Our Partners

Partnership @ Ashoka UK

Given our global reach, corporate organisations are attracted to work with Ashoka when wanting to discover more about social innovation, and how the two areas might work together. These relationships are incredibly important to Ashoka in our quest to make everyone a changemaker. The leverage these partnerships allow means that our goal to reach as many people as possible happen much quicker.

Ashoka is a trusted brand, regarded as a neutral, honest, trusted partner for both business and the social sector. We encourage our partners to explore their own goals through Ashoka, and help plan programmes accordingly. We are already working in the UK with global brands such as Boehringer Ingelheim, Arthur Guinness Fund, Ben & Jerry’s, Hogan Lovells and Google in some of the following ways:

Sponsoring an Ashoka Changemakers Competition
Sponsoring an Ashoka Programme or Event
Executive in Residence
Social Entrepreneur in Residence
Providing pro bono support to Ashoka Fellows to help them accelerate change.

Ashoka UK's Corporate Partners:

	The Arthur Guinness Fund was launched in 2009 to further the legacy of Arthur Guinness and support social entrepreneurs around the world. To date Ashoka has elected 9 Fellows with the support of the Arthur Guinness Fund. All AGF fellows are supported in media and communications, strategic direction and have the opportunity to utilise local probono support in offices around the world.
	Ashoka and Ben & Jerry's have combined brilliance to source and select 'bright sparks' in 9 countries across Europe for their "Join Our Core" competition. 9 winning social entrepreneurs scoop themselves 6 months mentoring from Ashoka (through telephone and online meetings) to look at any challenges facing them in their business, and get our advanced leadership and advice to help their business grow and develop. To view more about the competition and 2012's winners, click here.
	Boehringer Ingelheim's 'Making More Health' is an initiative to promote healthy individuals, families and communities by identifying and supporting the most promising solutions to challenging health problems. Globally, this partnership will initiate the election of 50 new Fellows, host 2 Ashoka Changemaker competitions, and promote 300 youth entrepreneurs to tackle health problems. As well as integrated employee enagagement, Ashoka also works with BI's Strategy and Emerging Markets teams to identify trends, patterns and opportunities in the health field that could have long-term impact on BI’s core business.
	Between 2008 and 2011, Ashoka UK received a yearly grant from Barclays Capital to source, select and fund a number of Ashoka's social investment entrepreneurs - unique individuals that are developing innovative ways of efficiently delivering capital to the citizen sector
	Ashoka has collaborated with one of the most innovative corporations of our time, Google, to build a movement around the idea of information for all. This collaboration initiated an Ashoka’s Changemakers global competition to source innovations that develop media channels. With Google’s support, Ashoka selects 4 new Ashoka Fellows who have surfaced through the Changemakers competition engine. This partnership overall accelerates how technology supports social entrepreneurship across the globe, and works with UK Fellows specifically to boost technological capacity.
	Hogan Lovells is a leading international law firm that has a global partnership with Ashoka, providing pro bono legal advice to dozens of our Fellows around the world each year. Hogan Lovells also sponsors Ashoka’s pioneering social finance programme in the UK, helping Ashoka and its Fellows develop new models for financing social enterprise
	Latham & Watkins LLP provides pro bono legal assistance to Ashoka and Ashoka Fellows globally in a wide spectrum of transactional, litigation, corporate and regulatory areas. By providing pro bono legal services to our organization and our social entrepreneurs, Latham & Watkins LLP takes an active role in our communities and makes public interest issues an integral part of their practice of law.
	Thompson Reuters, through their foundation project Trust Law have partnered up with Ashoka to offer free pro bono legal work around the world. They work to connect those who need legal help with lawyers willing to work at no cost, all online and in one place. Our fellows can access this global network of leading legal practitioners, whatever and wherever their need. What makes it different? Trust Law help beneficiaries to describe their legal needs. We share their requests with our international community of pro bono lawyers and finally connect beneficiaries with the lawyers with whom they choose to work.
Ashoka UK's Channel Partners
Ashoka is proud to be a founding supporter of the Emerge Venture Lab, which was launched in 2011 by the Skoll Centre and Student Hubs to incubate the next generation of student-led social enterprises in the UK. 22 student-led Ventures have since been through the Lab, and Ashoka plays an active role in helping develop the curriculum and providing mentors and speakers to support the student venturers. UK Director Mark Cheng is a senior program advisor on the Emerge Venture Lab.
The Guardian Social Enterprise Network consistently provides Ashoka UK and our UK based fellows with media space and support, leveraging their network of tuned in social enterprise professionals to raise awareness of our fellows and their projects. Ashoka UK and/or our Fellows are alsofrequent guest writers for the 'Values Led Business' blog.
The Royal Society of Arts and Ashoka UK are now working in partnership, and the RSA has offered the opportunity of a year’s free Fellowship to our UK fellows.
Student Hubs works to transform student involvement in charitable activities, acting as a catalyst to empower and encourage students to become active members of their communities by promoting social action, philanthropy and volunteering. They are now the largest charity in the UK dedicated to increasing volunteering within higher education. They have Hubs across the UK and over 20,000 student members. Ashoka UK are supporting them with their continued expansion.