Built to Last 2025

The Foundation pursues its mission through its global community of social entrepreneurs and innovators and its impact ecosystem that includes public and private sector actors. It supports its vibrant community of peers by raising awareness of their work, shining a light on innovative responses to complex societal issues, facilitating opportunities for collaboration and partnership, and offering capacity-building resources and learning. It engages the social innovation ecosystem through the Global Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship, the Corporate Leadership Council on Social Innovation, the Public Leadership Council on Social Innovation and a series of workstreams that address emerging themes in social innovation. Over the long term, the Foundation works to ensure that the foremost models of social innovation are adopted across sectors, that the ecosystems in which they operate promote collective action and that social innovators play a leading role in the systemic transformation of society and the economy. By engaging with the private and public sectors, the Foundation further advances the transition to a stakeholder economy, creating a world where social innovators positively influence businesses to become purpose-driven and where the public sector adopts social innovation to address systemic challenges. Analysis for this report highlights the value that awardees gain from their collaboration with the Foundation. More than 80% believe the Foundation has significantly contributed to diffusing and progressing their work and strengthening their systems thinking and practices , while over 70% report a positive role in enabling the conditions to develop collaborations . The findings also show that the Foundation makes a consistent contribution to the learning and knowledge sharing of its community of social innovators, particularly in helping innovators develop a deeper, more systemic understanding of the challenges they address. Around three-quarters report increased engagement in thought leadership , and over 80% say they were inspired to spark new ideas or share knowledge with external audiences. Finally, 50% state that the Foundation’s support has been helpful in strengthening operational capacities , such as adopting a more strategic approach to talent decisions or intentionally building team capacity in specific areas of expertise. Innovators also note a minor contribution to improving their strategic use of finances or planning. Models of social innovation are diffused and adopted across sectors Social innovators report mobilizing over $1 billion  in financial and in-kind resources between July 2024 and June 2025. Although this is slightly less than the previous year, it remains a substantial contribution. Changes in the sources of these funds hint at the geopolitical disruption affecting the sector . The data shows a drop in grants from public and private sectors, equity investments and earned revenue, while debt, loans and public funding acquired through a tender process have all increased. There have also been significant changes to the types of in-kind resources given, including fewer offers of land, infrastructure and technological support but increases in receipts of materials and public-sector resources. 85% of awardees report in the annual survey that their engagement has inspired them to spark new ideas 80% believe the Foundation has significantly contributed to strengthening their systems thinking and practices 72% report a positive role in enabling the conditions to develop collaborations Schwab Foundation 2026 Awardees and Impact Report 13