Global Shapers Community · Requirements

Global Shapers Community membership requirements

Every criterion Global Shapers Community publishes, with its source, the date it was verified and how confident we are in it — plus superseded figures, so you can see how the tests have moved.

Read a requirement as the organization's published floor, not as a promise. A revenue test may have alternative versions for different business types, chapters can set stricter local tests, and invitation-only bodies publish criteria that describe members rather than admit them.

Current published criteria

4 rows

Criterion	Published requirement	Note	Provenance
Maximum age at joining	Under 30 when joining	The home page describes the network as "young changemakers, aged under 30". The 2013 community charter states members must be "between 20 and 29 years old at the time of nomination"; individual hubs advertise narrower bands.	Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗
Geographic restriction	Resident in, or physically close to, the city of the hub applied to	From the Global Shapers Community Charter, section III.	Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗
Other criterion	Entrepreneurial or intrapreneurial track record: has initiated and delivered a major project, founded a company or organisation, or held an influential position in a larger organisation	From the Global Shapers Community Charter, section III. The charter is dated October 2013; the current site does not restate the criteria in this level of detail.	Verified September 2026Medium confidenceSource ↗
Invitation	Selection is by the local hub's curatorship, not by open central application	"In the absence of a specific selection process for a Hub, the Curatorship of each Hub is responsible for selecting potential members." In practice most hubs run public application rounds.	Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗

How admission works

Application process

Applicants approach a local hub rather than the Forum. The community site routes prospective members to a single form to be connected with a hub in their city. Most hubs then run their own application round, typically a written application followed by interviews with existing members, and the hub's curatorship makes the selection under the community charter's criteria.

Invitation required

Sponsor required

Selectivity

Not publicly disclosed. No central acceptance rate is published and selection rates differ by hub.

Membership term

Members become alumni at age 33 or after five years of membership, whichever comes first

Primary audience

People under 30 who have already led a project, company or organisation in their city

Typical member

Shapers join in their twenties. The community charter describes members as individuals with an entrepreneurial or intrapreneurial track record who have already initiated a major project, founded a company or organisation, or held an influential position in a larger one, and who live in or near their hub's city.

Reported threshold changes

2013-10Global Shapers Community Charter published, setting membership criteria, hub governance and the alumni transition at 33 or five years ↗

Do you appear to meet them?

The qualification tool reads these rows against a profile you give in ranges and explains which criteria appear met, unclear or unmet. Check your profile

If not: alternatives to Global Shapers Community — Milken Institute Young Leaders Circle, Forum of Young Global Leaders, Aspen Global Leadership Network, NEXUS Global.

Last verified: 6 September 2026 Report an error on this page

Sources

Home — Global Shapers Community, World Economic Forum. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 1
About — Global Shapers Community, World Economic Forum. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 1
Hubs — Global Shapers Community, World Economic Forum. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 1
Our Impact — Global Shapers Community, World Economic Forum. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 1
Who are the Global Shapers? (read via search result snippet), World Economic Forum, October 2011. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 1
Global Shapers Community Charter (PDF, October 2013), World Economic Forum, October 2013. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 2

Source tiers follow the published hierarchy: 1 official site · 2 official membership materials · 3 application documents · 4 annual reports · 5 government filings · 6 reliable business publications · 7 credible interviews · 8 other reputable secondary sources. Sources and data policy.