NationSwell’s quarterly trend spotter provides impact professionals with visibility into the most noteworthy, timely, and material shifts in the field. For Q1 of 2026, our report explores the following six trends:
Minneapolis ICE raids spark employee activism and minimalist business response
OBBBA precipitating shifts in philanthropy, new corporate approaches
Nonprofit anxiety around operational risks runs deep amidst legal and financial pressure
AI adoption outpacing workforce readiness
ESG notches a legal victory while confronting growing antitrust warnings
Sustainability compliance remains a moving target for companies
NationSwell’s quarterly trend spotter provides impact professionals with visibility into the most noteworthy, timely, and material shifts in the field. For Q4 of 2025, our report explores the following six trends:
Food security draws mainstream attention amid government shutdown
AI-driven layoffs hit tech and service industries, but overall employment impact remains modest
Philanthropies and nonprofits are investing more in AI, but governance needs to catch up
Political leaders continuing pressure on corporate leadership and civil society
Sustainability efforts continue, but more quietly and with less accountability
NationSwell’s quarterly trend spotter provides impact professionals with visibility into the most noteworthy, timely, and material shifts in the field. For Q3 of 2025, our report explores the following six trends:
Corporations are quieter on ESG/DEI – and delaying some reports
“One Big Beautiful Bill” has material implications for corporate giving strategies
Values-driven public pressure is influencing reputations and sales
Workforce development is surging as a strategic priority, driven by widening skills gaps
Impact teams are increasing AI adoption while attention grows on need for ethical governance
The U.S. is experiencing climate & ESG policy setbacks while global rules march on
Collective action provides a pathway to greater scale, durability, and innovation. It also distributes and mitigates some of the risks that can undermine or deter individualized approaches. But what are the most successful, proven, and accessible forms of collective action in practice today? Which examples can we look to for how various models work at their best? And what should impact leaders be asking and weighing when determining the best ways to advance shared goals with would-be collaborators?
On October 30, NationSwell hosted a virtual Leader Roundtable dedicated to exploring The State of Collective Action by introducing new analysis on the most prevalent models for collaboration, sharing a new resource designed to help leaders identify which approaches best fits their goals, and spotlighting other ways we’re helping you spark connection and partnership within our ecosystem.
Some of the most salient insights from the discussion appear below:
Key takeaways
The field is evolving from “should collaborate” to “must collaborate.” With accelerating technological change and complex social challenges, collaboration is shifting from a desirable practice to a core strategic capability. Leaders reflected on when to launch new coalitions, when to join existing ones, when to sunset from partnerships, and how to balance urgency with sustainability.
Collective action requires clear structure and governance. Coalitions succeed when they establish shared purpose, defined roles, transparent governance, and mechanisms for accountability. Structure promotes consistency, momentum, and alignment across diverse partners.
Collaboration frameworks help leaders choose the right model. Taxonomies, like that contained in NationSwell’s new resource on collective action models, and playbooks for collaborative work are helping the field gain clarity on when to convene, when to follow, and when to partner. These models guide decisions on structure, decision-rights, and stewardship, reducing duplication and increasing efficiency.
Equity must be a design principle. Lower barriers to entry and open pathways for smaller organizations, grassroots partners, and historically under-resourced communities to meaningfully participate. Flexible funding, capacity building, and intentional inclusion practices are essential.
Trust and relationship-building are core infrastructure. Sustained and equitable collaboration is rooted in trust. Transparent communication, shared decision-making, and ongoing engagement build the social capital needed to navigate tension, share power, and stay aligned through long-term systems-change efforts.
Resource the work behind the work. Collective success depends on establishing resourcing backbone functions such as convening, coordination, communications, and shared measurement. Micro-grants and operational support help ensure all partners can contribute fully.
Measure what matters. Participants noted that impact measurement remains a difficult yet important aspect of effective collaboration. Ideally, partners should identify their key leading and lagging indicators at the outset of an initiative, ensuring transparency and accountability from the beginning.
Q2 2025 trends indicate that employee engagement and wellbeing are at alarming lows; nonprofits face heightened threats amid federal scrutiny and funding cuts; DEI efforts are under political attack but still supported by consumers and investors; cross-sector coalitions are forming to defend civil society; funders are stepping up with bolder strategies to counter government pullbacks; and companies, though quieter publicly, remain committed to impact through value-aligned, resilient strategies.
Are you a leader navigating DEI backlash and looking for clarity you can act on? This resource distills the political, cultural, and economic forces shaping corporate DEI, and unpacks how companies are responding to mounting threats. In this report, you’ll find actionable archetypes and strategic considerations to inform your organization’s path forward.
Q1 2025 marked one of the most turbulent periods for the social impact sector since the COVID-19 pandemic. What emerged was a mix of reactive, proactive, and strategic responses: creating shared value, evolving DEI approaches, strengthening supports and deepening engagement, and advancing collective action.
On November 20 and 21, NationSwell convened changemakers, innovators, and thought leaders in New York City for our Summit 2024. This year’s theme was Hope in Action — a nod to both the radical optimism this moment requires and the intentionality needed to create a more equitable and prosperous world.
Throughout the event, we heard from some of the nation’s leading social impact, sustainability, and philanthropic leaders on the innovative solutions and game-changing partnerships they’re pioneering. Below are a few of the moments that left us feeling hopeful and inspired to be standing shoulder to shoulder with this community of changemakers for all the work still to come:
Fireside Chat with Julián Castro
“We have an opportunity in this moment to model what we want the world to look like and to do that as leaders in our own organizations; to recommit ourselves to that vision and to breathe more energy into the values that we want to prevail.” – Julián Castro, CEO of the Latino Community Foundation and former United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Impact Spotlight by Maria Kim
“What I’ve learned through my work and my life over the years is that lived experience is not what you’ve done or what’s been done with you; it’s sometimes this catalyst that makes you most beautifully, gloriously, affirmatively who you are. So in a way, my lived experience is more aptly described as my lived expertise.” – Maria Kim, President and CEO, REDF
“I know we can do this if we put our back into it. And if we do it, we end up shifting from a generational transfer of poverty to a generational transfer of joy.” – Maria Kim, President and CEO, REDF
NationSwell founder and CEO Greg Behrman
Impact Spotlight by Scott Pulsipher
“To me, Hope in Action is about changing one life for the better and doing that hundreds of thousands of times, if not millions of times. And it’s incredible to actually imagine a different world in which we rethink education, we imagine how it can actually operate. Not just for the good of the few, but for the good of the many.” – Scott Pulsipher, President, Western Governors University
“The U.S. higher education system is, in fact, failing those that it was designed to serve.” – Scott Pulsipher, President, Western Governors University
NationSwell’s Books of the Year panel, moderated by Alesha Washington and featuring Nicholas Kristof and Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
NationSwell’s Books of the Year
“Hope is a muscle.” – Nicholas Kristof, Journalist, The New York Times
“Find the way to connect the dots to your work. I offer a simple diagram: what are you good at, what needs doing, and what brings you joy? The joy part is what keeps you going and will welcome other people into the work. Pick one and roll up your sleeves and see how far we can get.” – Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, Co-founder, Urban Ocean Lab
Impact Spotlight by Vilas Dhar
“Leadership in this moment is no longer about just individual courage; it’s no longer about many conversations that happen across society, but a world where we make decisions together.” – Vilas Dhar, President, Patrick J. McGovern Foundation
“We can be architects, we can build blueprints for tools and technologies in the future that incorporate our morals, our values, our norms, our beliefs, and the voices of the people around us.” – Vilas Dhar, President, Patrick J. McGovern Foundation
Impact Spotlight by Aly Richards
“[Affordable and accessible childcare] is a market failure – it is a broken business model. Early educators can’t afford to make less, parents can’t afford to pay more. The sooner we can understand that we need help from local, state, and federal, the sooner we can fix it.” – Aly Richards, CEO, Let’s Grow Kids
The Stonewall Chorale Chamber Choir
The Case for Care: The Business Imperative of Investing in Care
“In many ways, motherhood is the unfinished business of gender equality.” – Reshma Saujani, Founder and CEO, Moms First; Founder, Girls Who Code
“You can make a very strong business case for [child care], to do the right thing to help your people.” – Stephan Dolling, AVP, Global Benefits and Well-Being, Merck
“Let’s talk about the challenges more. Talk to me, or talk to your employers, about the caregiving challenges that we’re all experiencing.” – Lindsay Jurist-Rosner, Founder and CEO of Wellthy
The Care Lounge, presented by the Case for Childcare Collaborative
Creative Forces for Social Change: The Power of Art in Action
“There’s a war on the storytelling of our authentic selves and truth and history.” – Renée Elise Goldsberry, Tony- and Grammy Award-Winning Actress and Singer
“I put all my hope in art. For one, art never cared who was in power.” – Rahsaan Thomas, Documentary Filmmaker, Podcaster, and Producer
“There’s a lot of misunderstandings going on in our country right now, so we need art more than ever to translate the truth.” – Rahsaan Thomas, Documentary Filmmaker, Podcaster, and Producer
“I think my greatest resource as an artist is my most authentic self.” – Renée Elise Goldsberry, Tony- and Grammy Award-Winning Actress and Singer
Impact Spotlight by Dr. Carmen Rojas and Tara Raghuveer
“Our country faces an unprecedented housing crisis. Not only are more than 3 million people homeless, housing insecure, or living in shelters, but rents have gone up more than 30% since 2020. This is in a context in which we have 16 million vacant homes in the United States. So this means that we have made a choice not to house our brothers and sisters, our cousins, people that we might fall in love with, slow dance with, sing karaoke with – it’s a decision that our political leaders have made.” – Dr. Carmen Rojas, President and CEO, Marguerite Casey Foundation
“The rent is the biggest bill in most working people’s budgets. When people need to cut back on living expenses, making cuts to housing is not an option – the alternative is homelessness. The rent is too damn high.” – Tara Raghuveer, Founding Director of Kansas City Tenants
“Derek is one of the tenants who will strike another month. He said, ‘My rent is my power. And I will use my power with my neighbors until we win what we’re owed.’” – Tara Raghuveer, Founding Director of Kansas City Tenants
Impact Spotlight by Jay Bailey
“You want to talk about innovation? Show me someone more innovative than a single mother with two kids making $17,000 a year. She problem-solves, she makes sure there are gifts under the Christmas tree – send her to business school and she’ll run circles around everybody.” – Jay Bailey, President and CEO, Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs (RICE)
“Hope in action is black prosperity through ownership.” – Jay Bailey, President and CEO, Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs (RICE)
The Augment and Involve panel, featuring Molly Kinder, Nicole Johnson, and Carri Twigg
Augment and Involve: Empowering Workers in an AI-driven World
“We look at the AI development and economy that’s happening as an opportunity space. How can we ensure – unlike the internet – that there’s intentionality to the workforce that’s behind this technology?” – Nicole Johnson, Global Director of Social Impact & Inclusion, Cadence Design Systems
“Tech is all of us – each of us has the ability to engage and change for the tech future we want.” – Michele Jawando, Senior Vice President, Omidyar Network
“The human spirit is indomitable, and art is a fundamental part of that. We will figure out how to fulfill the promise of increasing representation, increasing stories using AI, and we will see more people fight for the art that gives their lives texture.” – Carri Twigg, Founding Partner, Culture House Media
“What gives me hope is that when workers are at the heart of our design of this technology and the decisions around deployment, this is not only good for society and workers, but there’s a lot of evidence that it’s good for employers, too. Workers are assets. They’re experts. They often know their space the best. AI is not something that’s top-down.” – Molly Kinder, David M. Rubenstein Fellow, The Brookings Institution
“Just as we celebrate innovation and we’re awed by it, it creates opportunities for creation and destruction. We need innovation in our policies, badly – we’re at an intersection of technology where it impacts workers, and there’s a role for the government in all of this.” – Ambassador Katherine Tai, United States Trade Representative
Impact Spotlight by Dreama Gentry
“The hope I’m holding – the hope that I’d ask you to join me in – is hope that this great nation can be a place where all of our children and young people are supported and have a choice-filled life.” – Dreama Gentry, President and CEO, Partners for Rural Impact
“We know what will create upward mobility from cradle to career – we just need to invest in that, and we can’t do this work alone.” – Dreama Gentry, President and CEO, Partners for Rural Impact
Impact Spotlight withSurgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy
“When your friend is in a crisis, showing up doesn’t mean coming up with a ten-point plan to solve all problems. The truth is, people derive tremendous comfort from knowing that they’re not alone.” – Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy
NationSwell’s 3rd annual Private sector social impact and sustainability leadership survey coincided with a period of significant turmoil in the U.S. political arena, and occurred against a backdrop of ongoing backlash to corporate social impact, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB), and environmental initiatives.
The survey sought to better understand the sentiments, experiences, and priorities of senior leaders overseeing environment, social, and governance (ESG), corporate social impact, sustainability, DEIB, and related functions. Through those leaders, the survey also sought to better understand organizational priorities and behaviors.
The 2024 survey explored three themes in particular depth: perceptions of – and attitudes toward – the overall environment for corporate impact and sustainability initiatives, the amount of influence wielded by social impact and sustainability leaders within their own organizations, and the role of political and cultural forces on their work.
Summary of top findings
Leaders continue to face down a difficult environment for their work, but growing optimism is there if you squint
Despite ongoing backlash to ESG, impact and sustainability leaders are strengthening their positions within their organizations
U.S. politics loom large over corporate impact and sustainability programs, with most leaders expecting their organizations to remain on the sidelines during the 2024 election
Methodology and sample
NationSwell fielded this survey from early July through early August 2024. Participants included vice presidents (VPs) and above at public companies, private companies, and company-sponsored foundations. The survey garnered responses from 49 individuals, representing 47 unique institutions.
When NationSwell surveyed corporate social impact and sustainability executives in July 2023, nearly 7 out of 10 said they’re anticipating a challenging year in 2024. Since then, we’ve witnessed an intensifying wave of anti-DEIB activism, read the dire warnings conveyed in the UNFCCC’s first Global Stocktake, and felt the surge of collective anxiety around the coming elections in the U.S. and around the world. At the same time, powerful examples of collective action, new and transformational technologies, and the continued resolve of purpose-driven leaders demand our attention and urge optimism into the picture.
At NationSwell, we too are resolved. We are resolved to support our membership community, partners, and concerned public in advancing progress on the issues that we believe matter most in the year ahead.
To ground our collective efforts, we have prepared this 2024 look ahead with four goals in mind:
To orient organizations, leaders, and their teams to the issues and trends that we see mattering most in 2024, supported by detailed evidence
To provide line of sight into the predictions and forecasts of experts steeped in those issues
To support scenario planning around a range of inevitabilities and possibilities
To voice our calls to action for the field and for ourselves
Our look ahead focuses on 6 major topics that NationSwell anticipates being central to the work of purpose-driven leaders and organizations in 2024:
Artificial intelligence
Climate progress
Democracy and civic engagement
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging (DEIB) and economic opportunity
