning, cross-border collaboration, and connections to partners across the private, public, and social sectors. Your investment isn’t just supporting one idea; it’s plugging that idea into a global engine of innovation and momentum.

Where Your Money Goes

Your contribution directly supports the identification and growth of 30+ social entrepreneurs who are using sport to drive systems change. The majority of your donation, 70%, goes straight to unrestricted grants that allow Fellows to focus fully on scaling their impact. Another 20% funds network-building to connect changemakers with peers, partners, and cross-sector collaborators, while 10% covers the cost of sourcing and due diligence. The fund is managed by experts in systems-change finance, and for a limited time, donations are matched by MacKenzie Scott to support Fellows in the Global South. The results speak for themselves: Ashoka Fellows’ annual organization budgets grow to be 2.5 times larger than their peers’ within 10 years of joining the Fellowship, proving that this investment model leads to sustainable, long-term impact.