Geneva Foundation for the Future

2025 Geneva Forum: Dry Run of the AGILE Tool

Admin — 2025-09-29T15:55:12Z

langage commun

The At United Nations Geneva, Monday December 8, 2025 - In the frame of the International Annual Conference on Impact Finance. is organizing, during the International Annual Conference on Impact Finance of the Geneva Forum, a Geneva Foundation for the Future of its - tool – a shared and evolving framework to align finance, philanthropy, and impact projects.

Following three years of collaborative work bringing together all professions in Finance and impact projects, the dissemination of an international Technology Request, and the release of the White Paper, the Dry Run of the AGILE tool serves both as training for the first users and as a crash test of the tool — evaluating both its usage methodology and its effectiveness in project assessment.

Dry Run

The AGILE tool is designed as a AGILE and allows for:

Uses of the AGILE Tool

of impact projects (eligibility filters, first intention criteria),

simplified transversal methodological benchmark (scorecards and red flags),
Identification (dashboards, dynamic indicators),
Initial evaluation (mentoring by experts and peers),
Monitoring and follow-up (replication, duplication, growth plans),
Support and coaching (societal ROI, systemic impact, shared lessons)...

Acceleration and scaling up

AGILE simplifies daily work and harmonizes the main taxonomies and existing frameworks:

Final evaluation & assessment (Environmental – Social – Governance),

Reference criteria of impact finance integrated

(United Nations Sustainable Development Goals),

ESG and public frameworks,
International standards: SDG, EU Green Taxonomy, OECD-DAC...
Proprietary standards.

Its innovation, the result of 3 years of intersectoral collaborative work, is based on 5 families of criteria:

IRIS+ (values, SDGs, ESG, local realities)
ISO26000 (participation, transparency, accountability)
Alignment (deep, systemic, measurable impact)
Governance (mobilization, co-creation, sustainability)
Intention (resource use, viability, scalability)

Leadership

Efficiency

Any actor can bring their project, according to their field:

Impact project holder
Foundation / philanthropy
Family office
Impact investment fund
Bank / financial institution
Incubator / impact platform
Academic (university, MBA, laboratory)
Public institution
NGO / local association
Blended finance catalyst

These participants will benefit directly from

You can access two levels of participation in the Dry Run

on how to use the simple AGILE tool to position and evaluate their project.

Renseignements and Registration.

Level 1 – Simple AGILE tool

Participants will be able to present to the audience a methodological insights and showcase their project.

All types and stages of projects are eligible:

Level 2 – Pitch of projects evaluated with AGILE (50–500k€),
pitch structured around the AGILE criteria (500k–10M€),
Small pilot projects / local innovations (above 10M€),
Projects Intermediate projects / scalable initiatives, Large systemic or institutional projects, in seed stage or in growth.

Each pitch will be analyzed using the AGILE grid, allowing for collective feedback and a concrete illustration of its role as a in scaling up for impact finance.

Submit here your project for an AGILE pitch.

This Dry Run marks a key step in the collaborative development of the infrastructure tool, now capable of becoming the transversal benchmark between philanthropists, investors, public institutions, and project holders, to re-enchant finance and accelerate the transition toward a regenerative economy.

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Re-enchanting Finance: when impact becomes the key to a future without ceilings

Admin — 2025-08-27T11:21:07Z

In a world of limited resources, the economic models inherited from the 20th century are reaching their limits. Numbers, balance sheets, promises of infinite growth collide with the reality of a finite planet. It is in this context that the Geneva Foundation for the Future proposes, through its White Paper and the AGILE Tool, a new grammar to conjugate finance, philanthropy and revenue-generating enterprises.

Investors in search of new horizons

In recent years, many investors have realized that polluting or strictly mercantile industries can no longer offer sustainable growth. Returns are plateauing, systemic risks are increasing. The White Paper of the Geneva Foundation for the Future highlights it: we live in an abundance of capital that fails to find projects aligned with the challenges of the century.

The way forward lies in “deep impact” initiatives, based on circular and regenerative models. But these projects must also be made bankable. This is where the AGILE Tool comes in: by providing a rigorous methodology to assess alignment, intention and viability of such projects, it opens the door to investments without ceilings.

Large industries facing their transition

For industrial players and large-scale economic infrastructures, the question is not merely moral. It is strategic. How can they move beyond mere compliance or CSR varnish, and transform the core of the business model into a driver of regeneration?

The White Paper describes this tension between greenwashing and real impact. The AGILE Tool, by setting criteria for governance, intention and efficiency, becomes a compass.

It also, and above all, makes it possible to identify congruent, virtuous and economically viable models, capable of removing ceilings on possibilities and restoring meaning to performance.

Entrepreneurs and creators of useful wealth

A new generation of entrepreneurs aspires to combine financial success with social utility. They do not just want to “create a start-up”: they want to create a better world while building their fortune.

But how can they avoid the pitfall of idealistic discourse that fails to convince investors?

This is precisely why the AGILE Tool was also designed for them. With its agile evaluation grids and simplified dashboards, it helps translate a noble intention into a credible and scalable business model. In this sense, it enables the building of projects that speak the language of investors without betraying their values.

Public officials and the collective challenge

Political decision-makers and public service leaders face a paradox: their communities' needs are increasing, budgets are stagnating, and citizens demand visible and lasting solutions.

The White Paper recalls and explains why and how a rethought finance, anchored in transparency and convergence among stakeholders, can generate systemic impacts. Thanks to the AGILE Tool, public institutions now have a common reference framework, interoperable with legal taxonomies (ESG, SDGs, EU Green Taxonomy...). They can thus stimulate the creation of multi-stakeholder coalitions and channel capital into projects that enhance resilience and collective wealth.

A bridge between siloed worlds

One of the recurring images in the White Paper is that of the bridge. Too often, “money does not find projects,” and solution bearers hit a wall of forms, standards and misunderstandings.

By offering a shared framework and participatory governance, the AGILE Tool materializes this bridge: a space where investors, philanthropists, entrepreneurs and public institutions can finally understand each other and act together.

Whether they are investors seeking new margins, industries in transition, visionary entrepreneurs or public officials, all share the same observation: the old world is capped.

The White Paper of the Geneva Foundation for the Future and the AGILE Tool do not only offer a practical analysis: they provide an agile and simple method, a framework and a perspective to re-enchant finance and put it at the service of life.

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AI and Impact Finance: A New Era of Simplicity, Power, and Purpose

Admin — 2025-08-22T16:16:30Z

The Geneva Foundation for the Future is proud to announce a bold step forward: putting the full power of Artificial Intelligence at the service of Impact Finance that is at once focused, just, and optimal—and at the same time assertive, powerful, and capable of delivering high returns.
This is not about creating yet another layer of complexity in a financial world already crowded with jargon, fragmented tools, and confusing metrics. Quite the opposite. Our mission is to make finance for impact simple, intuitive, and accessible—for financiers, bank employees, corporate executives, and the world's largest financial institutions.

More Than Technology: A Human and Ethical Foundation

The AGILE framework is at the heart of this transformation. It was not designed as a gadget, nor as a passing trend in impact evaluation. It was built as the core engineering of evaluation in impact finance, a foundation that remains valid and trustworthy whatever the level of digitalization or automation that surrounds it.
Artificial Intelligence will accelerate processes, crunch data, and streamline reporting. But AI alone is not enough. As we learned at the Geneva Forum (2023), the real frontier of innovation is not technological—it is relational and moral. What matters is not the algorithms themselves, but the human-centered and nature-based choices embedded in their design.
That is why the AGILE framework is more than a method:

[[A lever for collective action, enabling actors across finance, philanthropy, public institutions, and civil society to speak a common language and join forces.
-, turning evaluation into a participatory and accountable process, with criteria that everyone can see, understand, and trust.
-, ensuring that impact objectives are explicit, verifiable, and aligned with long-term values rather than short-term speculation.

–
AI-powered evaluation tools dramatically increase - by directing capital toward high-impact projects with proven social and environmental value. Beyond identifying already eligible ventures, these tools reveal pathways for projects to evolve—often with the guidance of their bankers—toward - that are both profitable and aligned with societal needs. As companies transition into -, they generate stronger financial performance, resilience, and long-term value. Their genuine utility to society not only ensures sustained demand but also creates a uniquely secure environment for investors. In short, -.

–
Ethics is not a slogan—it is something we build together. It is nourished mutually, shared in practice, and strengthened every day. Each grid, each criterion, is not just a checklist: it is a -.
Through its collective and daily use, the AGILE tool} reduces dependence on disconnected financial engineering, mitigates the risks of greenwashing, and ensures that A lever for transparency.
By guiding AI with this methodology, the Geneva Foundation for the Future ensures that technology does not fragment our world but instead becomes a A lever for ethical performance.

Higher Returns Through AI-Guided Impact Investing

This is the future of Impact Finance: one where returns on investment, one where complexity is simplified, and where collaboration and trust are the true currencies of transformation.
We warmly invite all financiers, corporate leaders, bankers, philanthropists, and changemakers to purpose-driven business models. Anyone who registers for free on our website to read the White Book will automatically gain access to the AGILE tool and will be kept informed of each new release—whether AI-driven platforms or methodological manuals—ready to be used according to their own needs, convenience, and professional goals.
Impact Finance, powered by AI and guided by AGILE, is not just a vision of tomorrow—it is a reality we are building together today.

AGILE: Efficiency Without Extra Cost
Traditional evaluation frameworks are often lengthy, complex, and expensive, requiring vast resources to process information without guaranteeing better decisions. By contrast, the AGILE tool focuses on a small set of key factors that drive impact, governance, and long-term value. This streamlined approach delivers the same reliability of results at a fraction of the cost.
Designed from the start with compatibility in mind, AGILE integrates seamlessly with the tools bankers, executives, and financial institutions already use. No need to replace existing systems—AGILE acts as a bridge and accelerator, reducing overheads while ensuring alignment with ESG, SDG, and legal taxonomies.
In short: less time, less cost, more clarity—and fully interoperable with today's professional practices.

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Towards a coherent philanthropy: why foundations must invest their funds in impact projects

Admin — 2025-08-17T07:24:33Z

Understanding how foundations work

A foundation is a legal and financial entity created to serve a mission of general interest. It relies on three main mechanisms:

The initial or endowment fund: a starting capital, sometimes considerable, given by a founder or a group of founders.
The financial management of this endowment: to endure, the foundation invests its capital, most often in traditional financial markets, in order to generate regular income.
Redistribution: the income from these investments is used to finance actions, often in the form of donations (grants, scholarships, support for charitable or research projects).

For decades, this model operated according to a very simple logic:

On one side, financial management, aimed at maximizing returns (often placed in standard products, sometimes even contradicting the foundation's social mission).
On the other, philanthropy, which uses these returns to support projects with a positive impact.

This dissociation was long perceived as normal, even necessary: “first make the money grow, in order to give later.”

The problem of coherence

But this model is now being called into question. How can a foundation claim to defend the climate, human rights, or education… while investing its capital in destructive sectors (fossil fuels, food speculation, polluting industries)?

This financial dichotomy has two negative effects:

It undermines the credibility and reputation of foundations.
It limits their transformative potential, as their own funds sometimes support the very causes they seek to fight.

This is where the principle of coherence comes in: aligning the foundation's investments with its philanthropic mission.

Impact investing: a virtuous coherence

This is not to say that a foundation must replace its donations with investments. Free, selfless giving remains at the heart of philanthropy.

But it is important to understand that:

The funds invested to generate the income for donations can also be placed in projects with a positive impact.
Thus, every franc invested already works for the foundation's mission, even before being redistributed as a donation.

In other words:

Investment generates an immediate impact (through the choice of projects aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, ecological transition, or social inclusion).
The income from this investment then makes it possible to give more to projects consistent with the same mission.

It is a virtuous circle: Impact investments → Sustainable income → Reinforced donations.

The advantages for foundations

Adopting this coherence offers numerous benefits:

Ethical alignment: the foundation fully lives its mission, without contradiction between its asset portfolio and its donations.
Strengthening legitimacy: donors, beneficiaries, and partners perceive the foundation as both trustworthy and visionary.
Financial stability: impact investments, often tied to the real economy (renewable energy, social infrastructure, sustainable agriculture), offer resilient returns less exposed to speculative bubbles.
Attractiveness to younger generations: many philanthropists and wealthy families today wish to give meaning to their wealth.
The advantages for banks and financial actors

Banks, wealth managers, and investment funds also find direct interest in this evolution:

New financial products: demand from foundations pushes the development of impact funds, green bonds, or hybrid vehicles.
Strengthened partnerships: banks become partners in the foundation's mission, and no longer merely technical service providers.
Reduction of long-term risks: responsible investments reduce exposure to climate, social, and regulatory crises.
Systemic and societal advantages

Finally, this coherence has effects at the global level:

Acceleration of the ecological and social transition: billions in capital, today invested neutrally or harmfully, are reoriented toward positive projects.
Ripple effect: if foundations, often exemplary, lead the way, other investors (pension funds, insurers, family offices) will follow.
Reduction of paradoxes: avoiding the vicious circle where investments worsen crises that donations then attempt to repair.
A historic opportunity

We are entering a new era of philanthropy: an integrated philanthropy, where the boundary between investing and giving turns into a virtuous continuum.

Foundations now have a historic opportunity to reinvent their role:

No longer simply “distributors of donations,”
But financial actors in their own right, capable of channeling all of their capital toward building a fairer, more sustainable, more resilient world.

It is in this spirit that the Geneva Foundation for the Future, through its AGILE tool, offers a shared and rigorous method to help foundations, banks, investors, and project leaders align their practices.

Thus, finance regains its meaning: not an abstract mechanism of speculation, but a living force at the service of life itself.

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Towards a Bold and Aligned Impact Finance

Admin — 2025-07-29T19:04:03Z

Among the many ongoing projects for social and environmental transformation, impact finance holds a central place. Increasing amounts of capital are now seeking to combine financial performance with social utility. Major institutions are publishing structuring frameworks. Tools for measuring and quantifying impact are becoming more refined. Nethertheless, a form of tension persists: between the sector's real advances… and the limits of the paradigm in which it still too often operates.

Yet, as Albert Einstein put it so well, we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.

Proposing to manage the impact using the same operating methods as before will only perpetuate the classic way of proceeding, which has failed in its universalist ambition.

In response to this global dynamic, the Geneva Foundation for the Future offers an alternative and complementary path to outline a space that is both compatible with financial operations and rich in new potential. Through its AGILE tool and its white paper on the convergence between finance, philanthropy and impact projects, it proposes a structuring, evolving, and deeply participatory framework. Far from positioning itself as a counter-model, the Foundation embraces a role as a benevolent catalyst, calling for finance that is bolder, more systemic, and more rooted in the challenges of the living world, the consideration of systemic dimensions, and regenerative economics.

Solid and Shared Foundations

The Foundation welcomes the major advances observed in the classical reference frameworks of impact finance. Among these anchoring points for finance, we currently find:

Intentionality, additionality and measurability as methodological foundations: these three principles are particularly central to the "Intention" and "Efficiency" pillars of the AGILE tool.
Alignment with international standards (SDG, ESG, IFRS, IRIS+, IWAF, etc.): the goal today is certainly not to reinvent the wheel but to act as a platform for integration and mutualization of these taxonomies through a lens that brings new potential.
Co-construction with stakeholders, a key element in both Anglo-Saxon "living document"-type methodologies and the collaborative approach developed in Geneva through participatory workshops and intersectoral committees.
The monetary valuation of impact, considered a useful tool for comparison and reporting… but for which the Foundation proposes a cautious use, guided by conscious understanding, to avoid any commodification of the living world.
The pursuit of systemic effects: here again, we believe it is necessary to go further, by making systemic transformation a central evaluation criterion, not merely a bonus or an indirect outcome.
Points of Vigilance and New Proposals

The Geneva Foundation for the Future wishes to mark a clear difference through a constructive reading of current trends in impact finance — and through the responses it offers.

A field of application too narrow?
Most sectoral tools remain focused on private equity and venture/growth/buy-out logic. The Foundation, by contrast, also addresses foundations, NGOs, public institutions and hybrid or local projects, in order to broaden as much as possible both the potential and the return on investment — in all its dimensions: financial, social, ecological...
An obsession with monetization?
While impact projects have the potential to generate more financial income than traditional projects, they will only be able to do so if other returns on investment (social, ecological, systemic, etc.) are actually present.
Many frameworks place economic quantification at the heart of decision-making. The Foundation wishes to propose a pluralistic approach that is both easy and simple to use on a daily basis: quantitative and qualitative aspects, financial data and field narratives, and the participation of beneficiaries are all embedded in the "Leadership" pillar of the AGILE tool.
A lack of focus on the living world, the commons, and regeneration?
This is arguably one of the most pressing proposals. The Foundation considers that the future of impact finance, impact incubators and evaluation services does not lie solely in Excel spreadsheets, but also in our collective ability to place money at the service of life — and not the other way around. This positioning aligns with work on well-being, active sobriety, climate justice and the care economy, which are strongly supported by the UN.
The AGILE Tool: A Structuring Lever, Not Just Another Label

Developed from three years of academic, field, and co-design work, the AGILE tool (Alignment – Governance – Intention – Leadership – Efficiency) enables a cross-disciplinary reading of impact projects that is both rigorous and adaptable. It is designed to:

align expectations between funders (philanthropy or investment), project leaders, and institutions;
facilitate access to funding for high-potential projects that are often poorly calibrated by traditional standards;
support the skills development of project leaders and evaluators;
bring high-impact dimensions to projects that are already well-structured economically and industrially;
create a shared language that transcends sectoral silos.

Rather than a rigid or normative tool, AGILE is a shared interface, an operational metalanguage that can connect to existing frameworks while opening up spaces for innovation.

Daring to Go Further

Impact finance has already crossed key milestones. It has gained in maturity, credibility, and method. If it truly wants to become a lever for transformation, it must take another step forward: move beyond repetitive models, embrace its political role, and fully integrate the challenges of life, long-term thinking, and the commons, in order to become a force for new proposals.

This is the invitation issued today by the Geneva Foundation for the Future: to dare a transformative, inclusive, demanding, regenerative finance. A finance unafraid of its own contradictions, but equipped to move beyond them.

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Defining Impact: A New Compass for Capitalism

Admin — 2025-07-22T17:41:43Z

In an era of escalating ecological degradation, growing social divides, and rising economic instability, the word impact has become both a rallying cry and a contested term. Too often reduced to a set of checkboxes aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), impact risks being commodified, diluted, or greenwashed. But at its core, impact is far more than compliance. It is a cultural shift, a strategic compass, and a moral horizon that challenges the very DNA of capitalism.

At the Geneva Foundation for the Future, we believe impact must be reclaimed as a systemic concept — one that bridges economic viability, ecological regeneration, and social cohesion. It must speak not only the language of metrics but also of meaning.

Ne nous contentons pas de moins.

As social and environmental concerns become unavoidable strategic priorities, a key question arises for companies and investors alike: how to combine economic performance with meaningful societal contribution? Two models offer different responses: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the more transformative model of the Impact Enterprise. While CSR typically enhances existing business practices, Impact Enterprises embed societal goals into the very heart of their operations, economics, and governance.

CSR vs. Impact Enterprise: Two Approaches, Two Visions of Societal Commitment

CSR emerged at the end of the 20th century as a response to growing public criticism of business-induced environmental and social harms. It has since become a standard approach, incorporating sustainability and ethics into corporate strategies—often through carbon offsetting, social programs, philanthropy, and stakeholder dialogue.

Yet in many cases, CSR remains an accessory to the core business model. It allows companies to maintain their existing structures while showcasing a “responsible” image. In some instances, it risks drifting into greenwashing or social washing, where sporadic charitable actions are used to deflect attention from unsustainable or extractive core operations.

While CSR has raised awareness and introduced ethical vocabulary into boardrooms, it is frequently criticized for its peripheral integration and lack of systemic transformation. It improves symptoms without challenging the underlying economic disease.

CSR: A Measured and External Commitment

In contrast, Impact Enterprises represent a deeper reimagination of capitalism. Rather than minimizing harm, they aim to generate positive outcomes by design. Their mission is not to "give back" after creating profit, but to create value that is inherently aligned with ecological balance and social well-being.

This approach touches all aspects of the organization:

Impact Enterprise: Transformation from Within

becomes participatory and transparent.

Governance are restructured to promote sustainability and equity.
Human resources are guided by Value chains.
inclusion, dignity, and shared purpose is pursued alongside measurable environmental and social impact.

Examples include mission-driven companies, social cooperatives, regenerative startups, and solidarity economy initiatives. These organizations embed additionality and intentionality into their DNA—not as an afterthought, but as a prerequisite.

Profitability

Where CSR asks "How can we improve what we already do?", the Impact Enterprise asks "What if the very nature of our business was part of the solution?" The difference lies in depth of integration and authenticity of purpose.

In a world increasingly shaped by climate shocks, social fractures, and demands for accountability, cosmetic CSR may no longer suffice. Stakeholders—be they customers, investors, or regulators—are calling for embedded impact, not reputational shielding.

The rise of Impact Enterprises marks a broader paradigm shift, echoed in new legal forms (such as “benefit corporations”), new financial vehicles (like blended finance and impact bonds), and new metrics (

A Paradigm Shift in Progress

, ESG+, or SDG alignment).

This is not just a business model shift—it is a cultural and ethical one. One that invites finance, philanthropy, and entrepreneurship to leave behind the logic of “doing less harm” and embrace the regenerative logic of “doing more good”—structurally, transparently, and at scale.

like AGILE

The SDGs offer a shared framework, but they are not the destination. Many projects labeled “SDG-aligned” deliver marginal improvements while leaving the extractive logic of the global economy intact. True impact goes further: it aims for additionality, intentionality, and systemic transformation.

It asks not just whether a project mitigates harm, but whether it restores ecosystems, empowers communities, and redefines value. This calls for a fundamental reprogramming of financial systems — shifting from risk-hedging to risk-sharing, from short-term extraction to long-term regeneration.

From SDGs to Systemic Shifts

Impact is not a technical checklist. It is a moral decision — a choice to align resources with what is desirable, not just what is profitable.

This shift demands:

Impact as an Ethical Practice

between financial flows and human values.

Alignment rooted in inclusion, transparency, and accountability.
Governance that ensures impact is not accidental but designed and measured.
Intentionality capable of navigating uncertainty while nurturing collaboration.
Leadership that blends economic viability with resilience.

These five pillars, formalized in the AGILE evaluation tool, provide a practical grammar for assessing and supporting projects that regenerate life, not just capital.

Efficiency

The root cause of our failures is not a lack of capital, but a lack of connection.

Despite trillions in available funds, high-potential impact projects remain underfunded. The disconnect between philanthropists, investors, and grassroots innovators has turned impact finance into a labyrinth of incompatible languages, tools, and criteria.

As the White Paper of the Geneva Foundation highlights, this fragmentation stifles collaboration and misallocates resources. Philanthropy, investment, and field action must converge into a new ecosystem of trust and co-creation.

The Crisis of Disconnection

To re-enchant finance is to recover its original purpose: serving life. This doesn't mean abandoning returns, but redefining what returns mean. A growing number of institutions now seek multiple returns — financial, ecological, reputational, and emotional.

In the words of Thomas Egli during his speech at the UN,

Re-enchanting Finance

The goal is not to market the living, but to protect and amplify it without reducing it to its monetary equivalent.

“Finance must no longer be an instrument of extraction. It must become a force for regeneration.”

A new capitalism is emerging — one that no longer pits ethics against performance but sees them as mutually reinforcing. This is the impact ethic: a framework that:

Prioritizes
The Impact Ethic: A Post-Neoliberal Narrative

over quarterly gains.

Measures success by long-term value, not just profits generated.
Seek life nurtured (the more positive and coherent the project's impact, the more profit it generates).
Builds greater financial returns through the search for virtuous models between local wisdom and global capital.
bridges, like greenwashing, and embraces cultural pluralism.

This ethic is not neutral. It demands critical reflection, participatory governance, and humility. It acknowledges that finance is not a neutral flow, but a powerful force that must be oriented deliberately toward justice, balance, and care.

Rejects false solutions

Rebuilding trust in finance starts by redefining what we mean by success. Impact, in its most complete sense, is the new social contract — one that calls each actor (from foundations to investors to policymakers) to responsibility and imagination.

Capitalism, if it is to endure, must learn ethics and good manners. It must remember that its legitimacy depends not on speculation, but on contribution. Not on efficiency alone, but on meaning.

This is the mission of the Geneva Foundation for the Future: to turn impact from a buzzword into a guiding principle — measurable, ethical, and regenerative.

Let us not settle for less.

Find the White book and the AGILE tool on this link.

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Toward the Emergence of Independent Rating Agencies for Impact Investments

Admin — 2025-07-17T12:57:57Z

In the coming years, the world of impact investing is poised to undergo a structural evolution: the rise of independent rating agencies dedicated exclusively to measuring, evaluating, and certifying impact. Just as financial markets have long relied on the credibility of credit rating agencies to assess the solvency of states and corporations, the impact sector now urgently requires trusted intermediaries to assess the integrity, measurability, and intentionality of impact projects.

The Need for Independent Oversight

As the boundaries between philanthropy, finance, and social enterprise become increasingly blurred, so too does the line between profit-driven and purpose-driven capital. Amid this convergence, one recurring challenge persists: how to ensure that what claims to be "impact" truly delivers on its promises. Greenwashing, social-washing, impact-washing, and fragmented methodologies undermine trust across the ecosystem. Without standardized, neutral, and transparent assessments, the credibility and scalability of impact investing remain at risk.

Independent impact rating agencies could provide that missing pillar of trust. Their role would not be to dictate what constitutes meaningful impact, but rather to offer a structured, transparent, and comparable evaluation of impact strategies, governance mechanisms, measurement tools, and results.

Learning from the Credit Market—Without Replicating Its Failures

The experience of traditional credit rating agencies offers both a precedent and a warning. In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, their conflicts of interest and lack of oversight revealed the dangers of unregulated power. For impact finance, independent agencies must be designed differently from the start: with participatory governance, methodological pluralism, and alignment with public taxonomies (such as SDGs, ESG criteria, and national strategies for sustainable development).

They would need to be non-profit or benefit-driven entities, accountable to multi-stakeholder boards composed of public institutions, investors, project leaders, academic experts, and civil society representatives.

A Role Already in the Making

The Geneva Foundation for the Future anticipates this evolution. With its AGILE tool—a participatory, evolving, and interoperable evaluation framework—the Foundation is laying the groundwork for such agencies to emerge and thrive. The AGILE model demonstrates how a common language and shared evaluation criteria can foster trust, facilitate co-investment, and align actors around measurable, systemic outcomes.

Moreover, Geneva Foundation's cross-sectoral governance and emphasis on field proximity offer a model of transparency and credibility that rating agencies will need to emulate. By supporting open-source standards and methodological co-construction, the Foundation helps prevent the monopolization or privatization of impact evaluation.

What Could These Agencies Look Like?

A next-generation impact rating agency might function as:

A platform for certification, offering modular evaluations tailored to different project sizes and sectors;
A repository of validated indicators aligned with SDGs and ESG frameworks;
A guardian of independence, trained to detect tokenism or “cosmetic impact” practices;
A trusted third party in blended finance deals, reducing due diligence costs and de-risking investments;
A knowledge hub, producing regular analyses on sector trends, innovations, and gaps.

In time, a constellation of regional or thematic agencies could emerge, reflecting cultural diversity, sectoral specificity, and the pluralism of social values.

Foresight in Action

Rather than waiting for scandals to demand oversight, the impact sector can take a proactive stance—designing rating institutions that embody the values it seeks to promote: inclusion, transparency, long-termism, and stewardship. These agencies would not only assess projects but also foster continuous learning and feedback loops, elevating the sector as a whole.

In short, the emergence of independent impact rating agencies is not only desirable—it is inevitable. The question is whether they will be shaped by the actors of impact themselves, or imposed later by regulatory or market forces. The time to act is now.

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From Participatory Science to Impact Finance – The Visionary Journey of Thomas Egli

Admin — 2025-07-12T20:48:54Z

An Entrepreneur of the Common Good

For over thirty years, Thomas Egli has been forging a unique and pioneering path at the crossroads of science, education, social innovation, and impact finance. His journey began in 1992, when, still a student, he perceived the limits of traditional science education. Too academic, too abstract, too disconnected from real-world issues. He then formulated a simple but powerful intuition: what if citizens became co-actors in scientific research, by directly participating in the production of useful knowledge?

1992–2020: Making Participatory Science Viable and Profitable

From this intuition was born what would become an international movement of applied participatory science, driven by an organization he founded: the NGO Objectif Sciences International (OSI). OSI structures scientific education programs through research, where children, youth, and adults contribute to projects in environmental research, astronomy, climate, archaeology, or biodiversity. These programs rely on immersive field stays, co-designed with researchers, local communities, and institutional partners.

But Thomas Egli's true achievement lies in his ability to reconcile educational impact with economic viability. In other words: making a common good-oriented activity profitable. To achieve this, he developed an original economic architecture based on:

diversifying revenue models (citizen funding, sponsorship, public contributions, educational services),
a cooperative structure for projects (where beneficiaries are also contributors),
and international modularity, allowing each OSI branch to adapt its programs to its local context.

In less than two decades, OSI became the world's leading NGO in participatory science with an autonomous economic model, present in more than 25 countries, with consultative status at the UN, and a community of thousands of participants, experts, educators, and funders. It inspired a new generation of projects combining open research, citizen empowerment, and applied collective intelligence.

A Rare Cross-Disciplinary Expertise

To achieve such results, Thomas Egli had to mobilize an exceptional range of skills, often siloed in traditional career paths:

Long-term strategic vision (network structuring, evolving governance, cycles of open innovation);
Mastery of hybrid business models (non-profit, entrepreneurial, cooperative);
Pedagogical design and capacity for large-scale training;
Building multi-stakeholder partnerships, involving local authorities, companies, researchers, citizens, and donors;
Political and diplomatic skills, with engagements in international institutions (UNESCO, UN, intergovernmental forums);
Humanistic leadership, able to inspire an international community around a shared goal: restoring knowledge in service of life.
2020: Scaling Up, Shifting Domains

After deciding to step down from the presidency of Objectif Sciences International in 2018, once the NGO had become autonomous, Thomas Egli was quickly approached by stakeholders from all sectors. Foundations, family offices, impact incubators, top schools, leaders of associations or mission-driven companies came to him with the same question:
“How do you make an impact project economically viable?”

This led to the idea of a dedicated structure to mutualize this know-how, serving all domains — education, health, energy, agriculture, urban planning, culture, climate — with a clear objective:
to move impact projects from prototype to sustainable and scalable models.

Toward the Geneva Foundation for the Future: Aligning Projects and Capital

This grassroots dynamic soon met a broader expectation: that of the financial community, in search of profound transformation.
Philanthropists, impact investors, public funders, sovereign funds, private banks, blended finance platforms — all express the same fundamental need to better align their resources with projects that truly drive societal and ecological transformation.

But for this to happen, a common language is needed, shared frameworks for analysis, and above all, reliable and accessible methodological tools.

This is how the Geneva Foundation for the Future came into being. Launched in 2024 after three years of preparatory work, this collective initiative, catalyzed by Thomas Egli, aims to connect the siloed worlds of finance, philanthropy, and project leaders. The foundation then developed the AGILE tool, a five-pillar analysis framework (Alignment, Governance, Intention, Leadership, Efficiency), designed to assess, monitor, support, and guide impact projects toward viable and transformative models.

When Industry Itself Calls for Impact

A final notable turning point: major industrial players, initially engaged in CSR (corporate social responsibility) or green finance efforts, are now turning to the Foundation. Aware of the limits of purely compensatory or marketing-driven approaches, they seek to convert their infrastructures and value chains toward real impact.

These demands bring new challenges: supporting scale-up, transforming legacy models, integrating fairer and more sustainable value chains — all while maintaining economic profitability. But they confirm a founding intuition:
the 21st century will not lack money, it will lack economically viable and fundamentally useful projects.

Thomas Egli's story is not that of one man alone. It is the story of a conviction turned method, a method turned ecosystem. It is also the story of a bridge between idealism and strategy, between grassroots and institutions, between finance and life.

By embodying this convergence, he opens a path that others can follow, amplify, and adapt — in all fields where meaning, rigor, and impact are called to meet.

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AGILE tool of the Foundation is a Top Initiative at Blue Economy and Finance Forum

Admin — 2025-07-12T20:12:27Z

The Blue Economy and Finance Forum, held on June 7–8, 2025 at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, is part of the momentum initiated by the Principality of Monaco and many other stakeholders (States, NGOs, policymakers, scientists, and representatives of civil society) in favor of a sustainable and regenerative ocean economy.

Organized as an official partner event of the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC 2025), this forum, which brought together over 800 financiers, served as a space for reflection and exchange on issues related to finance and the blue economy. Mr. Robin Degron for UNEP Plan Bleu, Mr. Frank Schweikert for the German Ocean Foundation, as well as Mr. Thomas Egli were present as partners of the Participatory Science Hackathon for the Ocean organized by the NGO Objectif Sciences International within the framework of these events.

Mr. Thomas Egli represented the A.G.I.L.E tool from the Geneva Foundation for the Future, which was identified as a "Top Initiative" by the Blue Economy and Finance Forum in Monaco.

This recognition identifies here an innovative solution dedicated to transforming impact finance. It aligns with 2 of the 4 main themes addressed at the Blue Economy and Finance Forum:

financing a regenerative and sustainable blue economy;
and ensuring sustainable governance and financing of the oceans.

This tool proposes a paradigm shift by offering support in the governance of financial systems so that they support the regeneration of natural ecosystems rather than their degradation. It is no longer a matter of generating wealth through extraction or destruction, but through the restoration and sustainable enhancement of life.

The AGILE tool addresses a major paradox: despite the abundance of capital in impact finance, many high-potential projects remain underfunded. To remedy this situation, AGILE relies on five evaluation pillars designed to harmonize analysis criteria, avoid fragmentation of frameworks, and establish a common language between investors, philanthropists, and project leaders.

For more information on this topic, you can find the description of the AGILE tool at this link: https://geneva-for-future.foundatio...

The ambitions of the AGILE tool confirm the need for a profound overhaul of economic models serving the Ocean. The Blue Economy Finance Forum and the Principality of Monaco, by recognizing the importance of this tool, are fully participating in the transition toward a regenerative blue economy, underlining the importance of mobilizing capital differently, with rigor, transparency, and real impact. The recognition granted to concrete initiatives demonstrates a collective will to accelerate change. What remains now is to transform these commitments into sustainable actions, on a scale equal to the challenges of ocean preservation.

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AGILE: A tool that serves as an operational response to align finance and impact-driven projects

Admin — 2025-06-17T07:13:46Z

An abundance of capital, a scarcity of "fundable" projects

In 2023, over $1.6 trillion was globally allocated to impact investing, according to the Global Impact Investing Network. Meanwhile, global philanthropic foundations hold over $1.5 trillion in mobilizable assets (source: WINGS / OECD 2022). Yet, despite this abundance of resources, a significant portion of these funds fails to find projects to finance. This paradox stems less from a lack of willingness than from the absence of shared, readable, and interoperable tools.

The Geneva Foundation for the Future was created to address this systemic barrier. Its mission is clear: to reconcile the logic of finance, philanthropy, and field action by equipping stakeholders with a common and operational evaluation tool – the AGILE tool.

Understanding to act: a common grammar between siloed worlds

The impact finance ecosystem faces a fragmentation of frameworks. Project leaders struggle to articulate their value proposition according to the standards expected by investors or public funders. Conversely, the latter state in several surveys (WEF, Rockefeller, Convergence) that fewer than 15% of the projects they review meet their requirements for rigor, transparency, or economic viability.

The AGILE tool seeks to overcome these divides by structuring evaluation around five fundamental categories: Alignment, Governance, Impact, Leadership, Efficiency. It acts as both a translator and a common filter, capable of reconciling philanthropic logic, financial logic, and grassroots grounding.

The 5 pillars of the AGILE tool: towards robust and harmonized evaluation

Pillar Objective Functional Family

Alignment Ethical and cultural coherence between funders, beneficiaries, and projects Human Goals

Governance Presence of the organization's vital functions, capacity to lead and adapt Vital Functions

Intention Depth of transformation, additionality, measurement, alignment with the SDGs Deep Impact Criteria

Leadership Systemic vision, replication potential, influence Scale Potential

Efficiency Economic clarity, administrative simplicity, resource diversification Simplified Financial Foundation

This framework is the result of academic work, participatory workshops, and a co-construction process conducted over three consecutive years through high-level interactive sessions hosted by the Geneva Forum, involving representatives from all areas of finance (family offices, funds, corporate foundations, charitable foundations, asset management...) and has led to a platform involving over 1,000 experts from the 8,000 past participants of the Geneva Forum, as well as 3,000 individuals from universities and public and private institutions currently federated by the NGO Objectif Sciences International.

A shared tool for collectively evaluated projects

The AGILE tool is designed as an evolving digital platform. It enables:

collaborative project evaluation,
cross-referencing of criteria from investors, public agencies, and philanthropists,
dynamic monitoring with shared dashboards,
strengthened trust through full transparency of ratings and cross-audits.

In all cases, it is intentionally very simple, and... agile.

The pilot use of the AGILE tool for the evaluation and monitoring of impact projects is currently underway by the founding community, as well as by external users as observers. The goal is to share feedback during the upcoming Geneva Forums and demonstrate the time savings achievable in the pre-analysis phase, the improved mutual understanding, and the increase in effective financing rates within 12 months post-evaluation.

A realistic and systemic ambition

AGILE is neither a label nor a normative straitjacket. It positions itself as a convergence interface, a pragmatic tool to streamline investments aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ESG criteria, and regulatory taxonomies (such as the European SFDR or the EU Green Taxonomy), while pursuing an approach that goes beyond balance to foster native positive impact (read this article to understand the difference between CSR and Impact).

The AGILE tool is aimed both at small foundations seeking to structure their approach and at large financial institutions looking to aggregate credible and measurable project portfolios.

Putting finance at the service of life

The AGILE tool embodies a concrete response to a systemic challenge. It's not simply about better project evaluation: it's about transforming the cognitive and decision-making infrastructure that connects philanthropic intent, investment imperatives, and field realities.

By providing clarity, coherence, and interoperability, AGILE finally enables finance to fulfill its role: catalyzing the deep transformations our society needs, by putting money at the service of life, equity, and resilience.

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Pillar	Objective	Functional Family
Alignment	Ethical and cultural coherence between funders, beneficiaries, and projects	Human Goals
Governance	Presence of the organization's vital functions, capacity to lead and adapt	Vital Functions
Intention	Depth of transformation, additionality, measurement, alignment with the SDGs	Deep Impact Criteria
Leadership	Systemic vision, replication potential, influence	Scale Potential
Efficiency	Economic clarity, administrative simplicity, resource diversification	Simplified Financial Foundation

Geneva Foundation for the Future

2025 Geneva Forum: Dry Run of the AGILE Tool

Uses of the AGILE Tool

Reference criteria of impact finance integrated

You can access two levels of participation in the Dry Run

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Re-enchanting Finance: when impact becomes the key to a future without ceilings

Investors in search of new horizons

Large industries facing their transition

Entrepreneurs and creators of useful wealth

Public officials and the collective challenge

A bridge between siloed worlds

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AI and Impact Finance: A New Era of Simplicity, Power, and Purpose

More Than Technology: A Human and Ethical Foundation

Higher Returns Through AI-Guided Impact Investing

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Towards a coherent philanthropy: why foundations must invest their funds in impact projects

Understanding how foundations work

The problem of coherence

Impact investing: a virtuous coherence

The advantages for foundations

The advantages for banks and financial actors

Systemic and societal advantages

A historic opportunity

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Towards a Bold and Aligned Impact Finance

Solid and Shared Foundations

Points of Vigilance and New Proposals

The AGILE Tool: A Structuring Lever, Not Just Another Label

Daring to Go Further

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Defining Impact: A New Compass for Capitalism

CSR vs. Impact Enterprise: Two Approaches, Two Visions of Societal Commitment

CSR: A Measured and External Commitment

Impact Enterprise: Transformation from Within

A Paradigm Shift in Progress

From SDGs to Systemic Shifts

Impact as an Ethical Practice

The Crisis of Disconnection

Re-enchanting Finance

The Impact Ethic: A Post-Neoliberal Narrative

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Toward the Emergence of Independent Rating Agencies for Impact Investments

The Need for Independent Oversight

Learning from the Credit Market—Without Replicating Its Failures

A Role Already in the Making

What Could These Agencies Look Like?

Foresight in Action

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From Participatory Science to Impact Finance – The Visionary Journey of Thomas Egli

An Entrepreneur of the Common Good

1992–2020: Making Participatory Science Viable and Profitable

A Rare Cross-Disciplinary Expertise

2020: Scaling Up, Shifting Domains

Toward the Geneva Foundation for the Future: Aligning Projects and Capital

When Industry Itself Calls for Impact

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AGILE tool of the Foundation is a Top Initiative at Blue Economy and Finance Forum

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AGILE: A tool that serves as an operational response to align finance and impact-driven projects

An abundance of capital, a scarcity of "fundable" projects

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