Setting the scene
The aim of this session was to provide an introduction into the topic of innovative financing and the financing instruments available for NGOs. Experts in impact investing, philanthropy, and private sector collaboration shared their expertise, helping participants understand how these different models could benefit their organisation.
Social Finance NL opened the session with an introduction to innovative finance – which are all funding approaches for NGOs that go beyond grants. The introduction also highlighted various mechanisms, key opportunities, and the most common challenges when implementing innovative finance. A key takeaway was that traditional grants alone often won’t close the funding gap. However, innovative finance instruments can add to an NGOs toolbox for addressing global issues and is a new way of enabling and scaling impact. This process begins with relationship building – investing in long-term partnerships.
Working with Development Investment Bonds: a practical example from Educate Girls
Alison Bukhari, International Director of Educate Girls, and Vijaylakshmi Saxena, Chief Finance Officer, shared their experience and lesson learned from working with the first Development Impact Bond in Education. They highlighted the critical role of flexible and risk-tolerant funding, and how financing through a DIB reshaped their organisational approach.
Throughout the process, Educate Girls transitioned from an input- and activity-driven model to a fully outcome-focused organisation, measuring success through tangible results, such as improved enrolment rates and girls’ learning gains. Ultimately, Educate Girls were able to scale their implementation 2.5 times and deliver seven times the impact as a result of their changed approach.
Putting theory into practice
The session continued with an in-depth panel discussion and question round where participants looked into practical examples of the different funding models. The panel included the following speakers:
- Laure Wessemius-Chibrac – Founder, Managing Director and CEO of the Netherlands Advisory Board (NAB) on impact investing.
- Wouter Soetaert – Business Development Manager at Triodos Investment Management
- Nada van Schouwenberg– Programmes Manager at Women Win
- Cooper Renfro – Associate Director at Social Finance UK
Key takeaways
The panel and working sessions surfaced valuable insights—below is an overview of the key lessons learned.:
- Innovative financing is a means, not an end. It is about working more effectively on results. NGOs should recognize the importance of understanding their value and the outcomes they can achieve—and use this to effectively attract investors.
- Start small, think big. Invest in building strong partnerships based on shared values and impact goals.
- Learn to speak each other’s language. There is often a translation between NGOs, donors and investors. Understanding the other’s language and needs is the key to collaboration.
- Be prepared for change. Outcome-based working requires different structures, roles and a new mindset, but might be inevitable in the changing political and funding landscape
Next steps
Building on the enthusiasm, positive feedback, and the thoughtful input shared during the session, Social Finance NL—working in collaboration with Social Finance UK—is offering tailored workshops at a reduced rate. These workshops will provide a deep dive into innovative finance, with space for focused discussions, increased knowledge-sharing, and time to address organisation-specific questions.
The workshops can be delivered in various formats, and we’d greatly value your input on what would work best for your organisation. If you’d like to know more, or connect directly with Social Finance NL, feel free to reach out to Nina Berculo at nina.berculo@socfin.nl.