What is MaD?
Based in Hong Kong,
Make a Difference (MaD) is a regional think-and-do collaborative platform –
where you can explore creativity for good,
meet cross-disciplinary changemakers and
synergize across sectors for innovative solutions to social challenges.

About MaD

MaD believes in the social potential of creativity. Through participatory programmes, we inspire and empower aspiring changemakers from Hong Kong to all over Asia to come up with innovative responses to our time's challenges.

Our long term goal is building a creative civil society. Since our founding in 2009, we have expanded from the flagship MaD Forum to become a multifaceted platform, with a vast portfolio including the Jockey Club Make a Difference Social Lab, Jockey Club Make a Difference School, socially engaged art projects and a range of creative ventures in collaboration with trisector partners.

Since 2014, MaD has been steered by the Make a Difference Institute, a community-initiated organization and a registered non-profit under Section 88 of the Hong Kong Inland Revenue Ordinance. Before then, MaD was an anchor project of the Hong Kong Institute of Contemporary Culture.

Board of Directors

  • Ms Ada WONG, JP
    Chair, Make A Difference Institute

  • Mr Johnny CHAN
    Founder and CEO, Techpacific Capital Limited

  • Mr Edmon CHUNG
    Chief Executive Officer, DotAsia

  • Ms Phonchan (Newey) KRAIWATNUTSORN
    School of Changemakers, Founder & Managing Director, Thailand

  • Mr LAU Tin-ming
    Experienced arts educator

  • Mr SIU King-chung
    Chair, Community Museum Project

  • Mr YEUNG Sau-churk, Ricky
    Experienced arts educator

  • Dr YEUNG Yang
    Founder & Executive Director, soundpocket

discovery
Discovery

Personal potential

Social issues

Global trends

creativity
Creativity

Creative thinking

Creative industries

Cross-disciplinary innovation

discovery
Impact

Social innovation

Entrepreneurial ventures

Personal change

Our Values

We create for sustainable causes

Through creative undertakings, we endeavour for a fairer, greener and happier society at local, regional and international levels.

We value diversity and coexistence

With the willingness to understand difference, empathy and openness, we build trust and foster synergies across disciplines, silos and generations.

We focus on constructive actions

Keep learning and keep accumulating knowledge

We promote the creative ecology

We are a platform for a new generation creative talents and budding initiatives, and champion ethical and sustainable practice.

138,000+
people have taken part
in MaD-led programmes
10,000+
MaDees now spread across
160 cities in Asia
110+
socially-minded creative initiatives
from around the world
presented at MaD
620+
youth-led creative actions
and projects
launched through MaD
Our impact
  • JC MaD School provides an open platform to test new ideas. MaD is very willing to experiment together, say, writing poetry and interviewing passengers on minibus and train, letting creative practitioners and participants experiment in everyday space which is itself a precious art exploration.

    Uncle Hung, Creative Partner, The Dumb Poet in a Dumb City (Hong Kong)

  • I really believe this is the most productive work trip I have ever had. With the help of MaD, we build very strong collaboration between Public Lab and Greenovation Hub in Guangzhou. If we only stay inside the university, or only do workshops in a park where there is not a real problem, then we never really test the tools, and never really transfer the knowledge so that our new partners in new parts of the world can make the methods their own.

    Liz BARRY, Director of Community Development, Public Lab for Open Technology and Science (New York)

  • The smallest action can spark changes in our living environment and in society. Although top-down strategies may be more effective, bottom-up and community-initiated projects create more meaningful impact. From the speaker sharing at MaD, I see the power to change society for the better in every one of us.

    MaD 2017 Participant (Taipei)

  • MaD 2016 is greatly inspirational. The program brought to me a whole new experience of community-powered social projects with a high degree of creativity.

    MaD 2016 Participant (Vientiane)

  • The 6 prototypes suggested by the Social Lab is something we couldn’t get from the expert approach we usually take. The value I see is not just their feasibility but the whole new thinking brought to us by this lab approach, that when we tried to improve our practices at the LCSD, we could have taken other approaches.

    Dr Louis NG, Deputy Director, Leisure and Cultural Services Department

  • I used to think changemakers are a minority, and am really surprised to meet so many of them here at MaD!
    MaD 2017 Participant (Shanghai)

  • We have gained new knowledge on social innovation, learnt how to tackle social issues using creative means, and received concrete support for our action and creation.

    Participant, Accumulator Scheme (Hong Kong)

Our Network

We work with partners from different fields. Click the categories to see our core network:

(Names arranged in alphabetical order)

Government

  • Art Promotion Office
  • Create Hong Kong
  • Drainage Services Department
  • Eastern District Council
  • Education Bureau
  • Efficiency Unit
  • Energizing Kowloon East Office
  • Food and Environmental Hygiene Department
  • Home Affairs Bureau
  • Hong Kong Museum of Art
  • Information Services Department
  • Invest Hong Kong
  • Leisure and Cultural Services Department
  • Sham Shui Po District Council
  • Transport Department

Public Organizations

  • Equal Opportunities Commission
  • U.S. Consulate General Hong Kong & Macau
  • West Kowloon Cultural District Authority

Foundations

  • A Better Tomorrow Foundation
  • CNature Foundation
  • Jean CK Ho Family Foundation
  • Renaissance Foundation
  • RS Group
  • The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust
  • The Yeh Family Philanthropy
  • Victor and William Fung Foundation
  • Water Drops Foundation

Corporations

  • 3D-Gold
  • Cathay Pacific Airways
  • China Light and Power Hong Kong Limited
  • Eva Air
  • Henderson Land Group
  • Hengan International Group Company Limited
  • Hong Kong Broadband Network
  • The Lane Crawford Joyce Group
  • Mott Macdonald Hong Kong Limited
  • MTR Corporation
  • Ovolo Group Limited
  • PCCW
  • Sino Group
  • Swire Properties Island East
  • Swire Properties Limited
  • The DotAsia Organisation
  • The Kowloon Motor Bus Co.(1933) Ltd
  • The Link Management Limited
  • The Mira Hong Kong
  • Walk in Hong Kong Limited

Local & Overseas Creative Groups

  • 100 In 1 Day
  • After Best Still Good
  • Ageneration
  • Artmatters
  • Artwalker
  • Assemble Studio (London)
  • Asia Art Archive
  • Atelier J-AR
  • BookWalker
  • C&G Artpartment
  • City Yeast (Taipei)
  • Ching Chun Warehouse
  • CNEX
  • DENNIS Design Center (Aarhus)
  • DETOUR
  • DOMAT
  • EmptySCape
  • hahaha Concept Band
  • HK Artalk
  • HKNeighbirdhood
  • HO:URs
  • Hong Kong Drama/Theatre and Education Forum
  • Hong Kong Urban Laboratory
  • HOUR25 Production
  • KaCaMa
  • La Ciudad Verde (Medellín)
  • Lawnmap
  • MUDwork
  • Natural Network
  • orangcosong (Yokohama)
  • OYIF
  • People's Pitch
  • Pocket Parks Collective
  • Run 2 Tree Studio
  • So Boring
  • Soundpocket
  • Start From Zero
  • Urban Nomads
  • Viewor
  • Wheel Thing Makers
  • Yaumatei Gardener
  • Ying E Chi

Social Innovation Organizations

  • Ashoka’s Youth Venture
  • Dialogue in Silence
  • Dialogue in the Dark
  • Global Innovation Academy
  • Good Lab
  • Heroic Imagination Project
  • Kennisland
  • La 27e Région (Paris)
  • Public Policy Lab (New York)
  • Social Innovation Exchange
  • The Australia Centre for Social Innovation (Adelaide, Sydney)
  • The Global Institute For Tomorrow
  • The Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science (New York)
  • The Young Foundation
  • Think City (Penang)
  • United Nations Development Programme
  • UnLtd Hong Kong

Educational Institutions

  • British Council
  • City University of Hong Kong
  • Fuk Wing Street Government Primary School
  • HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity
  • Hong Kong Design Institute
  • Hong Kong Institute of Service Leadership & Management Limited
  • Kowloon Technical School
  • Savannah College of Art and Design Hong Kong
  • S.K.H. St.Thomas' Primary School
  • The Hong Kong Institute of Education
    (currently the Education University of Hong Kong)
  • The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
  • The KaosPilots
  • The University of Hong Kong
  • Vocational Training Council

NGOs & Community Groups

  • Action Care
  • Anew Toy
  • Art with the Disabled Association Hong Kong
  • Auntie Choi Workshop
  • Caritas Community Centre
  • Cheung Chau Sai Wan Cultural Village Committee
  • Clean Air Network
  • Community Cultural Concern
  • Day Day Soap
  • Festyle
  • GLOCAL CARE
  • Good Family Farm
  • Hong Kong Arts Centre
  • Hong Kong Bird Watching Society
  • Hong Kong Children and Youth Services
  • Hong Kong Federation of Women's Centres
  • Hong Kong House of Stories
  • Hong Kong Permaculture Institute
  • Junior Achievement Hong Kong
  • Kimature
  • Kong Yeah
  • Kowloon Women's Organizations Federation
  • Kung Yung Koon
  • Little Green Feet
  • Lively Life
  • Mapopo Community Farm
  • Mei Foo Home & Public Affairs
  • New Home Association HOME Centre Support Services for Ethnic Minorities
  • Octopus Healing Foods
  • Pang Jai Fabric Market
  • Ping Che Alliance for 'saving our home'
  • PMQ
  • Pokfulam Village Cultural Landscape Conservation Group
  • Sagar Library
  • Sai Wan Concern
  • School of Everyday Life
  • Social Co-dining
  • Society for Indigenous Learning
  • StrEAT
  • The Boys' & Girls' Clubs Association of Hong Kong
  • The Conservancy Association
  • The Hong Kong Award for Young People
  • The Hong Kong Council of Social Service
  • The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups
  • The Zubin Foundation
  • Tswnetwork
  • Tung Chung Good Taste
  • TWGHs Fong Shu Chuen District Elderly Community Centre
  • TWGHs Tin Sau Bazaar
  • TWGHs Yu Mak Yuen Integrated Services Centre
  • VegBo
  • 土作‧時分
  • Tin Shui Wai Organic
  • 懷樸園
  • 蔬爽食堂
  • Waste Picker Platform

Let's MaD Network

    Foundations

  • A Better Tomorrow Foundation (2012 – 2013)
  • Esquel - Y.L. Yang Education Foundation (2012)
  • Victoria Charitable Trust Fund (2012 – 2013)

    Corporations

  • AIA (2012 – 2014)
  • China Light and Power Hong Kong Limited (2013)
  • DBS Bank (2013)
  • Harmony Asset Limited (2012)
  • Hong Kong Broadband Network (2012 – 2013)
  • Hong Kong Disneyland (2012 – 2015)
  • Hysan Development Company Limited (2014)
  • New World Development Company Limited (2013 – 2014)
  • Outblaze (2012-2014)
  • Ovolo Group Limited (2014)
  • PricewaterhouseCoopers (2014)

    Educational Institutions

  • Hong Kong Institute of Service Leadership & Management Limited (2012)
  • London Business School (2012 – 2014)
  • One Island South (2013 – 2014)