Our Work
Systems are made up of many players, working together in concert. Change in systems is always a collective undertaking. That is why we focus so much of our effort on building vehicles for collaboration, especially to support philanthropic foundations and their public and social sector partners.
The International System Shift Collaborative
The International System Shift Collaborative is a network of people working to bridge the economic and social systems of today with those of tomorrow. The Collaborative amplifies the stories and insights of those who have first hand experience of leading transformational change.
The Collaborative is facilitated by System Shift but made possible by a group of foundations committed to translating the theory of systems change into practice. From the UK, this community includes the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Henry Smith Charity and Ethos Foundation; from Australia, the Minderoo Foundation, the Paul Ramsay Foundation and VicHealth; and from Denmark the Tryg Foundation and the Bikuben Foundation.
The Social Leadership Collaborative
In March 2025, a group of funders with a shared interest in social leadership in the UK, including Collective Futures, Hg Foundation and the Henry Smith Foundation, invited System Shift to lead a scoping insight into the current state of the field and the potential for funders to strengthen the social leadership ecosystem as a whole.
Collective Futures and the Henry Smith Foundation have now been joined by This Day Foundation and the National Lottery Community Fund as part of a Social Leadership Funder Collaborative - working towards making a long-term, significant investment in social leadership across the UK.
Work in Progress
Our pipeline of work spans a range of themes from how to design portfolios of interventions and investments, to new approaches to community wealth building and the art of developing organisational strategies for systems change. If you’d like to learn more about work in progress, please get in touch with us: info@systemshiftgroup.org