The new year always brings new hope, and trend forecasters are quick to join the cause to predict positive future scenarios. However, our research indicated that the social investment and development sector remains in turmoil.
There are three ways in which private resources can be harnessed for meeting societal needs: Social finance is a rapidly growing industry – the number of social investors is fast multiplying while bi-lateral aid stagnates. The OECD estimates there is US$228bn of social impact investment under management. Many international NGOs are now exploring the possibility of moving down the social …
This year, Next Generation’s annual research report is seeing the light quite late in the year.
With good reason. The new year always brings new hope, and trend forecasters are quick to
join the cause to predict positive future scenarios. However, our research indicated that the social investment and development sector remains in turmoil.
Because I’ve been working in the social investment and development sector for more than 20 years, sometimes it feels like I’ve seen everything. Yet, whilst I get impatient with the time it takes to see meaningful change occur, I’m amazed at the resilience of the sector—to beat the odds time and again. What is starting to get to me though, …
A new trend is sweeping the globe, the advent of the challenge fund which invites social entrepreneurs who are pitching for funding in a competition space. From Barloworld’s Mbewu programme which will see R30 million awarded to social innovators who face off in “The Big Pitch” through to SAB’s Social Innovation Award which has invested R44 million to support 144 …
The Next Generation Research Report 2020, Disruption with Impact dived deep into how the development sector, and how the funding of NGOs, is changing. Some of the most significant pressures that organisations face is the demand to become more professional and business-like in their operations. This in turns put greater emphasis on adopting cutting-edge evaluation, incorporating innovative technology and putting …
The adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations in 2015 has resulted in a seismic shift in the social development and humanitarian sectors. The 17 SDGs offer a blueprint that aims to align economic, social and environmental development. They are the most visionary development goals ever set and the intent behind the global goals is to mobilise …
This is putting unprecedented pressure on NGOs and many experts believe that NGOs as we know them are on the brink of extinction. They suggest that NGOs and other civil society actors need to start thinking strategically about how to adapt to keep pace with new demands from funders, stakeholders and the communities they serve.  Civil society across the …
There is no doubt as the world changes, so we will have to reimagine the way philanthropy, grantmaking and corporate social investment is conducted. An intimidating range of forces—globalization, a changing ecosystem, economic crisis, and ubiquitous connective technologies, to name just a few—are changing both what social investors is called upon to do and how philanthropists, grantmakers, donors and foundations …
The Aspen Roundtable on Community Change – which pioneered theory of change in the 1990s—has used it to explore areas like tackling systemic racism or promoting equitable economic development. Over time this practice became widely adopted and more organisations started to use the theory of change to design and evaluate strategies for influencing social change in areas from domestic violence …
