Youth Venture Ashoka's

At a Glance

ouR VISION
Youth Venture’s vision is a world of everyone a changema-
ker through a global culture of young people initiating po-
sitive, lasting change. Imagine what a difference it would
make in the strength of our society and in our lasting im-
pact on the world if millions more people gave themselves
permission to be changemakers.

Through Charlotte’s Venture, SeniorConnect, teenage volunteers visit assisted
living facilities with laptop computers and help residents compose, send and
receive e-mails, while a bond forms between the young and old.
the movement
We bring together our Youth Venturers from around the
world into our Venturer community, with a common identity
as pioneers of youth-led change. Our Venture teams share
ideas, collaborate, and ultimately form a global movement
to redefine the youth years as a time of leadership and
positive social impact.

Youth Venture
What if everyone in the world took initiative to improve society?
What if instead of looking to others for leadership, everyone
stepped up, addressed social challenges and led positive
change?
Youth Venture believes that the most important contribution we
can make to the world is to increase its number of changemakers.
As our world becomes smaller and global problems become
bigger, we need changemakers now more than ever.
Youth Venture aims to inspire and support an entire generation
of young people around the world to become changemakers. We
believe it is critical that people discover early on in their lives
that they can lead social change, so we invest in young people to
design and lead their own ventures that create social impact. In This Venture team in Argentina uses art as a transformative tool. They
starting social ventures, young people learn the important skills engage children in low income areas to express themselves through
of leadership, entrepreneurship, teamwork and empathy, as well painting murals that, in turn, beautify their communities.
as other practical skills, as they form teams and run ventures
together. Young people also learn that they are powerful, and Youth Venturers “have a vision to
they will likely continue to take initiative and lead again and again
throughout their lives. change the world around them...
Established by Ashoka, the world’s leading association of social They are also willing to go that extra
entrepreneurs and the pioneer of the social entrepreneurship
movement, Youth Venture is working in 14 countries on five
mile and start their own venture...to
continents, and continues to grow. catalyze social change.”
- Times of India

www.genv.net
Youth Venture Ashoka's

At a Glance

How Youth Venture Works

Youth Venture invests in young people, enabling them to launch
their own sustainable social ventures, and then connects them
into a global network. The ventures are entirely youth-initiated
and youth-led. We reach out to young people and inspire them to
take initiative in their communities. Then we support our Ventur-
ers by providing guidance, tools, and a process for designing and
pitching their venture plans.

The Youth Venture Process

When the Venturer team is ready to launch, Youth Venture of-
fers:
• seed funding
• tools and support
• allies who provide mentoring and expertise
• ongoing tools and support (e.g. workshops, online forums,
how-to booklets)
• a supportive network of fellow Youth Venturers
• identity as part of the global Youth Venture movement
After the venture has launched, we work to stay continually in-
volved with the team, and we connect Venturers into a global fel-
lowship of like-minded young people, helping them see that they
are part of something bigger, catalyzing our movement. AYUDA is a youth-led Venture educating hundreds of children with
diabetes throughout Latin America.

Outreach “Dream it. Developing Building

and Do it.” Social Selection Venture the
Marketing Workshops Venture Panel Launch Movement

“The key factor for success of any human grouping –

be it a company or a country – will be the proportion of
changemakers it has to develop new ideas, take initiative
and LEAD.”
- Bill Drayton, Founder of Youth Venture

www.genv.net
Youth Venture Ashoka's

At a Glance

turtle talks
By age 12, Zander was already fighting to bring endangered sea
turtles back from the brink of extinction. He created “Turtle Talks,” a
workshop-based Venture to educate local Florida elementary school
students about turtle ecosystem and population conservation,
much of which while dressed in a loggerhead costume. These
workshops were so successful that within the course of a year,
Zander performed for audiences in Costa Rica, Panama, and
Trinidad. At age 15, he translated the workshops into a “Turtle
Talks” children’s book, which several conservation groups quickly
incorporated into their outreach efforts. Zander followed this
success with a new book about the endangered gopher tortoise.
Over 100,000 copies of Zander’s books have been printed and are
distributed to students around the world for free.

Merrimack biodiesel crew

Merrimack High School’s AP Chemistry class has proven that alternative
fuels are more accessible than most people think. These New Hampshire
students launched their Venture, the Merrimack Biodiesel Crew, and
immediately began converting an old school bus into something amazing.
Powered by waste vegetable oil and solar panels, the Crew’s bus is now
a model of carbon neutral self-sustainability. This mobile classroom
serves to educate the community about alternative fuels and eco-friendly
lifestyle choices. AYUDA is a youth-led Venture educating hundreds of children with
diabetes throughout Latin America.

dimwitnot.com
California high-schoolers Victoria and Vincent have revolutionized
the study hall experience by taking it online. The sister/brother
duo launched their Venture, dimwitnot.com, to make real-time
peer tutoring and homework help available to any junior high,
high school, or college student with an internet connection. The
site hosts online study halls in almost every subject; subjects that
don’t already exist can be created on demand. Students that are
academically strong are encouraged to apply to become volunteer
tutors or moderators. Some of the amazing dimwitnot.com features
include a virtual white-board on which users can draw or write out
homework questions and collaboratively solve them. Not only did
Victoria and Vincent create the website, they now volunteer as
dimwitnot tutors two hours a day, four days a week.

www.genv.net