Craig Newmark, using a customer service approach, has leveraged the internet to revolutionize how people and organizations connect.

Grocer-philosopher John Mackey wanted to change the way the country eats when he co-founded Whole Foods Market in 1980; with his philosophy of Conscious Capitalism, he proposes to change the way we do business around the world.

Building a healthcare movement, physician-anthropologist Paul Farmer has dedicated his life to treating some of the world's poorest populations, in the process helping to raise the standard of health care for the destitute sick everywhere.

An ordained minister and human rights lawyer, Karen Tse is building a global movement of justice-makers to end torture in the 21st century by strengthening the rule of law at both the grassroots and systemic levels.

With an emphasis on capital, talent and knowledge, Acumen Fund is working to build transformative businesses, create new leadership for the social sector and change the development paradigm.

Maximizing the value of organizations and capital is the fundamental challenge of our lives-yet traditional thinking asks us to accept that financial value and social/environmental impact are fundamentally at odds. Jed Emerson begs to differ-and has spent his life showing the world examples of an alternative path.

From witnessing first-hand the deep need for guiding more of this nation's low-income college-capable talent to college, J.B. Schramm has built the nation's largest school-wide college-access program.

Thinking big and scaling up: BRAC's approach to social change. Started in 1972 in Bangladesh, BRAC provides financial, health, and education resources to people in extreme poverty. They are now one of the world's largest development NGO's, having made $4 billion in microfinance loans to over 6 million borrowers without collateral.

Physician-Anthropologist Paul Farmer has dedicated his life to treating some of the world's poorest populations, in the process helping to raise the standard of health care for the destitute sick everywhere.

With a simple idea and the power of the world wide web, idealist.org is connecting people, organizations and resources to help build a world where all people can live free and dignified lives.