Changing Worlds
Changing Worlds is a Chicago-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded circa 1998 that delivers artist-led arts education and literacy programming to underserved Chicagoland students through school and community partnerships, funded primarily by tax-deductible donations and supplemented by merchandise and public-art sales.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1998
- HeadquartersChicago, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Changing Worlds does
Changing Worlds is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (Federal EIN 36-4340874) founded circa 1998 and headquartered at 231 South LaSalle St., Suite 2100, Chicago, IL. Its mission is to deliver equitable access to arts education and literacy programming for underserved Chicagoland students through artist-led educational programming. The organization deploys working teaching artists and literacy specialists directly into partner schools and community organizations, paying artists living wages, and extends its impact through the multi-platform Ten Thousand Ripples (TTR) public art project — a collaboration with artist Indira Freitas Johnson that places Buddha sculptures in parks, plazas, libraries, and other public spaces across Chicago to catalyze community conversations about peace and nonviolence.
The underlying operating model is human-capital intensive rather than technology driven: there is no proprietary software platform, AI system, or developer-facing API. Public-facing technology is limited to a Squarespace-hosted website (changingworlds.org) and a NeonCRM-powered online storefront for donations, greeting card and poetry book purchases, and Buddha sculpture sales. Programmatic documentation is published via annual reports (FY2015–FY2023) and the Ten Thousand Ripples booklet (updated 2018). The organization also runs a Social Justice program and a Volunteer program offering one-time, short-term, and long-term engagement opportunities.
Revenue is primarily generated through tax-deductible donations, supplemented by a small earned-revenue line from Ten Thousand Ripples Buddha sculptures (priced at $500 for a small and $2,000 for a large sculpture, with optional fee-based community engagement facilitator sessions) and from greeting cards designed by Indira Johnson or Changing Worlds students and poetry books. The go-to-market is community-led rather than sales-driven: programs are delivered through partnerships with Chicagoland schools and community organizations, and awareness is built via the website, annual reports, an email newsletter, community events, and volunteer recruitment. Donor and program revenue figures are not publicly disclosed in the supplied source material.
Changing Worlds firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Changing Worlds
- Legal name
- Changing Worlds
- Website
- https://changingworlds.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1998
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Changing Worlds is a Chicago-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded circa 1998 that delivers artist-led arts education and literacy programming to underserved Chicagoland students through school and community partnerships, funded primarily by tax-deductible donations and supplemented by merchandise and public-art sales.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Changing Worlds industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Community Arts Education
- SIC
- Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Virtual World Language & Electives Providers (K–12) (EDAJADAK)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Digital Arts & Design (Graphic Design, Illustration, Animation) (EDAMAAAB), Personal Enrichment & Creative Arts Programs (EDAAAEAG), Change Management & Transformation (Org/HR) (BPACAJAD)
Keywords
Where Changing Worlds is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Chicago
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Changing Worlds business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Others, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Tax-Deductible Donations: Core nonprofit revenue stream. Donations are tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by law under 501(c)(3) status. Federal EIN 36-4340874. Processed via NeonCRM online form.
- Buddha Sculpture Sales: Sale of Ten Thousand Ripples Buddha sculptures. Small Buddha approximately 8.5"x8.5"x8.5", ~5 lbs, priced at $500. Large Buddha 28.5"x28.5"x28.5", ~15 lbs, priced at $2,000. Proceeds support youth art, culture, and literacy programs.
- Greeting Card and Poetry Book Sales: Sale of unique greeting cards designed by Indira Johnson or Changing Worlds students, plus poetry books. Available via NeonCRM donation form.
- Community Engagement Facilitator Fees: Additional fee charged when purchasers of Buddha sculptures request community engagement facilitators to lead conversations about peace and nonviolence.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Small Buddha sculpture |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Large Buddha sculpture |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Greeting cards and poetry books |
| Other | Pay-as-you-go | Donations |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels6 records
Changing Worlds product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Changing Worlds delivers artist-led educational programming and literacy specialist services to underserved Chicagoland K-12 students in partner schools and community organizations. The organization also operates the Ten Thousand Ripples multi-platform public art project featuring emerging Buddha sculptures across Chicago, and sells related greeting cards, poetry books, and sculptures through its own NeonCRM storefront to fund programs.
Product overview
Changing Worlds operates as a single unified nonprofit arts education organization rather than a platform-plus-modules product architecture. Its offerings consist of the School and Community Programs (the core program of artist-led educational programming and literacy specialist services for Chicagoland students), the Social Justice program (advocacy and equity-focused arts initiatives), the Ten Thousand Ripples (TTR) multi-platform public art project (a collaboration with artist Indira Freitas Johnson), and ancillary services including a Volunteer program, a Donations/Cards and Poetry Books storefront, and published Annual Reports. Together these programs deliver the organization's mission of using art to transform underserved communities.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Ten Thousand Ripples: Multi-platform public arts project undertaken as a collaboration between artist Indira Freitas Johnson and Changing Worlds, featuring emerging Buddha sculptures placed in parks, plazas, alleys, libraries and building lobbies across Chicago to catalyze community conversations on peace and nonviolence.
Products and services
- School and Community Programs Artist-led educational programming and literacy specialist services delivered to Chicagoland K-12 students in underserved schools and communities, designed to nurture critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and cultural understanding through art education.
- Social Justice Program Social justice-focused arts programming that uses art as a tool to advance equity, inclusion, and cultural affirmation for underserved Chicagoland communities.
- Ten Thousand Ripples (TTR) Public Art Project Multi-platform public arts project, undertaken as a collaboration between artist Indira Freitas Johnson and Changing Worlds, featuring emerging Buddha sculptures placed across Chicago in parks, plazas, alleys, libraries, building lobbies, and abandoned lots to catalyze community conversations about peace and nonviolence.
- Ten Thousand Ripples Buddha Sculptures Physical Buddha sculptures produced under the Ten Thousand Ripples public art project, sold directly to individuals and organizations to support youth art, culture, and literacy programs. Available in two sizes: small (~8.5x8.5x8.5 inches, ~5 lbs, $500) and large (~28.5x28.5x28.5 inches, ~15 lbs, $2,000). Purchasers of large sculptures may add a community engagement facilitator for an additional fee.
- Changing Worlds Greeting Cards and Poetry Books Unique greeting cards designed by Indira Johnson or Changing Worlds students, along with poetry books, sold through the NeonCRM storefront to support the organization's arts and literacy programs.
Companies that use Changing Worlds
Customer profileSegments6 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Changing Worlds technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature2 records
Changing Worlds partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, supporting and core.
- Indira Freitas JohnsonflagshipLead Artist and co-creator of the Ten Thousand Ripples multi-platform public arts project with Changing Worlds. Emerging Buddha sculptures attributed to her work have been deployed across parks, plazas, alleys, libraries, building lobbies, and abandoned lots in Chicago. She also designs greeting cards sold by Changing Worlds.
- Loyola University Museum of Art (LUMA)supportingPam Ambrose, Director of Cultural Affairs at Loyola University Museum of Art, contributed an essay to the Ten Thousand Ripples: Public Art, Peace and Civic Engagement booklet documenting the project.
- Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art (via Tricia Van Eck)supportingTricia Van Eck, identified as former curator at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, contributed an essay to the Ten Thousand Ripples: Public Art, Peace and Civic Engagement booklet documenting the project.
- Lise McKeansupportingLise McKean, social anthropologist and writer, contributed an essay to the Ten Thousand Ripples: Public Art, Peace and Civic Engagement booklet.
- NeonCRMcoreChanging Worlds uses NeonCRM to host its online donation form, greeting card/poetry book purchase form, and donor data management at changingworlds.app.neoncrm.com.
- SquarespacecoreChanging Worlds' public website at changingworlds.org is built and hosted on Squarespace, which it credits as the platform powering the site.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Changing Worlds competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Marwen: Chicago nonprofit providing free visual arts education and college/career programming to underserved youth. Comparable target population, Chicago geography, and nonprofit arts-education model.
- Urban Gateways: Chicago-based nonprofit delivering arts education programming to underserved youth through teaching artists in schools and community settings. Directly comparable mission, delivery model (artist-led residencies), and target population to Changing Worlds.
- InsideOut Literary Arts Project: Detroit-based nonprofit placing writers and artists in schools to engage underserved youth in literary and creative expression. Closely comparable literacy-plus-arts integration in an underserved-urban K-12 context.
- Arts for Learning (Young Audiences of Illinois): Illinois affiliate of the Young Audiences network delivering teaching-artist residencies to K-12 students. Directly comparable artist-in-residence model and K-12 underserved youth focus.
- Ingenuity: Chicago-based nonprofit focused on arts education data, advocacy, and program support across Chicago Public Schools. Closely aligned mission around equitable arts access for Chicagoland students.
Others
- Loyola University Museum of Art (LUMA): Chicago arts institution that contributed to Changing Worlds' Ten Thousand Ripples booklet. Thematically related as a community-engaged Chicago arts venue with education programming, but not a direct service-delivery competitor.
Broad incumbents
- Young Audiences Arts for Learning (National): National umbrella network for arts-in-education affiliates. Larger, established national footprint with the same artist-residency model, but operates as a federation rather than a single community-embedded nonprofit.
- Carnegie Hall Education Programs (Lullaby Project and others): Large-scale arts-education initiatives serving underserved communities through artist-led programming. Operates at far greater scale but shares the artist-as-educator delivery model for youth.
- Poetry Foundation: Chicago-based literary nonprofit with adjacent literacy and poetry programming; overlapping thematic territory in literacy and poetry books, though it operates at much larger scale and is primarily a publisher/foundation.
Emerging players
- StoryCorps: Nonprofit recording and sharing stories from diverse Americans, with strong Chicago-area presence and a comparable community-storytelling/cultural-affirmation mission that overlaps with Changing Worlds' arts-and-culture work.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Changing Worlds social profiles
Digital presenceChanging Worlds compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
Changing Worlds financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Changing Worlds leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Changing Worlds funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Changing Worlds M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Changing Worlds
What does Changing Worlds do?
Changing Worlds delivers artist-led educational programming and literacy specialist services to underserved Chicagoland K-12 students in partner schools and community organizations. The organization also operates the Ten Thousand Ripples multi-platform public art project featuring emerging Buddha sculptures across Chicago, and sells related greeting cards, poetry books, and sculptures through its own NeonCRM storefront to fund programs.
Is Changing Worlds a public or private company?
Changing Worlds is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Changing Worlds founded?
Changing Worlds was founded in 1998. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Changing Worlds based?
Changing Worlds is headquartered in Chicago, United States, in the North America region.
How does Changing Worlds make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Tax-Deductible Donations are the primary driver. The others are buddha Sculpture Sales, greeting Card and Poetry Book Sales and community Engagement Facilitator Fees.
Who are Changing Worlds's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Marwen, Urban Gateways, InsideOut Literary Arts Project, Arts for Learning (Young Audiences of Illinois) and Ingenuity. Loyola University Museum of Art (LUMA) is listed as an others. Broad incumbents are Young Audiences Arts for Learning (National), Carnegie Hall Education Programs (Lullaby Project and others) and Poetry Foundation. StoryCorps is listed as an emerging player.
Does Changing Worlds have an API?
No public API is recorded for Changing Worlds.
What industry is Changing Worlds in?
Changing Worlds's product category is Community Arts Education. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAJADAK, Virtual World Language & Electives Providers (K–12), with a secondary code of EDAMAAAB, Digital Arts & Design (Graphic Design, Illustration, Animation). Its SIC code is 2741.