All students (aged 13-18) anywhere in the world can participate. Students must be comfortable reading/writing/speaking in English, and have access to an internet connection. NOTE: We are soon launching a course for changemakers 18+; stay tuned!

The deadline for students to register for the 2023-2024 program is September 15th, 2023.

Yes! We encourage students to participate inside or outside of school, at a youth group, or anywhere you have an internet connection and a supportive adult to be your team advisor. We host a 60-minute monthly Zoom call on the first Saturday of each month, at 10am PST, for all of our changemakers to come together, learn, connect, and get inspired.

We encourage teams of 2-5 students, however we will make exceptions for students who prefer to work alone.

The registration fee for students to participate is $100, which covers the entire four year program. This cost includes access to the online course platform, access to our live course every week throughout each school year, virtual support from mentors, eligibility for the Global Pitch competition, and the Changemaker Showcase event each year. We don't want cost to be a barrier to any student, so we offer full and partial scholarships to anyone who requests one, no questions asked.

The Changemaker Program program runs on a typical school year schedule, from September through June each year. Students must be registered by Sept. 15th, however, in order to participate. SPECIAL EVENTS: -Our Global Pitch competition happens in February each year, when finalists compete for funding for their projects. -Our Changemaker Showcase in June is the culminating event of the program, where we highlight and celebrate our most high-impact student projects.

A team advisor is an adult who supports a team. This can be a teacher, professor, parent, youth group leader, coach, or any other adult in the community.

The Changemaker Project is typically implemented as a school-wide program where students begin in their freshman year and continue the program until they graduate. The content can be delivered as a course on its own, offered during homeroom or other free periods, or integrated into an existing service-learning program, or any project-based learning course (English, Science, Computer Science, History, etc). Content can be molded to fit each school's needs and schedule quite easily, as it is designed to be flexible and supplement the content you already have. All students receive access to our online course portal where they can learn about a variety of issues affecting people and the planet and receive the tools they need to design their own social impact projects. While the online course is made to be easily accessible for students to complete modules on their own, we require each school to have at least one Team Advisor (can be a teacher, parent, or other capable adult) who can guide students through the program throughout the school year especially as they design and complete their action projects. In addition to the school-based activities, all students are encouraged to join our 60-minute monthly live calls (first Saturdays at 10am PST) to learn and connect with other students from around the globe.

Yes; most of them do!

Yes, we require teachers to go through an online course (about 2 hours) before teaching The Changemaker Project program. We also offer live trainings for teachers to meet one another, get their questions answered, and learn best practices for teaching our curriculum. Sign up on our teacher's page to find out about upcoming live trainings.

Classroom teachers do not need to complete background checks in order to advise teams, since they are already cleared through their school district. Everyone else (parents, youth leaders, etc.) will need to complete a Livescan background check report in order to ensure the safety of all students. If needed, we can reimburse team advisors for the cost of the background check (usually it costs around $20-25 and can be done at most copy shops.)

Final projects are judged based on the impact they make in solving a given problem in the world. All projects will be evaluated based on a rubric which will be released during the online course and outline the criteria that should be taken into consideration when designing your project.

Students can create any kinds of projects they dream up which solve a problem in the world! This could range from an act of service, an invention, an art project, a political action, an educational campaign, a technology product, or a startup. Check out our 2023 projects here.

Our deadlines for the 2023-2024 school year are as follows: Sept. 15th: Deadline for students to register Early Jan.: Project Proposals Due Late Jan.: Pitch videos due for Global Pitch May 15th: Final videos due for Changemaker Showcase inclusion

The amount of funding requested depends entirely on the scope of the project and what it requires in order to be successful. Smaller funding requests may be more likely to get funded, but it's also possible to obtain larger donations if the pitch is compelling and the funds are going to be put to good use. We will have some lessons in the online course dedicated to funding, to help students plan a budget for their projects and make funding requests that are appropriate for the scope of the work being done.

As part of our curriculum, we have each team create a GoFundMe page for their project. This allows them to begin the fundraising process for their project by utilizing their own network to secure funds. Although most of our teams get fully funded, we can support teams in revising their plans and budgets accordingly if they aren't able to secure all the funds they originally hoped for.

The Changemaker Project is now designed as a four-year program, which means that all students who register are automatically enrolled for four years unless they drop out. (We don't offer a discount for students who want to participate for less than four years.) If students graduate high school before their four years is up, they can continue their learning through our changemakers 18+ course for adult changemakers. Our goal is to foster a generation of youth who are capable, confident, and innovative leaders. We increased our program to four years in order to provide a more substantial and comprehensive leadership experience for our students, foster deeper friendships within our global community through our Zoom calls, and to help students to grow and develop into powerful leaders and changemakers over the course of the program.

Just email hello@thechangemakerproject.org (or fill in the box below) and we'll get right back to you!