The Impact World this Week: 19 June 2026
Your quick guide to the most interesting news snippets about social enterprise, impact investment and mission-driven business around the world from the Pioneers Post team. This week: What Canada’s first state of social enterprise survey in 10 years reveals, UK impact leaders celebrated in King’s Birthday Awards, 50 Europeans impact startups to watch announced, and more.
Canada: 400 social enterprises generated CA$6.5bn in revenue in 2025 – new survey
Just over 400 social enterprises generated CA$6.5bn in revenue and employed 18,000 people in 2025 in Canada, according to a new survey published by Buy Social Canada this week. The report, Built for Impact, Ready for Market, is the first mapping of the country’s social enterprise sector in 10 years, and is likely to be an underestimate, with the total number of social enterprises in the country estimated to be 20,000, the researchers explain. The sample reveals that 90% of social enterprises are MSMEs, and a quarter of respondents report having scaled their business in 2025, despite economic headwinds. Barriers remain, and the report calls for more efforts around social procurement, tailored capacity building and provision of patient capital that meet the specific needs of social enterprises.
UK: King's Birthday Honours revealed
Members of the social enterprise and impact community were celebrated in this year’s King's Birthday Honours. Among them, Charities Aid Foundation’s outgoing CEO Neil Heslop was awarded a CBE for services to philanthropy and charity – nearly a quarter of a century after he first received an OBE, and an apt recognition as he retires from his position.
Philip Newborough, who co-founded Bridges Fund Management in 2002 and was its CEO until 2024, received an OBE for services to business growth and impact investing. Fiona Ball, sustainability group director at Sky, was awarded an OBE for her services to social enterprise, and Dom Llewellyn, co-founder of AchieveGood, received an OBE for services to the impact economy.
Global: New research initiative seeks to spotlight the founders’ perspective to shape the impact investing ecosystem
Acumen and the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan have launched a new research project to bring social entrepreneurs’ perspectives to discussions around shaping the impact investing ecosystem. “Founders in Focus: The State of Impact Capital” is a confidential survey that asks entrepreneurs to candidly share their experiences of engaging with impact investors – on everything from due diligence and impact reporting requests to decision timelines and the quality of non-investment support. The survey focuses on organisations based in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, and protects respondents’ anonymity. You have until 26 June to submit your responses.
UK: 36 companies spend £864m in social enterprise supply chains in 10 years
A group of 36 businesses including Ikea, Siemens and insurance company AXA, has spent £864m with social enterprises as part of the Buy Social Corporate Challenge launched a decade ago. The initiative is led by Social Enterprise UK, launched in partnership with the UK government in 2016, and aims to spend £1bn with social enterprise suppliers. So far, 2,500 social enterprises have supplied services to the group, ranging from healthcare and facilities management to IT and catering, leading to the creation of nearly 8,000 jobs in social enterprises, and £78m in profits reinvested into social missions, according to its latest annual report.
UK: Parlementarians propose policy moves to support social enterprises in procurement and public health
The Social, Cooperative and Community Economy All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), together with Social Enterprise UK, has published two reports this week looking at barriers faced by social enterprises, one covering procurement generally, and another on social enterprises delivering health and social care services. In A £400bn opportunity – Unlocking social value for a fairer, more resilient UK, the group examines why despite social value procurement legislation, public authorities still fail to commission services in ways that support social enterprises. The main barriers identified include an over-standardised procurement process, capacity constraints in local authorities and a risk-averse commissioning culture. The second report, Accelerating NHS reform – Levelling the playing field to unlock social enterprises, argues that the current system favours NHS trusts and private providers, and puts mission-driven enterprises at a disadvantage to deliver public health services. It advocates for a focus on pluralism in the types of organisations the NHS works with, to ensure “that the system uses all its assets effectively, and proposes ways to move away from extractive structures that do not benefit communities”.
Europe: 50 Impact Startups to Watch revealed
Next Impact Europe, founded by venture capital investor 4P Capital and impact ecosystem builder Impact Shakers, has revealed its inaugural list of 50 Impact Startups to Watch. The final list was chosen from 474 companies across 35 countries, following nominations from more than 270 investors, founders, accelerators, universities and ecosystem leaders across Europe. The aim of the initiative was to spotlight “exceptional impact startups” led by diverse individuals. The final cohort spans 13 countries, and includes 28X, a women’s health platform, Vibes, a social network for LGBTQ+ communities, and Bloomineral, which creates carbon-negative construction materials. The cohort of impact startups targets a diverse range of impact themes, the biggest being circular economy and waste, which accounts for 30% of the cohort’s startups.
Netherlands: ImpactFest to take a break in 2026
ImpactFest, the gathering of social entrepreneurs and impact-driven businesses that has taken place each year since 2016 in the Hague, is to take a break in 2026 and return in 2027 with a “reimagined concept”. The event, which brought together 1,500 visitors from more than 35 countries last year, is organised by ImpactCity the Hague, a programme run by the municipality to support impact-driven organisations in the region. Organisers said: “The impact ecosystem has evolved. And we want to make sure the next edition truly serves where you are now and where you're heading.”
US: New online tool aims to support philanthropists to adopt “impact-first investing” practices
Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the Social Finance Institute have launched an online platform to support philanthropic investors in doing “impact-first investments” – that is investments that generate a positive social or environmental impact and a financial return, which is typically lower than market rate. The tool enables investors to project and assess what their strategies could produce, both financially and in terms of impact, if they were to follow an impact-first approach.
UK: Social and Sustainable Capital and Garfield Weston Foundation launch ‘stepping-stone’ affordable housing fund
Social investors SASC and Garfield Weston Foundation have launched the Housing Pathways Fund, an impact-first fund aiming to expand the supply of affordable ‘stepping stone accommodation’ in the UK. Stepping stone accommodation refers to housing for disadvantaged people including young people leaving care, survivors of domestic abuse and people facing multiple‑needs homelessness to transition from supported housing to living in their own homes independently, but providing below market-rate housing they can afford. The fund will offer flexible, low-cost loans to experienced social sector organisations so they can acquire and manage high‑quality homes at affordable, income‑appropriate rents, and aims to deliver more than 150 homes in long‑term social use.
Movers and Shakers
- Sarah Schwimmer, co-lead executive and head of external affairs at B Lab, is to leave the organisation at the end of July she has announced on Linkedin, after five years at the organisation.
Top image: Binners’ Project in Vancouver creates opportunities for ‘binners’, people who forage waste to earn a living. Photo by Lani Brunn.
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