2020 Impact Report

The 2020 Impact Report by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship highlights the collective achievements of its community of nearly 400 social innovators operating in over 190 countries. Key quantitative impacts include reaching over 622 million people, mitigating 192 million tonnes of CO2, and distributing $6.7 billion in loans or value-added products. The report emphasizes the transition from individual organizational growth to 'systems change'—addressing root causes through cross-sector partnerships and technology. It identifies a critical lag in funding models, which often remain too short-term and risk-averse for systemic work. The Foundation's support is most valued for providing global visibility, peer networks, and introduction to systems thinking, particularly through executive education at the Harvard Kennedy School.

• The collective impact of the Schwab Foundation's community is significant in scale, having directly affected more than 622 million people and distributed over $6.7 billion through loans or products and services.
• The community has achieved substantial environmental impact, mitigating more than 192 million tonnes of CO2, which is equivalent to removing over 40.7 million passenger vehicles from the road for one year.
• Social entrepreneurs are most active in ten countries: India, the US, Kenya, Brazil, South Africa, Uganda, Mexico, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Tanzania; notably, six of these are in Africa and all except the US are low to middle income markets.
• The three most valued benefits provided by the Schwab Foundation to its members are global visibility and inclusion at World Economic Forum events, peer support from other social entrepreneurs, and the introduction to systems thinking.
• Traditional funding and investment models are lagging behind the needs of social entrepreneurs, as investors are often too risk-averse or demand narrow metrics that conflict with expansive, systemic ambitions.
• Technology acts as an equalizer and a critical tool for scaling impact, enabling remote collaboration and direct service access for the poor, though it also risks increasing existing inequalities.
• The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) serve as a unifying framework for social entrepreneurs, with nearly 90% of surveyed entrepreneurs having strategies influenced by the SDGs, particularly Goals 1, 3, 4, 5, and 8.
• Systems change is most commonly pursued at the 'practices' level, followed by 'policies' and 'mental models', with the goal of addressing root causes rather than symptoms to create lasting societal effects.

APA

World Economic Forum (2020). 2020 Impact Report. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Schwab_Foundation_2020_Impact_Report.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. 2020 Impact Report. 2020. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Schwab_Foundation_2020_Impact_Report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=2020 Impact Report |date=2020 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Schwab_Foundation_2020_Impact_Report.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum20202020, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{2020 Impact Report}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2020}, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Schwab_Foundation_2020_Impact_Report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }