Pros
Our fellow colleagues and staff overall is comprised of wonderful, nice, well-intentioned individuals who are good people. They are the kind of people you want to keep in touch with and get to know outside of work. The Ashoka Fellows themselves, for the most part, make a difference and do incredible work. Ashoka's search and selection process for identifying Fellows is the strongest part of the organization. Ashoka U is also a legitimate program.
Cons
The root of all the problems lies with the founder who is still the CEO since 1980. There is significant founder syndrome and nobody has the courage and/or ability to tell him what has been obvious to everyone else for so many years. The other top leadership members are also lacking. They are nice people but are ineffective. Ashoka is run like a family organization with little regard for or investment in basic, fundamental operations such as finance, accounting, marketing and human resources. It exemplifies what is wrong with most NGOs. It needs to be run like a professional organization, which requires real leadership and quality staff (which requires competitive pay). Good intentions and "nice" people do not cut it. Surely, being a nice person and being effective do not have to be mutually exclusive, but Ashoka needs a wake-up call. It suffers from a lethargic, complacent attitude that stems from being satisfied with marginal improvement from the status quo. Basic improvements are celebrated rather than expected. The standards are too low to make any real progress and become a relevant, yet alone a leading, citizen sector organization again.