Really trust young people to lead and give them decision making power; avoid upholding systemic inequalities that disempower young people.

When designing grants designated for young changemakers, co-create your strategies with young people from the word go, then during implementation involve them in key decisions.

As much as possible, give unrestricted funding, allow young grantees to respond and adapt to fast changing social and environmental problems.

One of the biggest challenges faced by young entrepreneurs is often covering the fixed costs of their organizations. Ensure that budgets can cover personnel and overhead costs.

Do not overlook the fact that some changemakers, especially those that self identify as marginalized, can struggle to cover basic costs of rent, food and medical supplies. Your consideration of granting personal living stipends can make a crucial difference.

Make applying for grants and support as easy as possible. Make reporting as easy as possible (Challenge: Can you cut it in half?).

Communicate your decision-making process transparently. Remain responsive towards young individuals that may not have proven successful in their application (and consider compensating them for the time they spend creating their proposal).

Provide support in the long run(Why end funding after three years if the job is not done yet?)

Re-evaluate your processes with a diversity and inclusion based perspective. Consider how to optimize processes for those who have poor internet connection or are not fluent in English.

Those who self identify as marginalized face even bigger hurdles to funding. Actively seek out grantees from under-represented groups and look beyond those who are most adept at proposal writing.

Whenever you invite young people to micro-engagements as speakers or advisors, ensure financial compensation for their time.

Do not neglect the option of directly funding local youth-led organizations, especially in areas where the biggest proportions of youth live, but access to funding is lowest.

There is a huge difference between meaningful and tokenistic engagement, ensure all your teams are well versed in this differentiation.

Most gatherings which are focused on developing policy (e.g. WEF, COP) are not facilitated or set up in a conducive way for young people to meaningfully contribute. Think about new, innovative and participatory event formats.

Re-evaluate all of your processes from a diversity and inclusion perspective. Consider how to improve processes for those who have poor internet connection or are not fluent in English.

Acknowledge young changemakers as contributors, innovators and knowledge-holders on the basis of their perspectives and experiences and give them a seat at the table which reflects this.

Empowering youth with full autonomy over decisions is a challenging form of participation in policy-making but should be aimed for when possible.

Try to involve young people at each stage of the policy cycle (design, planning, analysis, implementation and evaluation)

Many young social entrepreneurs have to use alternative legal structures which don’t reflect their hybrid business & impact models.

Improve the evidence base on youth-led initiatives. Incomplete data collection on youth driven impact is a barrier for both policy makers and the public to fully assess their challenges and impact.

Local municipalities are often critical ‘replication partners’ for social innovations but connections between them and young changemakers are rare.

Research shows the importance of starting out early in one’s changemaking journey. Current education policy and curricula however, do little to cultivate the skills necessary to effect social change.

Give visibility and recognition to young changemakers via awards and communication campaigns.

Many funders and ecosystem organizations are not used to the idea of compensating young people for micro-engagements. Help us to change their mindset on this by raising awareness!

Share spotlight and opportunities with your teams and ensure knowledge and resources are more equally spread.

Wellbeing inspires well-doing, you will ultimately not be able to sustain your impact if you cannot do so for yourself, and may burn-out.

We believe that this mantra from the world of entrepreneurship is even more pertinent to social change. Try not to become too attached to your own solution, but instead focus on the problem you are trying to tackle.

Social change is not about ‘innovating’ in a vacuum, it’s about fully understanding the problem and the people affected by it.

Beware of the temptation of the quick fix and look deeper at the roots of the problem you are trying to solve. Understand the system in which it is embedded.

Because of this systemic complexity, transformative impact simply cannot happen in isolation. Collaboration is the only way.

Don’t underestimate the power of finding a community of people who share your challenges and support each other.

Starting out, we are often trying to wear many hats and looking to gain experience quickly. Be mindful about what you agree to. Saying no is about prioritization, reducing opportunity costs and being more self-aware.

There is an abundance of existing support for young changemakers. From corporate mentoring to legal advice; seek it out and grab it!

The social and environmental problems we are facing are complex and fast-changing. The mindset with which we can tackle them is one which is always open to new ideas and approaches.

This is one of the most crucial traits of effective changemakers. This means being open to learning from others, self-reflecting, and confronting uncomfortable truths.