We recently connected with AnnaLise Hoopes and have shared our conversation below.

Hi AnnaLise, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

I started The Changemaker Project because I believe in the power of young people to change the world. Youth today are passionate about making the world a better place, but they don’t always know where to begin. We provide a pathway where youth (and now—in our new Visionaries Institute—adults!) can take their ideas and passion and create a meaningful impact on an issue they care about. We provide the tools, mentorship, and funding that changemakers need to make a difference.

AnnaLise, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

We help changemakers around the world create social impact projects. Over the last six years, we’ve engaged thousands of students from 35+ countries to make positive change in their communities.

The Changemaker Project is a social justice challenge for youth (and now adults!) Students learn about important problems in the world, work in teams to develop and implement innovative solutions alongside mentors, and compete for funding from real philanthropists who want to invest in their projects.

We partner with middle schools, high schools, and youth-serving organizations to reach diverse young people around the world. Every month, we host live Changemaker Workshops where students from around the world can come together, discuss social issues, receive mentorship on their projects, and form cross-cultural friendships.

In February, we host a Global Pitch event, where teams of youth present their ideas to win project funding from our global community of philanthropists. The vast majority of projects that compete for funding at Global Pitch are fully funded, which gives our students an incredible boost of confidence—to know that donors around the world believe in their work and want to support it.

Over the next three months, we mentor students as they launch and execute the projects with the funding they received. Along the way, we provide leadership development lessons to help students cultivate the qualities of vision, confidence, initiative, empathy, and resilience to help them grow into successful changemakers. The program culminates in a Changemaker Showcase event, where students present their finished projects and the impact they’ve made.

Whether it’s solving anemia in India, improving sanitation in Ghana, tackling climate change in Italy, fighting factory farming in the US, or tackling racial injustice everywhere—our students are working hard to solve important problems in their communities. Our work is to plant seeds of change on every continent in the form of young people taking action to build a better world.

As I mentioned, we’ve also recently launched a Visionaries Institute for adult changemakers of all ages to receive training, mentorship, and funding as they launch social impact projects. We are excited to see what this year’s cohort comes up with, as they are working on some very high-impact initiatives. Join us for our Changemaker Showcase on June 2nd to see all the teams’ final projects at our Changemaker Showcase event!

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I am a huge fan of Zoe Weil’s work—her books: The Power and Promise of Humane Education, and The World Becomes What We Teach had a huge impact on my life and career path. She also has a wonderful TEDx talk.

My mindfulness practice (which I think informs a lot of my work) is based on the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, so I have a large collection of his books that have inspired me over the years.

Another book that influences the way I work is Cal Newport’s A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload. He makes an excellent case for reducing reliance on email and communicating in a more strategic way, which has helped me a lot with focus and productivity.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

At The Changemaker Project, we place a high value on connection and wellbeing. In all of our team meetings, board meetings, and workshops, we start with a mindfulness activity and an empathy circle to help everyone feel grounded, present, and connected. We end with appreciations—going around the circle and sharing what we appreciate about one another. I think these little routines make a big difference in the long run, in terms of making people feel cared for and acknowledged for their hard work. Running a nonprofit isn’t easy, so it’s important for me that my team feels appreciated—even for the little things.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thechangemakerproject.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/we_make_change_/
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/wemakesocialchange
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thechangemakerproject
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/we_make_change_
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thechangemakerproject