2025 programme outcomes
What did the 2025 programme achieve?
The 2025 Resource Alliance Leadership Programme brought together 100 leaders from 37 countries working across civil society, philanthropy, fundraising, social enterprise, and movement-led organisations.
Over the course of the year, participants engaged in four Leadership Summits, four Action Labs, and — for the first time — Regional Peer Leadership Groups, creating space for shared learning, collaboration, and practical action on some of the most pressing challenges facing our sector.
Together, these spaces enabled leaders to explore emerging trends, test new ideas, co-create tools and resources, and support one another through real-world leadership challenges.
To apply to join the 2026 programme, email Senior Programme Curator, James Tennet.
Leadership Summits
The four Leadership Summits convened the full cohort to explore big-picture themes, surface shared challenges, and identify collective priorities for action.
Summit 1: Future Trends
This Summit focused on understanding the most critical trends shaping the social impact sector globally, grounded in the findings of the CIVICUS State of Civil Society Report. It featured an opening talk and Q&A from Mandeep Tiwana, Secretary General of CIVICUS, followed by regional perspectives from: Marcelo Iñarra & Hernan Nadal (Argentina), Ingrid Srinath (India), and Jimm Chick Fomunjong (Ghana). Together, these contributions helped participants explore how global trends are playing out differently across regions, and what this means for leadership, civic space, and collective action.
Summit 2: New Financing Models
This Summit explored new and innovative approaches to resourcing the social impact sector at a time of declining traditional funding and ODA. Speakers included Mauricio Preciado-Awad, Executive Director of Blended and Innovative Finance at Save the Children Global Ventures, and Ronika Mumbire, Executive Director at Zimbabwe Women’s Bureau. The session examined both large-scale blended finance models and smaller, grassroots-led social enterprise innovations, offering practical insights into how organisations are adapting to shifting funding landscapes.
Summit 3: Collaboration
This Summit focused on collaboration in practice and featured updates from each of the four Action Labs running as part of the Leadership Programme. Participants heard directly from Action Lab members about: what they were working on, what support or collaboration they needed, how others in the cohort could contribute to or build on their efforts. This created opportunities for cross-pollination, peer support, and wider engagement across the cohort.
Summit 4: Action
The final Summit took place in person at IFC 2025 and centred on moving from insight to action. It featured framing contributions from lead speakers across the IFC Big Topic sessions. Participants then worked in breakout groups to begin the co-creation of a Manifesto for Change, capturing shared priorities, tensions, and concrete actions for sector-wide transformation.
>> Coming Soon: Leadership Summit Full Report
Action Labs
Four Action Labs ran throughout the year, bringing together small groups of leaders to focus on issues of shared interest and urgency. Each Lab used a shared Action Framework to guide its work and drive tangible outcomes.
Strategy & People Action Lab
This Lab focused on leadership, wellbeing, and organisational culture in a time of increasing pressure and uncertainty.
Key outcomes included:
- Two practical leadership tools to address burnout and wellbeing:
- a personal reflection tool for leaders
- a structured conversation guide for teams to discuss workload, support, and psychological safety
- A short case study library, Workplaces that Thrive 2025, showcasing inclusive, people-centred leadership models in practice
- Shared learning on building ethical, resilient, and high-performing teams in complex environments.
>> Coming Soon: Workplaces that Thrive 2025 case study library
Fundraising Innovation Action Lab 1
This Lab explored how emerging technologies — particularly AI — can support more equitable and effective fundraising.
Key outcomes included:
- The co-creation of a free CustomGPT tool (the Funder-Finder & Opportunity Matcher) to help organisations identify suitable grant funders based on their work, geography, and needs
- Guidance on ethical AI use, including prompt libraries and interpretation guides
- A focus on accessibility for smaller and grassroots organisations, with resources shared openly for sector-wide use
Fundraising Innovation Action Lab 2
This Lab focused on practical, ethical use of AI and technology in fundraising and operations.
Key outcomes included:
- An AI use-case library for fundraisers, documenting how organisations around the world are already using AI responsibly
- A mentoring-focused approach connecting emerging and experienced fundraisers across geographies
- Case studies highlighting community-led and locally rooted fundraising practices, particularly from underrepresented contexts
Climate Action Lab
Building on work begun in 2024, this Lab focused on launching a youth-led, justice-centred climate campaign.
Key outcomes included:
- A campaign supporting implementation of the International Court of Justice ruling on states’ climate obligations
- A growing library of youth-led climate justice case studies
- A ready-to-use case study template and question set for grassroots organisers
- A mapped coalition of 60+ potential partners (youth organisations, legal experts, creatives, funders, and amplifiers) to support and scale the campaign
- Campaign materials launched and amplified in alignment with IFC 2025 and COP processes
Want to apply for the 2026 programme? Email Senior Programme Curator, James Tennet.