Social Innovation in Action 2025

The state of social enterprise Financing social outcomes There is a significant lack of consistent data for the social enterprise sector, which constricts further uptake of policy action and stronger engagement from the private sector. In 2024, the Schwab Foundation invested in strengthening the data landscape of social enterprises through its Working Group on Social Economy Policy and various ecosystem partners. A six-month research project led to a report, “The State of Social Enterprise: A Review of Global Data 2013-2023”. The report provides a comprehensive synthesis of the global state of social enterprise, using data from more than 80 countries gathered between 2013 and 2023. It aims to inform policy-makers and business leaders about the under-estimated contribution of social enterprise towards global GDP , employment and the Sustainable Development Goals. The global data gathered for this report indicates that there are approximately 10 million social enterprises across the world, generating around $2 trillion in revenue each year and creating nearly 200 million jobs. Social enterprises are also bridging the gender gap, with one in two social enterprises worldwide led by women, compared to one in five for conventional enterprises. In addition to uncovering important insights, this report reveals gaps and challenges in social enterprise data. These include the availability and quality of data, the comparability of the available data and the difficulty of quantifying social and environmental value creation. Addressing these challenges will be critical to gaining a clearer understanding of the state of social enterprise globally. Following the publication of the report, the Schwab Foundation is engaging with ecosystem actors, the academia and public-sector actors to further strengthen efforts for gathering data on social enterprises, with the goal of contributing to consistent, regularly updated data on social innovation worldwide.As of 2022, social impact bonds had facilitated the allocation of over $460 million towards a myriad of initiatives based on the impact they had achieved, providing novel financing for social entrepreneurs and innovators and other sector organizations linked to outcomes. While the merits of outcome-based financing (OBF) are evident, its full-scale implementation and universal adoption encounter challenges. In 2024, the Schwab Foundation launched a research project to highlight avenues for scaling outcome-based funding, specifically by mobilizing the private sector. The project is funded and supported by the Center for Social Value Enhancement Studies, the corporate foundation of the South Korean SK Group.The initiative explores the 10-year horizon in this space by highlighting innovative concepts for assigning economic value to impact or making impact outcomes tradeable (and thereby, more fungible for investors). By the Annual Meeting in Davos in January 2025, this project is set to provide an analysis of existing OBF mechanisms that lend themselves to private-sector mobilization. It will also publish a white paper on new paradigm shifts to attribute value to social and environmental impact, including concepts such as impact currencies and carbon assets. Since the project’s launch, more than 100 leading organizations in outcome-based funding and tradeable impact outcomes have signed up to join its advisory group. The Foundation has secured the support of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors to deliver this project.Global data suggests over 10 million enterprises put purpose before profit, tackling pressing issues like climate change and poverty. These social enterprises account for $2 trillion in annual turnover, creating 200 million jobs. Scan to read the report Discover Circular Solutions, Community Revolutions: The Social Impact of Circularity:Grassroots to Boardrooms: Social Innovation Partnerships for Climate Adaptation: Innovating for Equity: Unlocking Value for Communities and Businesses: Schwab Foundation 2025 Awardees and Impact Report 27