Fund The Next Generation of Power Professionals

Developing the Premier Early Career Talent Pipeline in the Nation

Elite Changemakers equips ambitious college students and early career talent with workplace competency, exceptional coaching, POWERskills (i.e., AI Fluency), and industry mentorship that hard skills alone don’t provide — with your help, we can turn career uncertainty into confidence, professional skill, and clarity. Our graduates will be trained to be polished, impactful, workplace-ready professionals with the knowledge to hit the ground running from day one.

BURNING PLATFORM: There is an enormous workplace readiness gap amongst college students

76%

of recent college grads do not feel prepared for their first job

96%

of HR leaders report that colleges need to do more to train students for the workplace

$4,500

extra cost in onboarding each new grad; twice as much as experienced hire

Why Elite Changemakers is Uniquely Positioned to Deliver

• Proven leader development program. Our core programming has already developed 600+ professionals for some of the world’s largest organizations over the past three years — this is a track record, not a pilot

• Founder-led credibility. Created by Refugio Atilano, a former Fortune 100 senior corporate leader, national business influencer, and author, whose Professional Leadership Club (PLC) and AI Collective (AIC) is the engine behind our results.

• A complete ecosystem, not a workshop. PLC coaching, POWERshops, structured mentorship, a completion scholarship, a talent database, and a lifelong community — delivered together and free to every participant.

• Results that beat the benchmark. 100% of graduates are expected to excel in communication, AI Fluency, and professionalism before their first interview; our goal is for 85% of them to land roles with real advancement paths – our talent will be prepared for career acceleration beyond their entry roles.

• A pipeline funders can see. Talent already flows from institutions like Berkeley, Notre Dame, Rice, Texas A&M, DePaul, and University of Illinois. We would like to expand our network focusing on your university partners.

• Premier Talent Pipeline. A self-sustaining model — donors and partners feed the pipeline, EC develops the talent, and a shared database connects graduates directly back to hiring partners. *We also have a specialty in developing marginalized talent.