After 13 years of operating as an independent organisation, 2025 has been the most eventful year for SIX. Below are 6 highlights of the year (not in chronological order).
1. Adapting to the moment and innovating our model
We’ve always constantly adapted our programming to respond to global events, new challenges and emerging trends, be that the 2008 financial crisis, changes in government and political support for our ideas, Brexit, or the Covid-19 pandemic. But the geopolitical challenges of 2024 led us to completely rethink the model of SIX. Funding for our work was becoming more precarious and despite the fact that social innovation is needed more in volatile times, there is a general retreat in support and in global learning more generally.
Working closely with the Board, we decided it was the right time to explore a new future. We decided that the best way to continue to increase our impact for the future was to seek a partner who can host or adopt SIX. Following our Indaba event in South Africa at the end of 2024, it was also clear to us that there needed to be much more effective learning between the global North and South, so our partner should ideally be based in the South. Following the Indaba in South Africa, SIX friend Aparna Uppaluri introduced us to EdelGive Foundation.
2. Launching EdelGive with SIX
We officially became EdelGive with SIX in July. We developed a new brand and launched a website, showing our renewed direction to more explicitly focus on global South/North learning. We will show what’s possible by combining different perspectives, experiences, and organisational competencies. Our aim is to challenge how to work globally, build new narratives, and confront traditional global assumptions in order to enable a more balanced and effective approach to global problem solving.
EdelGive with SIX is also an innovation in itself. By bringing together a global social innovation network based in London and a philanthropy, headquartered in Mumbai, we are demonstrating a new kind of partnership which flips common power dynamics (in the West at least). We hope it can serve as a truly global, cross sector model for others to follow.
3. Delivering impact through projects – launching 2 new strategically important EU funded projects
Firstly, we are working with an excellent group of 7 partners (led by ZSI in Austria) across Europe to help the EU deliver on its 5 Missions through the development of the SI Mission facility. Our role builds on our expertise in philanthropy and working closely with Portugal Social innovation, we are developing a new kind of public private financing model which we hope other countries follow. For more information, see here.
We are also working with a group of partners including a deep tech and innovation hub in Sweden connecting start-ups with corporates , one of the biggest research and tech centres in Greece and a venture studio in Bulgaria incubating early-stage tech start-ups on a project to support climate tech researchers to take their innovations from the lab to market. Our role is to bring in a people perspective into an otherwise commercial and tech focused world, and connect the partners into social innovation ecosystems. For more information, see here.
4. Thought leadership for the future – Social innovation in challenging times
We all know we live in challenging times, but what does this really mean for the work of social innovators? What exactly is challenging at this moment and what should we and could we be doing about it?
We gathered 18 of our closest friends from different countries and sectors across Europe (plus a few from further afield) to have this challenging and open conversation. We wanted to understand how other organisations from different sectors in Europe are navigating and responding to this moment. By understanding where the gaps are, we can direct our efforts where we are needed most. To read a high level summary, including 7 things we could all do to repair and rebuild, see here.
5. Consolidating learnings from 15 years of global social innovation ecosystem building
Over the last 15 years, we’ve had the privilege of having a bird’s-eye view of what is happening around the world. We’ve observed as trends have spread to different places, taking on different characteristics and language. We’ve observed many social innovation organisations emerge, transform, merge, and sunset (from foundations, to design studios, to labs and networks across different sectors).
So, in anticipation of a new chapter of SIX, SoJung and I consolidated our collective learning and documented our reflections into this short booklet. As part of this, we also invited contributions from a few of the many people around the world who have shaped our thinking and work, and that of the whole field.
6. Completing the organisational reset – Finding a new steward to lead SIX’s next chapter
What’s required of SIX and social innovation in the next 15 years will be different to the last. And so, after leading SIX for 15 years (both at the Young Foundation and as an independent organisation), I’ve decided it is time for me to move on. I could not be prouder of being part of such an amazing organisation and the wider global social innovation community. You can read more about my decision here.
From February 2026, there will be a new CEO of SIX. Watch out for the announcement on LinkedIn.
The core idea of SIX will remain – indeed, we need new ideas, new ways of working and global learning more than ever. The SIX Board who have all been brilliant in guiding the transition, and will continue to support the team and organisation in the coming months and Naghma Mulla, Edelgive Foundation CEO has joined this excellent global group.
It is an honour to pass on such a groundbreaking, paradigm shifting organisation, with such a strong legacy and an even stronger and inspiring community of people around the world. I hope the new combination of people will learn as much, and have as much fun as I’ve had over the last 15 years.
Louise Pulford
January 2026
