# Changemappers

> Connecting changemakers.

# Summary
Changemakers want to solve big social problems. Changemappers helps them find & support other changemakers, social causes, communities & organisations to achieve long-lasting impactful systemic change.

> "The narrative of hope, possibility and regeneration is existing in small forms and in so many places across the planet right now. Yet these places and these changemakers are often not connected to each other and are often not equipped with the right methods and tools that would allow them to take their initiatives to the next level." - **Otto Scharmer**


# Our Story

Gaspar Incze: I started in late 2019 out of a realisation (following the failure of my first social startup, later public benefit foundation called SpeechAngel) that we changemakers, alone, are doomed for failure.
I talked to social innovators, students, volunteers, leaders, scientists, and others to understand their world, their perspectives.

In parallel, in Sept 2021 I have reached out to Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Budapest, Hungary about a potential cooperation.
In 2022 we built our partnership, in 2023 we had an extensive round of interviews, in 2024 we continued with bulding a prototype. It was all along visible that we can go very slowly due to lack of funding but we progress step by step using time what we have.

In late 2023 I have applied to the u.lab 2x program (thanks to Phil!), later met with Gyuri and Anna on the way.
Together we discussed, shifted the focus even more inwards, did a Map of Meaning workshop and most importantly, started to embody more and more the world we want to live in.

I am also in frequent contact with several informal groups, e.g. love-based economy, self-organised groups engaged in local civic activites, and members of the Hungarian Innovation and Talent Council. Together we experience transformation through our interactions and these are all reflected in the evolution of the system design...

Everything around Changemappers is free and open source to benefit all humanity, the planet, and beyond.

See: https://changemappers.org/about/

# Massive Transformative Purpose (MTP)

ChangeMappers stands as a beacon of hope and action, blending local impact with global connectivity to drive systemic societal change. Our Massive Transformative Purpose (MTP) is to empower and unite changemakers worldwide, offering not only shared knowledge and collaboration but also crucial mental-emotional support and resources for growth, systemic thinking and volunteer engagement.

### Core Principles of Changemappers' MTP:

https://hackmd.io/@jovokepzok/changemappers-whitepaper

# Elevator Pitch

### Who this is for
People already doing the work. Community organizers, grassroots innovators, independent changemakers who show up consistently for systemic change, often without pay, often without institutional support, often without knowing that others nearby are doing the same thing.

### The problem
Most changemakers work in isolation. They reinvent solutions that already exist somewhere else. They burn out not because the work is too hard, but because carrying it alone eventually becomes unsustainable. The resources, the knowledge, the people who would understand are out there. They just cannot find each other.

### The response
Changemappers connects people working toward systemic change by values, energy, needs, skills, location, interest, and availability. Not networking for its own sake -- matching that helps people find the allies, knowledge, and resources their work actually needs. And over time, helps them understand more clearly what their work actually is.

### What already exists
Facebook groups, Quora, Stack Exchange, Minds, SDGs in Action, Steem. Jodel and Nextdoor solve proximity but not purpose. None are designed around the specific needs and developmental journey of people working for systemic change.

### What Changemappers does
A platform where people dedicated to systemic change can connect to self (vertical development), nature, find each other, document solutions, and organize around shared purpose. Map-centered. Open-source. Built around the changemaker's actual work, not engagement metrics.

### What makes it different
Purpose-built for changemakers, not adapted from general social infrastructure. Self-organization as a design principle. A map-centered interface that makes local and global work visible simultaneously. Privacy-first, transparent, open-source architecture. Timed to a moment when the need is acute and the tools are available.

### Sustainability
Volunteer contribution and donations sustain the platform. Certified ethical organizations can participate through a transparent, non-extractive model.

### How it gets built
Generative Action Research and Design Thinking, in partnership with universities. MVP development followed by community validation and crowdfunding.

### Funding
Direct community building and crowdfunding. B-corps, EU programs, UN agencies, foundations, and philanthropists aligned with systemic change.

### Scale
An estimated 30 million people worldwide, over 3,400 B-corps, and approximately one million organizations working toward systemic change -- aligned with and moving beyond the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals through the 30 Regenerative Development Goals (RDGs), an innovative framework built for what sustainability alone can no longer achieve.

### How it spreads
Direct outreach. Viral sharing through demonstrated value. Strategic partnerships with aligned networks, including the Presencing Institute through the MITx u.lab Theory U course.

---

# **Changemappers Analysis through the 80.000 hours model**

https://80000hours.org/

## **1. Scale (Significance)**
### **How important is the problem, and how many people does it affect?**

- **Bridging Global Insights with Local Actions**
- One of the biggest challenges in social innovation is that **local initiatives often remain isolated** and fail to leverage global knowledge.
- A system that effectively connects global insights with local actions can **increase the efficiency and innovation potential of local projects**.

- **Fostering Systemic Change**
- Many social initiatives provide **symptomatic relief rather than addressing root causes**.
- A system that supports deep learning, systemic thinking, and strategic impact can **significantly enhance the effectiveness of changemakers**.

- **Transforming the Volunteering Experience**
- Finding and coordinating volunteers is often **time-consuming and inefficient**, which limits the impact of resource-constrained initiatives.
- A platform that **matches volunteers with projects based on values, skills, and personal growth goals** can foster more meaningful and sustainable engagement.

#### **Key Metrics for Scale:**
- **How many social innovators and volunteers are actively seeking learning and networking opportunities?**
- **How many local projects could benefit from global insights and expertise?**
- **How effective are existing solutions in addressing these needs?**

**Conclusion:** The problem is **highly significant**, as improving support systems for changemakers can amplify local efforts and create broader global impact.

---

## **2. Neglectedness**
### **How neglected is the problem?**

- Existing platforms (e.g., **Ashoka, Echoing Green, Skoll Foundation**) focus on social innovation, but they are often **exclusive and not accessible to all changemakers**.
- There is **a gap in integrating global and local knowledge-sharing**, leaving many innovators disconnected from valuable resources.
- Volunteer recruitment and coordination tools exist, but few provide **value-based matching** or opportunities for skill-building alongside social impact.

#### **Key Metrics for Neglectedness:**
- **How many open-access platforms exist for supporting changemakers?**
- **How effective are current volunteer coordination systems?**
- **How many initiatives actively facilitate global-local knowledge exchange?**

**Conclusion:** The problem is **still largely neglected**, particularly in terms of **accessible, inclusive platforms for learning, networking, and action-oriented collaboration**.

---

## **3. Solvability (Tractability)**
### **How feasible is it to address the problem?**

Potential solutions include:
- **Open-access mentorship networks** for social innovators.
- **A digital platform** for global-local knowledge exchange and collaboration.
- **Smarter volunteer-matching systems** based on values and skill development.
- **Integrated learning modules** to enhance changemakers’ strategic thinking and effectiveness.

#### **Key Metrics for Solvability:**
- **How many changemakers participate in new, open learning and mentorship networks?**
- **How many projects see measurable improvements using enhanced knowledge-sharing and volunteer platforms?**

**Conclusion:** The problem is **solvable** with existing technology and organizational strategies, but solutions need to be **integrated and widely accessible** to maximize impact.

---

## **Final Summary**

| Criterion | Rating (1-5) | Explanation |
|------------------|------------|-------------|
| **Scale** | ★★★★★ (5/5) | Improving support systems for changemakers can drive global impact. |
| **Neglectedness** | ★★★★☆ (4/5) | Existing initiatives are limited and not inclusive for all changemakers. |
| **Solvability** | ★★★★☆ (4/5) | The right tools and strategies exist, but integration is key. |

➡ **Recommendation:** Develop a **comprehensive, open-access platform** that:
1. **Connects changemakers with global knowledge and local project opportunities.**
2. **Enhances volunteer engagement through value-based matching and skill development.**
3. **Supports systemic thinking and long-term impact strategies.**

## Systemic issues

* [Rising inequality affecting more than two-thirds of the globe, but it’s not inevitable: new UN report](https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/01/1055681)

Here is an English summary of the evaluation of the recommended research questions and their gaps in low-resource changemaker environments:

***

## Evaluation of Research Questions and Gaps in Low-Resource Changemaker Environments

**Main finding:** Most of the recommended research questions are moderately to severely underexplored in the context of social innovators and changemakers. The largest knowledge gaps lie in developing operational, scalable, and low-cost solutions, particularly for volunteer-driven and paradigm-shifting projects.

1. **Trust Dynamics Among Changemakers and "Trust Passport" Systems**
Research score: 25/100
Existing passport systems focus mostly on theoretical or financial sectors. There are no specific community trust passport frameworks tailored for changemakers.
Current top insights:
- Trust builds on mutual commitment and verified past collaborations.
- Decentralized authentication (e.g., blockchain-based digital credentials) is key.
- Context-specific feedback integrated dynamically into reputation indexes.
Major gap: Low-cost, easily deployable digital infrastructure standards.

2. **Antifragile and Hackproof Evaluation Systems for Community Decisions**
Score: 30/100
Concept of antifragility appears in digital health interventions but lacks accepted metrics in social innovation.
Current top insights:
- Agile, iterative feedback loops addressing weaknesses and resource constraints.
- Open, auditable records (e.g., public changelogs) to enhance hackproof nature.
- Collective intelligence ranking aggregating participant evaluations.
Major gap: Unified, customizable, low-cost platforms.

3. **Measuring Knowledge and Value Contribution in Volunteer Teams**
Score: 20/100
Mostly corporate internal frameworks exist; almost none for community volunteer groups.
Current top insights:
- Peer-to-peer 360° evaluations with simple digital forms.
- Gamified badge systems to make contributions visible.
- Project-based KPIs, e.g., task completion points.
Major gap: Non-bureaucratic, motivation-honoring measurement tools.

4. **Matchmaking Mechanisms for Diverse Changemakers**
Score: 35/100
Some business/nonprofit matchmaking platforms exist (e.g., Social Innovation Match), but no specialized algorithms for changemakers.
Current top insights:
- Weighted keyword matching based on volunteer profiles.
- Clustering by shared values, competence, and mission.
- Live moderated “speed dating” roundtables.
Major gap: Automated tools that work offline and in low-internet settings.

5. **AI in Changemaker Personal and Collective Development Plans**
Score: 40/100
AI is used widely in coaching and HR but lacks tailored solutions for social innovators.
Current top insights:
- NLP-based self-reflection helpers with structured questioning.
- Adaptive learning pathways based on skill profiles.
- Predictive analytics on project success odds.
Major gap: Offline, community-based, free AI tools deployable on mobile devices.

6. **Long-Term Evolution of Distributed, Open Collaboration Platforms**
Score: 50/100
Wikipedia's long-term study is exemplary but independent research on other platforms is sparse.
Current top insights:
- Dual governance models (technical + community).
- Self-sustaining funding mechanisms (e.g., micro-donations).
- Formalized member conflict resolution procedures.
Major gap: Longitudinal, multi-platform comparative studies.

7. **Trends and Strategies in Paradigm-Shifting Initiatives**
Score: 45/100
Several case studies and synthetic reviews exist but less focus on low-resource groups.
Current top insights:
- Network-based resource-sharing models.
- Open-source resource kits (e.g., GitHub).
- Twin local-global partnership projects.
Major gap: Measuring scalable, low-cost mentoring program effectiveness.

**Summary:** Low-resource changemaker and volunteer-driven paradigm-shifting projects face critical deficits in **pragmatic digital or hybrid tools and collaborative standards** that are simultaneously:

- Low-cost and easy to implement
- Open-source and auditable
- Culturally adaptive and offline-capable

Focusing research and development on these deficits could drive the greatest practical innovation and knowledge advancement.

***

Sources:
- [PMC article on antifragility](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9206209/)
- [Social Innovation Match platform](https://socialinnovationplus.eu/social-innovation-match-sim/)
- [Sciencedirect article on social innovation](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004016252500191X)
- Additional references on digital trust systems, matchmaking, and AI applications:
- [Changemakers – A Guide for Empowering Students as Researchers (York St John University)](https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/media/content-assets/research/institute-for-social-justice/Changemakers---A-Guide-for-Empowering-Students-as-Researchers.pdf)
- [The Possibilists 2025 Report](https://thepossibilists.org/2025report/)
- [Restless Development / Wellcome Trust Research Report (2022)](https://restlessdevelopment.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Welcome-Trust-Research.pdf)
- [Blueprint for Changemakers (ChangeLab Solutions, 2019)](https://www.changelabsolutions.org/sites/default/files/2019-04/Blueprint-For-Changemakers_FINAL_201904.pdf)
- [The Possibilists 2023 Global Study](https://thepossibilists.org/2023-study/)
- [Canadian Index of Wellbeing](https://wellbeingindex.ca)
- [Community Changemakers – Eric Sandelands Substack](https://ericsandelands.substack.com/p/community-changemakers)
- [Johnson & Johnson – Health Equity Changemakers Awardees](https://www.jnj.com/media-center/press-releases/top-local-changemakers-addressing-health-equity-gaps-across-the-u-s-named-johnson-johnson-health-equity-innovation-challenge-awardees)
- [IAS – Closing Scientific Gaps (International AIDS Society)](https://www.iasociety.org/closing-scientific-gaps)

# Inspiration

https://hackmd.io/@jovokepzok/inspiration-sources

# What is next?

## 1. System Design Insights

**a) Consider and build GAR principles into the platform itself**

* **Self-sustaining**: mechanisms for peer-to-peer exchange of value (timebanking, skills exchange, microfunding, DAO-like models).
* **Self-improving**: pattern library of what works, updated continuously by participants (wiki + AI-supported synthesis).
* **Self-evolving**: adaptive recommendation engine that surfaces new practices and connections across contexts.
* **Self-propagating**: plug-and-play kits, story packs, and community seeds so local groups can replicate Changemappers anywhere.

**b) Encode the “Trifocal Lens”**

* **1st-person**: personal dashboards (goals, reflections, journaling prompts).
* **2nd-person**: dialogue tools, structured generative conversations, facilitated by AI (like “pattern weaver bots”).
* **3rd-person**: open knowledge base that integrates research, case studies, and curated systemic insights.

**c) Relational + aesthetic layer**

* Storytelling, art, and playful myth-building woven into the interface. Example: framing projects as “expeditions” with narrative arcs instead of just task lists.

**d) Methodological pluralism baked in**

* Allow communities to choose their “lens of engagement” (e.g. indigenous wisdom, integral, systems science) but keep results translatable into a shared meta-pattern language.

**e) Governance / holarchy**

* Nested circles: personal → local → regional → global.
* Stakeholder councils with rotating participation.
* Sociocracy + pattern-based decision-making captured digitally.

---

## 2. Fundraising & Global Implementation Insights

**a) Positioning for funders**

* Frame Changemappers as *“a Generative Action Research platform for planetary-scale transformation.”*
* Stress *multiple yields*: funders get innovation capacity (knowledge), scalable systemic practices (impact), and collective evolution (legacy).
* Highlight **GAR + Collaborative Hybrid Intelligence (AI as partner)** as a differentiator from traditional networks.

**b) Fundraising pathways**

* **Philanthropy**: target metamodern-aligned donors
* **EU/Global Grants**: Horizon Europe, innovation labs.
* **Corporate social innovation funds**: tech + consulting firms eager to link ESG with systemic change.
* **Community crowdfunding**: Kickstarter/Patreon-style for early adopter changemakers.

**c) Movement-building next steps**

1. **Prototype hub**: Pick one region as a microcosm to test GAR cycles.
2. **Document patterns**: Start the interactive pattern library with these early cycles.
3. **Amplify stories**: Use podcasts, storytelling, and short narrative videos to share breakthroughs.
4. **Launch a global convening**: online “Changemappers Summit” to align systemic innovators worldwide. Use it to:
* showcase early prototypes,
* attract new partners,
* crowdsource the global roadmap.
5. **Iterative scaling**: each cycle expands scope and participants — true to GAR’s cyclic principle.

**d) Practical platform steps**

* MVP:

* Profiles with personal → local → global mapping.
* Pattern library (seeded with a few working practices).
* Facilitation tools (group decision support, storytelling templates).
* Later:

* AI co-facilitators, visual system maps, integration with other platforms (e.g. Hylo, Kumu).

---

## 3. Strategic Positioning

* **Narrative hook**: “Changemappers is not just a platform. It is a *living research movement* — each action creates knowledge, each breakthrough becomes replicable, and each community fuels the next.”
* **Differentiation**: Unlike classic networks (that connect but don’t transform), Changemappers is **generative**: self-sustaining, self-improving, self-evolving, self-propagating.
* **Global-local bridge**: highlight the ability to translate hyperlocal experiments into scalable systemic innovations.

# How could you help?

https://changemappers.org/contribute/

## Links

Work-in-progress, draft user stories, architecture and other system-related topics:
* https://hackmd.io/@jovokepzok/changemappers-whitepaper
* https://hackmd.io/@jovokepzok/your-journey-as-changemaker
* https://hackmd.io/@jovokepzok/changemappers-jobs-to-be-done
* https://hackmd.io/@jovokepzok/architectures-of-emergence
* https://hackmd.io/@jovokepzok/modern-archetypes
* https://hackmd.io/@jovokepzok/community-archetypes
* https://hackmd.io/@jovokepzok/regenerative-peer-support
* https://hackmd.io/@jovokepzok/regenerative-developmental-goals
* https://hackmd.io/@jovokepzok/idg-and-beyond
* https://www.u-school.org/g/teams/bb49a4f4-84bf-4d06-b303-f0fd335ada7a
* https://hackmd.io/@jovokepzok/networks
* https://hackmd.io/@jovokepzok/changemappers-ai
* https://hackmd.io/@jovokepzok/changemappers-dev

# **Let's connect!**
* You can write to the mail list: [e-mail]
* Contributors can join: https://groups.google.com/g/changemappers
* https://changemappers.org/contribute/
* **Fill the survey: https://forms.gle/KQJBNcRj4tm2Jq8d9**
* Contact Gaspar Incze
* hello at inczegaspar dot hu
* https://www.linkedin.com/in/inczegaspar/