2023 Annual Report
For more than 35 years, Echoing Green has been on the front lines of solving the world’s biggest problems, raising up the transformational leaders willing to speak truth to power and challenge the status quo. We find emerging leaders with the best ideas for social innovation as early as possible and set them on a path to lifelong impact by funding, connecting, and supporting new generations of social impact leaders. Our community of nearly 1,000 Fellows—including past Fellows such as First Lady Michelle Obama and the founders of Teach For America, BlocPower, and One Acre Fund—is advancing racial equity, climate justice, economic opportunity, and more worldwide.
A Bold, Beautiful Tapestry of Change
“This year, I’m reflecting on this community’s remarkable impact and what has made it a beacon of belonging and strength for so many of us.
As systems of oppression continue to perpetuate inequities throughout the world, we must remember that we have strength in numbers, especially when we work together.”
Investing in bold leaders for nearly four decades
$54M+
invested in 920 Fellows
in 86 countries
$10B+
raised by Fellows
70%
of organizations we’ve funded are still in operation
80%
of Fellows remain in the social sector
Advancing Racial Equity
Echoing Green launched the Racial Equity Philanthropic Fund to ensure that today’s heightened awareness of racial inequity translates into sustained action in the social innovation field.
Check out the significant progress we’ve made on achieving the Fund’s goals.
Our Progress:
We’ve invested $12.6M in social innovators, achieving 60% of our goal.
Our Progress:
We’ve reached 6,900+ leaders through programming and workshops that elevate racial justice in their work, achieving 139% of our goal.
Our Progress:
We’ve engaged 9,860 corporate employees through workshops and skill sharing engagements with social entrepreneurs, achieving 99% of our goal.
Meet the 2023 Fellows
In 2023, we selected 20 new Fellows who are driving change to transform the world for the better. In one of Echoing Green’s most global cohorts to date, these leaders are launching and growing innovative social enterprises to address some of the world’s most urgent challenges, including maternal and infant mortality, inaccessible mental healthcare, and food insecurity in conflict-affected regions.
Fellows in their communities
This year, Echoing Green chronicled the work that Fellows are leading in their communities and offered insights into some of the biggest challenges social change leaders face.
Communities
Communities gives a rare glimpse into a day in the life of two Echoing Green Fellows — Ruchi Varma '20, founder of HumanQind, and Alex Bailey '21, founder of Black Outside, Inc. By seeing their transformational work up close, this video highlights the urgency and importance of investing in proximate leaders to strengthen communities and transform the world.
Watch the Film
The Big Shift
The Big Shift shares the ways that Echoing Green Fellows are driving change by shifting how we think, live, work, and collaborate. Four transformational social innovators, Rebecca Hui ’16, Dr. Deqo Mohamed ’21, Jason Wee ’22, and Alloysius Attah ’14, offer insights on major shifts that need to happen in the social sector to elevate the work of social entrepreneurs and greater systems change.
Watch the Film
Unwavering: The Power of Black Innovation
One year after its initial screening, Echoing Green publicly released Unwavering: The Power of Black Innovation. This short documentary is a snapshot of the hard truths Black founders face in building stable social enterprises. From surviving unpredictable funding to finding joy in expanding innovation and abundance in their communities, this film speaks truth to power in philanthropy and beyond.
Watch the Film
Echoing Green Community
Our Fellowship program supports the leadership journey of emerging social entrepreneurs from acceptance into the fellowship, throughout the 18-month program, and beyond as alumni. In 2023, we reconvened in-person for the first time since 2020. We also scaled follow-on investments made into our alumni community.
Reuniting the Echoing Green Community in Minneapolis
In June, the Echoing Green community gathered in Minneapolis, Minnesota for the All Fellows Convening. Serving as both a celebration of the newest Echoing Green Fellows and a reunion for those longing to reconnect with old friends, the Convening was a homecoming for the community at large.
Read more
New Follow-On Investments in the Echoing Green Community
This year, Echoing Green made its fifth round of follow-on funding investments. Since 2021, we’ve made more than 190 investments, totaling $6.5 million invested in Fellows addressing systemic issues that reinforce racial and ethnic disparities in their communities.
Read more
Key Events and Partnerships
In 2023, we elevated our work through partnerships, conferences, and events across a variety of sectors.
Echoing Green at Davos
Echoing Green President Cheryl L. Dorsey ‘92 was an official Delegate to the Forum, amplifying calls for supporting and resourcing proximate leadership and community-informed solutions throughout the week at The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
Read moreSocial innovation takes center stage at SXSW
Echoing Green staff and Fellows centered conversations about racial justice and social innovation at SXSW EDU and SXSW, one of the United States’ premier cross-disciplinary and multi-sector convenings of diverse leaders, creatives, and technologists.
Read moreBallmer Group, New Profit and Echoing Green Announce New Initiative to Invest in Black-Led Non-Profit Organizations
In May, Ballmer Group, Echoing Green, and New Profit announced $40M in seed funding for a new initiative to address the systemic funding gap for Black-led nonprofit organizations in the U.S.
Read moreCheryl L. Dorsey leads panel at Skoll WF
Echoing Green president and Skoll Foundation board member Cheryl L. Dorsey ‘92 led a panel discussion on hip hop and public health at the 2023 Skoll World Forum in Oxford, England.
WatchLooking to Ahead 2024
From selecting one of our most global Fellow cohorts yet to exceeding goals for the Racial Equity Philanthropic Fund, Echoing Green’s impact soared this past year.
And as we look ahead to the future, we’re eager to take what we’ve learned over nearly four decades to deepen our impact significantly. We’re excited to share that we’ve launched an important new initiative: The Signal Fund.
The Signal Fund is a founder-first capital solution for social innovators. Through The Signal Fund, Echoing Green invests risk capital at a critical stage in the lifecycle of existing Fellows’ organizations. In its initial round of investments, The Signal Fund distributed a total of $1.5 million in catalytic capital to five Fellows.
One of those Fellows is Laurin Leonard ‘18. After her technology company, R3Score, received a $250,000 patient working capital investment from The Signal Fund, Laurin is positioned to hit key milestones and secure a subsequent round of funding.
Looking ahead to 2024, we’re excited to share more about The Signal Fund, work with our partners to support more extraordinary Fellows, and invest in more bold, community-led solutions for change throughout the world.
Thank you to our supporters
Our deepest thanks to all our supporters, including the following donors and partners who contributed to our work in FY23 (July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023).
FY23 Donors $500,000 and Up
FY23 Donors $100,000 and up
Alignment Health
Amy and Dan Weiss
Barclays
BlackRock
Comic Relief USA
Dan Weiss and Amy Berkower Weiss
The Estée Lauder Companies Charitable Foundation
Godley Family Foundation
Guy and Kitty de Chazal
Jenny & Robbert Vorhoff
Joshua Mailman and Monica Winsor
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
The Wieseneck Family
Marc and Stacey Saiontz
Dr. Marie Kelly
The McCance Foundation
MetLife Foundation
Moody’s
Peggy Segal and David Topper
Public Welfare Foundation
Robert China and Tia Breakley
T. Rowe Price
UPS
William E. Ford
FY23 Donors $25,000 and up
Amgen Foundation
Andrew Kassoy and Margot Brandenburg
Andy & Mimi Crawford
Anonymous
Anton J. Levy
Aventiv Technologies, LLC
Bill Ackman and Neri Oxman
CFGI
Cowen
Cranemere
David and Lisa Issroff
Esther Benjamin and Family
GHR Foundation
Graves and Colleen Tompkins
John Burchett
The John P. & Anne Welsh McNulty Foundation
KKR
Linde
Drs. Lori & Brett Zbar
Mario Morino
Martín and Daniela Escobari
Maurice Amado Foundation
Maya Ajmera and David Hollander
Melinda Wolfe and Kenneth Inadomi
Miranda Family Fund
Pace Able Foundation
Paul and Stephanie Stamas
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
Rene and Marie-France Kern
Revolve Fund
Ritu and Ajay Banga
Sandeep & Bhakti Naik
Stephanie and Aaron Goldman
Union Square Advisors
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