Initiative Overview

 

An initiative of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on International Governance, Public-Private Cooperation and Sustainable Development, the Fourth Sector Development Initiative is a collaboration of public, private, and philanthropic institutions committed to accelerating sustainable, inclusive development by catalyzing trillions of dollars of fourth sector growth globally by 2030. Supported by the Fourth Sector Group platform, FSDI fosters collective action globally to enhance knowledge and raise awareness about the fourth sector, to develop more enabling policy and regulatory environments for the fourth sector, to promote new business and investment models that are aligned with for-benefit enterprises, to increase educational and training opportunities for fourth sector practitioners and leaders, and to develop local and regional hubs to foster collaboration and accelerate fourth sector development in communities.

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Strategic Priorities

 

Fourth sector development is emerging as a high priority for governments, development institutions, corporations, investors, and other actors. However, for the sector to realize its potential, much work needs to be done to strengthen its supportive ecosystem. To succeed at delivering on both their commercial and impact objectives, for-benefit enterprises need access to financial markets that seek positive social and environmental impacts, enabling policy and regulatory environments, integrated assessment and reporting standards and tools, specialized technical and legal assistance and training offerings, and more. In short, the mechanisms that make a market function.

 

The FSDI is a collaboration of public, private, and philanthropic institutions working to address this challenge by creating the enabling ecosystem required for the fourth sector to flourish. FSDI serves as a platform for collective leadership and action to advance the following strategic priorities globally:

 

1. Enhance knowledge and raise awareness about for-benefit enterprises and the fourth sector.

 

2. Develop more enabling policy and regulatory environments for the fourth sector.

 

3. Promote new business and investment models that are aligned with for-benefit enterprises.

 

4. Increase educational and training opportunities for fourth sector practitioners and leaders.

 

5. Develop local and regional hubs to foster collaboration and accelerate fourth sector development in communities.

Core Activities

 

To advance these priorities, FSDI will bring together stakeholders from business, finance, government, philanthropy, academia, civil society, international organizations, and development institutions to collaborate on a mutually reinforcing set of initial activities:

 

• Policy – Initiate a global multistakeholder effort to develop a comprehensive policy framework for enabling the fourth sector.

 

• Knowledge – Conduct a global census of the fourth sector and its ecosystem to support data-driven policy and decision making. Create a public data commons with visualization and analysis tools to house the census and bridge it with existing data sources.

 

• Awareness – Coordinate a global campaign to raise awareness about the need to upgrade our economic systems, and the role of the fourth sector as an accelerant and leapfrog strategy.

 

• Training – Develop a global platform to equip policy makers, practitioners, and students with necessary knowledge and skills.

 

• Business Models – Identify and promote effective structures, models, and practices, including accounting systems, non-financial metrics, management practices, and governance models.

 

• Investment Models - Identify and promote specialized investment models needed to finance for-benefit enterprises, and identify the tools, procedures, and processes required to make them fully operational.

 

• Hubs – Support the development of a network of local and regional hubs that serve as innovation laboratories and accelerators, providing shared resources and support services to for-benefit practitioners.

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Other Projects Associated with this Initiative Include: