The Rockefeller Foundation is proud to announce the winners of The Rockefeller Foundation Storytelling Challenge - herox.com/RFSC.
After 4 weeks of judging, it was decided that, due to the quality of the highest scored submissions to the Projected Impact category (Grant #2), an additional $50,000 grant would be awarded. As a result, there are three recipients in the Rockefeller Foundation Storytelling Challenge.
The first grant of $50,000 for stories with measurable impact went to Global Minimum Inc. for their video “15-Yr-Old Kelvin Doe Wows M.I.T.”, distributed through the THNKR YouTube channel. The video capture Kelvin’s transformation from a self-taught engineer in Sierra Leone to becoming the youngest visiting practitioner at MIT. The video currently has 8.8 million views and enabled GMI to crowdfund $140,000.
Global Minimum Inc. is a 501(c)(3) charitable international organization that encourages young innovators and leaders in Africa to engage with critical thinking skills and hands-on learning programs to tackle challenges affecting their communities.
The second grant category, also for $50,000, features stories with projected impact. The judges were so impressed with the top 2 submissions that The Rockefeller Foundation decided to award a second $50,000 grant in that category.
Ashoka’s submission, “Everyone a Changemaker: The Story of Pinelands North”, tells the story of a changemaker school in South Africa. Ashoka is a citizen sector organization that supports over 3,000 leading social entrepreneurs across 70 countries.
Through the Changemaker Schools initiative, Ashoka will identify, celebrate and link schools that are redefining success beyond getting good grades. This video will be instrumental in that effort.
“We Have a Life in Kibera”, a film by Kounkuey Design Initiative and LightBox, seeks to undermine the stigma still given to a large slum in Kenya, which is starting to transform itself through citizen engagement and multiple initiatives, including the Kibera Public Space Project.
KDI is a design and community development organization that partners with communities living in extreme poverty to physically transform degraded environments, grow economic resilience, and build social cohesion. This video is the first in a series of content being developed to bring light to Kibera’s transformation.
By the close of the challenge, the RFSC had received 200 entries from 168 innovators. Submissions spanned a wide variety of formats from news and magazine articles to documentaries and video blogs to web applications and pamphlets.
The Rockefeller Foundation was delighted to see a high volume of challenge participants utilizing its Hatch For Good platform. Hatch is an online suite of toolkits where storytellers can find what they need to develop their stories and ensure that they have a significant reach and impact.
The Rockefeller Foundation would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the innovators who entered the challenge. While only three innovators were awarded the prizes in this challenge, there were so many other insightful solutions that we are confident that many of the innovators in this challenge will do great things in the future. Thank you for helping make this challenge a success.
