SOCIAL LEADERSHIP
The Social Leadership Project
Developing a robust and diverse ecosystem of social leadership development opportunities in the UK.
The UK has one of the most dynamic social sectors in the world, and a range of organisations develop the skills of its leaders. But many feel that social leaders get less access to training and development opportunities than leaders in the private or public sectors.Given the scale and complexity of the systemic challenges that social leaders aim to address, Britain needs to invest more in social leadership development.
Four funders – Collective Futures, Hg Foundation and the Henry Smith Charity – came together to explore the possibility of a new philanthropic vehicle to catalyse social leadership development in the UK.
In March 2025, System Shift was appointed to lead a nine month project to gather insight about the current state of the field and scope the design of the vehicle.
The project team has three aims.
Map existing training and leadership development opportunities for social leaders in the UK
Gain insight into the experiences of social sector leaders, and the extent to which their development needs are being met
Design and test different philanthropic solutions to support the field to flourish.
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