On World Entrepreneur Day, we recognize the essential role of social entrepreneurs and acknowledge the barriers they face in building, launching, and sustaining social impact initiatives. Community-led change is often the foundation for systems change.
At Panorama, we are committed to lowering barriers and shortening the learning curve for emerging changemakers to launch and scale innovative solutions. Supporting social change leaders in the early stages, especially those from historically excluded communities, strengthens the sector and creates an outsized impact.
Social change is possible because of the social entrepreneurs who innovate to address complex challenges like gender equity, climate change, and mental health. These bold and persistent changemakers lead community-based initiatives, nonprofit organizations, and B Corporations, all while forging a more inclusive and sustainable world.
Every investment-worthy organization starts with an idea. Yet, many social entrepreneurs struggle to access the necessary resources and knowledge, often working in isolation. As a result, too many potentially world-changing ideas fail, not because of merit but because of insufficient funding and access to tools and support networks. While some competitive fellowships and fee-for-service programs exist, the quantity of innovative projects seeking support far exceeds the limited fellowship spots.
To address these challenges, Panorama develops resources to increase the understanding of needs, barriers, and gaps that changemakers face and improve how funders, investors, and the broader ecosystem support idea- and early-stage initiatives. For example, the Accelerating Social Change Leadership initiative builds knowledge and community and strengthens the pipeline of social entrepreneurs seeking financial backing. Supporting social entrepreneurs strengthens the sector overall.
As a platform for social change, Panorama accelerates change at the individual, organizational, and ecosystem-wide levels through coaching, peer learning communities, sharing sector-wide insights, and more. We are honored to support leaders and organizations in improving their communities with forward-thinking approaches.
Panorama is proud to work with some remarkable partners that are driving systems change. The Type 1 Diabetes Community Fund grantee partners are improving the lives of people with type 1 diabetes in low-and-middle-income countries. Our Upswing Fund for Adolescent Mental Health partners are making mental health resources and support for youth more accessible. Additionally, the cohort members in the Accelerating Social Change Leadership initiative includes the next generation of leaders who are pioneering innovative solutions to pressing social challenges.
For these changemakers and more, we launched an online resource hub in partnership with Phillips Foundation: SPARK: Social Purpose Action Resource Kit. Created by and for early-stage social entrepreneurs, SPARK is designed to shorten the learning curve and transform ideas from vision to reality. This open-access platform creates a more equitable and effective social change sector by enabling entrepreneurs to focus more on their mission and less on the search for the right guidance.
Early-stage social entrepreneurs need more than a shortened learning curve to launch and sustain social change initiatives. They need access to funding.
We invite you to reflect on this question that guides our work:
What would our world look like if the early-stage social entrepreneurs facing the most barriers were both mentored and sufficiently funded?
Reach out to us if you’d like to partner in this essential work, on World Entrepreneur Day and every day.
