Global Shapers Community

The Global Shapers Community is the World Economic Forum's network of young leaders, organised into local hubs rather than a single central body. It reports more than 11,000 members across 450 hubs in 140 countries and territories. Members are recruited under the age of 30 and become alumni at 33 or after five years, whichever comes first, so the community turns over continuously. Each hub is an autonomous volunteer team that elects an annual chair, called a curator, and is required to run local projects; the community reports more than 3,200 projects to date. Hubs recruit their own members, usually through an open local application round, within criteria set by the Forum's community charter. Members are also expected to take part in at least one globally coordinated activity each year and, per the charter, to contribute to the community's financial sustainability. Shapers are periodically invited to World Economic Forum events, and the community holds its own Annual Summit.

How it works

Local hubs are the operating unit: each is run by an elected curator, recruits its own members and delivers community projects. Hubs must adopt a project within twelve months of founding and reach fifteen members within ten months, or lose their mandate. Members commit to at least one hub project and one global activity a year. The Geneva headquarters coordinates cross-hub initiatives, an annual summit and links to World Economic Forum programming.

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.

This is the least exclusive of the World Economic Forum's communities in the sense that anyone can apply to a hub, but hub-level competition in large cities is real and selection is done by volunteers rather than a central committee. That decentralisation is the main thing to understand: standards, activity levels and application windows differ sharply between hubs, and the published age band differs too (the 2013 charter says 20 to 29 at nomination; the current site says under 30; individual hubs advertise narrower bands such as 18 to 27). The Forum does not publish membership dues, but the charter does commit members to contribute to the community's financial sustainability, which is vague and worth asking a hub about directly. Membership is time-limited by design, so it is a stage of a career rather than a standing affiliation.

Editorial analysis by Peer Group Guide editors. It is separated from the record above and follows the editorial policy.