Mid-year is a good moment to look back and forward to expectations and evolutions captured last year in the Trend Pulse of the Social-Profit sector. An exchange with Jürgen Janssens (Head of Non-Profit & Social Impact at asUgo) on some first learnings, and ideas for the months ahead. A discussion at the intersection of organisational creativity, technological potential and human determination.

We looked indeed at evolutions in 2024 and expectations for 2025. Fundraising organisations were facing changing giving habits, NGOs were challenged in many regions, and foundations were in full transition, while data, technology and collaboration offered new possibilities.

That’s why we looked at evolutions in some key areas, like funding instruments, data and non-financial enablers, supporting impact with AI, scaling impact across ecosystems, and skills development.

The down-to-earth goal is to listen and feel what’s ahead, understand what is living, and think proactively ahead. As we are collaborating with a wide spectrum of organisations, it seemed logical to take that extra step. We wanted to stimulate reflections and find workable solutions, enabled  by technology and/or guidance on organizational, process or human matters.

Be it on ecosystem scaling (funding and activity synergies), technology activation, collaborative dynamics or the support of volunteers, most of those evolutions and expectations still stand. Nascent evolutions take maybe a bit more time. But that gets compensated by the increasing number of collaborative initiatives in 2025.

Unrestricted grants, for example, continue to gain traction and/or maturity. Also, volunteer management was already a topic in 2024, and is increasingly so in 2025. Adapting processes and providing different tools are high on the agenda, as organisations acknowledge more and more the value that volunteers bring.

On payment technology, everything continues to evolve at a high pace, as expected. We notice this year that fundraising organisations may not all be jumping on the latest evolutions yet, but they definitely do explore new pathways. Some go for creative fundraising through more phygital campaigns, others test smoother giving page experiences, round-up donations at check-outs, special experiences at events and more. Embracing the potential of technology and data is clearly growing.

At the same time, they know that building lasting relationships takes time. So there is also a lot of background work ongoing, be it to improve their internal way of working, or to reinforce relations with their community. That’s where the mentioned experience exchanges step in.

When looking at the other trends and expectations, we see more ambiguity than expected on skills development. While most organisations we work with acknowledge the need to allow their colleagues to grow their skills, it often appears to be ‘work in progress’. Let’s see how this and other subjects evolve after the summer.

In 2024, research had shown strong curiosity in the social-profit community. ‘Exploring further’ was then seen as the way forward. Based on what we notice through our exchanges, more and more organisations are indeed embracing the power of data and AI in 2025. Admittedly, there are still different levels of maturity. But we do notice that organisations create more space for it, while remaining value- and impact-driven, of course.

The elephant in the room is AI. Amongst NGOs, foundations or other social profits, the fear of playing with it is really gone. There are still a lot of questions though. Some organisations see the value, but are still hesitant for a final GO because of environmental reflections. Others took the step (and provide internal guidelines), but are still working on the balance between gaining time, having people motivated and keeping security and the likes on par.

Interestingly enough, many international NGOs have now live data/AI projects to support operations in the countries where they are active on the field. The number and diversity of AI/data use cases is becoming impressive. It goes much further than we expected in 2024.

There are many. Top of mind is democracy, as it has been challenged quite a bit the last months, in many countries. It increased pressure on funding. This comes on top of local specificities. In Belgium, the plans to reduce deductibility of donations have shaken up – and unified – the sector quite a bit. In addition, many organisations are suffering due to the lack of a new Brussels government.

More generally, some of the challenges have had a stimulating influence on latent evolutions (like the desire to collaborate more), while others have had rather a decelerating effect (like phasing different initiatives to boost digital capabilities, less attention for youth, education, housing or accessibility). For many organisations, the start of the year has been rather hard, though.

Interestingly enough, we see that motivation is now picking up. One can sense more and more the determination and concrete actions of people and organisations that want to drive impactful change and create societal value.

The same is true for grant giving, in fact. In Europe, the grant-giving sector is in an introspective phase. Finding the balance between thoughtful planning and decisive action is never easy. But European philanthropy really wants to embrace risks and accelerate its transformation, build trust and provide support where it’s needed most. Cross-border collaboration is an essential enabler for this. It looks like the motivation is stronger than expected end of 2024.

Let’s face it: that depends very much on organisation, region, and impact focus. The societal reality of Japanese foundations is different from the historical challenges in Canada or those across Europe. Similarly, fundraising and legacy challenges in the Nordics are not totally the same as those in Southern Europe. And we’re even not talking about how elections in 50+ countries in 2024 have influenced democracy, environment and care, compared to human rights and education.

This said, it is clear that the basics will continue to make an important difference: people, trust, data and skills, along with a make-it-happen mindset and a collaborative attitude.

In Belgium, for example, fundraising trainings at HOGent or FAB create opportunities in the sector beyond the historical internal borders. Across Europe, foundations are continuing their collaborative dynamics towards more and/or different impact. The catalysing effort of Philea (Philanthropy Europe Association) and the Belgian Federation of Foundations (Belgium), to name only a few, is very inspiring. Similarly, the Gulbenkian Foundation facilitates quite a bit in Portugal. Also in France, several organisations contribute to the bigger picture.

Daring a fresh wind on human, organizational/sectorial and technological level is key.

Yes, very much! It is great to see how organisations dare to step up for focus-specific collaborations. It goes much further than what we expected.
Some months ago, for example, several career mentoring stakeholders joined forces to launch Mentoring Belgium. The mission of this coalition is to implement and support any action that contributes to the growth and quality of career mentoring impact in Belgium, across regions and borders. They really want to increase possibilities and open doors for job seekers.

The same is happening between actors with an international focus. Recently, 8 NGOs joined forces to create a health impact coalition. Their goal is to unite their expertise and implement common programs to drive greater impact.

In parallel, there are the more ‘macro conventions’ of course, like the International Conference on Financing for Development in Sevilla, early July, that focused on international cooperation. The future will tell us if they will lead to more impact-driven financing, unlock a better mix of public and private finance, or better align the efforts of the different actors. But formats likes these do also stimulate new ideas on the short term.
More generally, everyone can make a difference in their own way. At the intersection of public, private and social profit, many synergies are possible.

Sure. But every idea can make a difference. The ‘Think Big, Start Small, Move Fast’ adage still stands. People, energy and ideas will bring us already a long way. A make-it-happen mindset and a collaborative attitude really make a difference, if combined with real actions and concrete steps forward.

Overall, the sector is really active, despite geopolitical tensions, local realities and funding challenges. More than ever, that contagious energy is what we need, powered by a dynamic mix of people, trust, data and skills.

Let’s see how things evolve in the coming months. The evolutions will influence in various ways the exchanges and collaborations with the sector. It’s going to be very inspiring to follow and, especially, to contribute to.

Authors: Jürgen Janssens, Director asUgo, Head of Non-Profit & Social Impact, asUgo