Zusammen mit Impact Hub Zürich und One Planet Lab hat collaboratio helvetica den Changemaker Workshop Bundling Forces organisiert.

Ein Portrait mit Spendenaufruf: Um das Bewusstsein für Zusammenhänge gesellschaftlicher Herausforderungen im Hinblick auf die SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) zu stärken, fördert collaboratio helvetica eine Kultur der sektorübergreifenden Partizipation, des Dialogs, des Wissensaustauschs und der Zusammenarbeit. Um diesen gesellschaftlichen und systemischen Wandel voranzutreiben werden Trainings und Weiterbildungen im Workshopformat – wie die Catalyst Labs – sowie die Konzeption und Moderation von Events, Vorträgen oder Talks durchgeführt.

Katalin Hausel & Nora Wilhelm from collaboratio helvetica and Emilie Romon & Yuxian Seow from Ashoka Switzerland share some insights and tools from the Funding Systems Change journey, which explores how Swiss foundations can truly support systems change.

Le HUB de l'Université de Lausanne organisait mercredi 3 mai la deuxième édition du Forum de l'Innovation Sociale. «Ensuite, nous devrions réfléchir de manière systémique. Les personnes qui ont un même but restent souvent dans une logique de compétition, de combat, alors qu'elles pourraient avoir une logique de collaboration. Il faut trouver de nouvelles manières de penser et de procéder pour adresser les défis sociaux et écologiques complexes» - Nora Wilhelm

The term social innovation has become a buzzword, but it’s important to keep in mind that there is no one single definition that everyone using it agrees upon. Put simply, social innovation is about addressing the challenges humanity is facing, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, poverty, and gender equity - just four of the many challenges contained in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Social innovators are the people deploying different types of strategies to address these challenges.

Funders typically go through a cyclical process when fulfilling their purpose. They strategise and make key decisions about what should be funded and how, to what end. Then, those who choose to be transparent communicate about this strategy and the process that enables it, for example with a call for applications or a page on their website explaining their funding approach and who is eligible…

Nora Wilhelm and Emilie Romon write in The Philanthropist about the challenges and new approaches to fund systems change.

Here, you will find templates of a dossier, timeline, budget and financing plan. Have fun experimenting with it!

To achieve system change - a large-scale change that will affect everyone - funding the social innovation process itself effectively is key. Such an innovation process requires cross-sector collaborations that shift the focus from fighting the symptoms to addressing the root causes. Given the urgency for systemic change, foundations have been exploring new effective funding mechanisms that support system change.

Should donor foundations also invest in the infrastructure of non-profit organisations? Over 30 participants from big and small foundations and associations explored this question in a recent online workshop co-hosted by collaboratio helvetica and proFonds. Looking at this topic from both the prism of two donor foundations and from the perspective of one grantee organisation helped participants to gain a deeper understanding of the benefits and possible pitfalls of such funding as well as consider next steps.

Both practice and a growing body of research show that the complex challenges we are facing, such as climate change and inequality, will not successfully be addressed with current thinking. Indeed, no single organisation nor sector can hope to reach one of the goals set in the Agenda 2030 alone.