[3] Drayton is the founder and current chair of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to finding and fostering social entrepreneurs worldwide.

He attended Harvard where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1965, where he created the Ashoka Table, bringing in prominent government, union, and church leaders for off-the-record dinners at which students could ask "how things really worked".

He was elected one of the early MacArthur Fellows for his work, including the founding of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public.

[12] On May 25, 2009, Drayton was awarded an honorary degree, Doctorate of Humane Letters, by Yale University at commencement.

[15] In 2011, Drayton won Spain's prestigious Prince of Asturias Awards for international cooperation for his work promoting entrepreneurs.

The prize foundation described him as a "driving force behind the figure of social entrepreneurs, men and women who undertake innovative initiatives for the common good".