The Elevate Prize Foundation is a global nonprofit on a mission to Make Good Famous. But what exactly do we mean by that?
The Elevate Prize Foundation was founded in 2019 by businessman, philanthropist, and author Joseph Deitch with a bold vision: to empower passionate purpose-driven leaders, activists, and innovators. Joe was inspired to drive change – not only through financial support, but by redefining fame, building powerful platforms and telling their stories in ways that resonate with audiences around the world.
Early on, Joe, together with our founding CEO Carolina Garcia Jayaram, identified a major gap in the social impact sector: almost no foundations were truly investing in the power of visibility.
But how can we ever expect to scale impact past a certain point if the public neither knows about nor champions it? Recognizing that these leaders often lack social impact visibility and the resources needed to scale their work, they built Elevate to provide not only funding but also storytelling, media, and cultural influence to drive lasting change. In sum, Elevate decided to lean in.
Who Currently Gets Visibility and Why
In a time where it seems like anyone can go viral and become famous (or at least get their 15 minutes of fame), it’s important to take a step back and look at who as a society we give our attention to. So many spaces and so much of our attention is given to brands and celebrities—from the billboards we drive by to our constant scrolling—our attention is often given to whoever can make the most noise or game the algorithms. While we may be (mostly) past the days of invasive paparazzi photos covering every magazine, we’ve entered the timeline where everyone has a camera always within reach and can easily become not only the paparazzi in a moment’s notice, but also the star of their own show.
For better or for worse.
But we’re here to support the “for better part” of that. What if Making Good Famous could be just as easy as making bad news famous? At a time when many nonprofits are forced to shy away from the spotlight, it’s often the most important stories that go untold. So we’re doubling down on our commitment to Make Good Famous and increase social impact visibility.
How Elevate Prize Foundation Flips the Script
And this is where Elevate comes in. In our work to redefine fame, we want to make social good visible by not just recognizing it, but elevating it—and, hopefully, inspire others to do even more good in the world in the process.
The Elevate Prize: Our signature award, the Elevate Prize recognizes 10 best-in-class social impact leaders who are driving transformative change around the world. We scour the planet, finding best-in-class changemakers, each of whom is uniquely poised to scale and deepen their impact. The award provides $300,000 of unrestricted funding and a global community, but it’s more than that—our support is designed to strategically catapult them to new heights and ignite unprecedented change.
We provide a 2-year tailored program designed to elevate winners’ platform, storytelling skills, and organizational effectiveness through support in three core areas: visibility, organizational growth, and Whole Leader. Our Make Good Famous and visibility support runs the gamut — from press pitching and public speaking development, to content capture or tailored social strategies and beyond. We meet winners where they are — and set them up with the right resources for success.
The results speak for themselves. Elevate’s focus on storytelling and visibility doesn’t just shine a spotlight. It opens doors, attracts resources, and fuels growth for our winners.
So far, that has been the case for Brilliant Cities, which saw an increase in donations after 2023 Elevate Prize winner Cindy Eggleton’s episode of Nevertheless debuted on YouTube through Elevate Studios.
Elevate Studios: Our new storytelling and production arm, Elevate Studios is an ecosystem for stories with purpose— stories that don’t just inform, but inspire action. This strategic arm actively elevates the voices of changemakers, amplifies multicultural perspectives, and drives cultural conversations forward to make doing good not just famous, but universal—woven into the fabric of everyday life.
Our first original docuseries from Studios, Nevertheless: The Women Changing the World, shined a spotlight on the women who persisted—extraordinary leaders who are spearheading profound impact across the globe. Each episode highlighted a trailblazing Elevate Prize winner who was driving transformative social, systemic, and cultural innovation, at a time when those in power sought to silence, sideline, and strip women of their influence. Since its release, the series garnered over 3 million views on YouTube, signaling the urgency and resonance of these stories. Nevertheless was a call to action, a celebration of resilience, and a powerful reminder that no matter the opposition, women continued to rise, lead, and write the future.
The Elevate Prize GET LOUD Award: This monthly award is all about getting local, getting organized, and of course, getting loud. A first-of-its-kind, the $25,000 monthly award is driven entirely by public nominations on Instagram based on a timely theme—no applications, no barriers. So far we’ve awarded $760,000 to 50 grantees in 13 countries!
The Elevate Prize Catalyst Award: This award recognizes prominent individuals who use their influence to inspire social action, providing $250,000 in unrestricted funding and practical resources to help them make even more impact. Recent winners include the characters of Sesame Street, Malala, Dwyane Wade, and Micheal J. Fox.
Getting our Good in the Wild
At Elevate, we believe social impact should be woven into the fabric of culture—visible, celebrated, and part of the air we breathe.
A critical component of our mission to Make Good Famous is our work to meet audiences where they are and build our own platform for good—which includes creating the headlines our winners deserve. As part of our public awareness campaigns, we are taking over spaces that, more often than not, are occupied by brands and celebrities and instead filling them with social entrepreneurs and their world-changing impact.
An example of this was how we announced our 2025 Elevate Prize winners to the world. From a full take-over of Times Square’s iconic “The Cube”, to partnerships we built including with the viral phenomenon of @dudettewithsign, we brought our winners into mainstream culture and showed the world that impact isn’t a side story—it’s a headline.
“Finding ourselves featured on a billboard in Times Square is such a huge moment. It’s amazing to see [the] Elevate Prize Foundation recognizing and amplifying the impact of our organization’s work,” winner Richard Casper shared on the Creativets Instagram. Some of our winners were even able to join us in New York City to see their billboard in person!When we make visibility a tool for justice and spotlight changemakers—from global activists to grassroots leaders—in ways that elevate their voices, increase their reach, and open doors, we’re able to slowly but surely redefine what fame means and Make Good Famous.
About the Elevate Prize Foundation
Founded by Joseph Deitch, the Elevate Prize Foundation empowers changemakers and social entrepreneurs with the visibility, funding, and support they need to Make Good Famous. Learn more at elevateprize.org.
