Two Worlds Converging: When the UN Talks Impact and Finance Searches for Meaning
At a time when the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) seem to be drifting further away rather than drawing nearer, a paradox stuns both observers and practitioners: humanitarian and climate needs have never been so urgent, and impact capital has never been so abundant.
Yet, these two worlds — International Geneva and impact finance — still largely ignore each other.
The White Paper on AGILE Finance and Impact, published by the Geneva Foundation for the Future ↗, clearly documents this gap in an accessible and understandable way: the vast majority of sustainable investment flows, estimated at between $3 and $4 trillion, bypass the UN channels and International Geneva.
There are returns on investment to appeal to investors, and powerful solution offerings to satisfy major philanthropists. So what’s missing to bring these two worlds into partnership? Structural legibility of international projects for the financial world — and the transformation of the cultural divide between idea carriers and investors.
In the corridors of the Palais des Nations, diplomats and experts share a common observation: multilateralism is running out of steam, while impact finance ↗ is booming.
The numbers speak for themselves: over $1.5 trillion in assets are managed by impact investment funds, and yet only a tiny portion reaches the projects of international organizations.
International Geneva alone is seeking 20 billion CHF to overcome the current crisis.
Between these two worlds, the Geneva Forum is building a bridge — an ultra-innovative form of engineering patiently developed over more than twenty years, which enables cooperation and innovation projects led by International Geneva to become legible and fundable.
A Laboratory of Human Economy: A Convergence Engine Ahead of Its Time
Founded in 2001 by Mr. Thomas EGLI, founder of the NGO Objectif Sciences International (OSI), which holds special consultative status with ECOSOC at the UN, the Geneva Forum has established itself as a true laboratory for transdisciplinary project engineering.
Its mission: to help researchers, NGOs, companies, local authorities, and international agencies transform ideas into viable projects, capable of having measurable impact and finding sustainable economic models, while boldly breaking down silos.
From its launch in 2001, Thomas EGLI sought to bring together scientists, institutions, and economic actors to collectively learn how to design projects that unite conviction and profitability, innovation and sustainability, science and finance — projects that address all areas of multilateralism.
- Journal AGEFI (Switzerland) - 2001
- Journal 24 heures (Vaud) - 2003
- Journal La Tribune de Genève - 2003
Press Review from the Time
An article published in 2003 in *La Tribune de Genève* already set the tone:
“Between Davos and Porto Alegre, responsible entrepreneurs want to make profits while reinventing a human-centered economy.”
Two decades later, this philosophy remains at the heart of the Forum: building bridges between worlds that, together, can reinvent the economy of the common good.
The Art of Turning Ideas into Impact
“Every innovation is a conversation,” explains Thomas EGLI.
“In the UN system, ideas abound, but they often die in the gap between vision and funding. Our role is to build the bridge — and above all, to make those projects profitable.”
Backed by Objectif Sciences International (OSI), an organization with special consultative status with ECOSOC, the Geneva Forum benefits from long-standing institutional legitimacy.
Its founder, Thomas EGLI, regularly participates in intergovernmental conferences in New York, Nairobi, Nice, and Monaco.
This proximity to the UN system has allowed him to observe a common reality from the inside: ideas and innovations abound, but scaling remains blocked due to a lack of engineering, governance, and financial readability.
To meet this need, the Geneva Forum deploys a three-act methodology:
- Before the Forum: support, selection, and coaching of project leaders to make them “impact-ready” (logical framework, economic model, impact indicators).
- During the Forum: interactive conferences, collaborative workshops, project pitches, and confidential spaces for meetings between NGOs, companies, funders, and investors.
- Highlight: the Blended Finance Party, where capital meets conviction.
- After the Forum: mentoring, technical support, individualized follow-up, and continental roadshows to bring projects to maturity and connect them to impact finance.
This “before–during–after” model transforms ideas into structured, measurable, and fundable projects — a complete process that moves from vision to reality, making innovation legible and investable, with monitored and calculable returns.
December 2025: A Crucial Milestone for the Recovery of International Geneva
It will carry an ambitious theme:
Making International Geneva and the UN system legible for impact finance. ↗
For one week, over a hundred actors from the multilateral system, scientists, companies, NGOs, local authorities, and investment funds will gather in Geneva to explore a new project engineering approach that is truly transversal and silo-breaking, with each project capable of attracting grants and investments ranging from 250–500 million to several billion (structural umbrella mechanisms, such as those supported by development banks or major global service companies like Accenture or SGS).
The 2025 Forum aims not only to demonstrate that it is possible to reconcile social innovation with economic appeal by building tangible bridges between international cooperation and responsible finance, but also to produce enough global-level transversal impact projects to turn International Geneva’s crisis into an opportunity.
The seven annual conferences of the Geneva Forum will each serve as project-building factories:
- Impact Finance and Strategic Philanthropy
- Rights of Nature
- Participatory and Citizen Science
- Regenerative Tourism
- Project-Based Education
- Ethical Currencies and Economic Models
- Mediation of Conflict, Peace and Security
Impact projects may cover every field, from food sovereignty to new generations of renewable energy, including women’s rights and one-health approaches.
All will be presented on the final day of the Forum at the UN. (See full program) ↗
Together, these 7 high-leverage conferences form a coherent pathway: enabling presidents and CEOs of major organizations, along with their teams, to assemble projects that speak the languages of impact, governance, and economic viability.
This December 2025 edition aims to be a catalyst — allowing International Geneva to reclaim its original vocation: being the place where cooperation and multilateralism are made scalable, fundable, and measurable.
A Geneva Under Pressure, A Model for Recovery
Behind the Geneva Forum’s initiative lies an alarming reality.
International Geneva — with more than 40 intergovernmental organizations, 184 diplomatic missions, and several hundred NGOs employing over 30,000 people in Geneva alone — is suffering from decreasing public contributions and growing competition from other global hubs like Nairobi, Singapore, or Dubai.
The economic and social consequences could be severe:
- Job losses in the international public and semi-public sectors
- Domino effects on private service providers: banks, hotels, transport, restaurants, consulting, and innovation
- Weakened diplomatic image and international role of Switzerland
- Brain drain and declining attractiveness for international organization and business headquarters
- Loss of Geneva’s role as a global coordination hub for Peace and Sustainable Development
For the Canton of Geneva and its partners (FAGI, the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, the CCIG, and several local banks), the challenge is not just institutional — it is economic, cultural, and identity-based.
The ecosystem formed by international organizations, NGOs, and service providers represents nearly two-thirds of the canton’s added value.
A large-scale collapse would have systemic effects on the region’s prosperity and influence.
Faced with this silent emergency, the Geneva Forum positions itself not as a mere event, but as a space for collective resilience — capable of driving schematic innovations that go beyond one-off solutions. It offers an operational, accessible, and agile tool to reignite International Geneva with project models that are legible, fundable, and attractive to impact finance.
Quiet but Tangible Results
The Geneva Forum has never sought the spotlight — its focus has always been on long-term impact and concrete action.
By sharing best practices, energizing efforts within key communities, and structuring bankable projects, its successes are visible in the quiet emergence of initiatives after their appearance at the Forum, the fruit of patient engineering and guidance:
- ethical alternative currencies tested locally as early as 2002
- educational programs through research now recognized worldwide
- scientific and participatory tourism initiatives across multiple continents
- citizen science platforms serving SDGs or government policies inspired by the Objectif Sciences International (OSI) model
- changes to international laws or even national constitutions...
The examples are many and varied — and they span every level of the system.
“Impact is no longer just about the amount of money injected, but about the quality of the project’s design and scope,” recalls Thomas EGLI. “When you help a structure transform by combining local insights with the search for self-sustaining virtuous circles, it becomes a model others can replicate.”
This logic of transformation applies at all levels:
the Forum acts both as an accelerator for emerging projects and as a catalyst for internal transformation in international organizations.
“There are two parallel tracks: one for solution carriers, and one for existing structures.
Our job is to support the former and convert the latter toward impact.”
It’s no longer just about innovation, but about making each project intelligible to impact finance — that is, legible, measurable, and credible for investors. Of course, only realistic projects with potential returns on investment are selected for final presentation.
Investors find what they are looking for: structured, audited, and socially sound proposals.
NGOs learn to adapt their culture to that of financing without betraying their mission.
Public institutions see an agile tool to amplify their cooperation policies without increasing public debt.
Humble by Design: Letting Results Speak for a New Multilateralism
The Geneva Forum anticipates a profound shift in the city’s role.
While Geneva has long stood as a symbol of global diplomacy, it could now become the emblem of cooperative engineering — a place where diplomats, scientists, entrepreneurs, financiers, and citizens learn to co-design viable and measurable solutions.
The goal is not to replace institutions, but to equip them.
By proposing to standardize, simplify, and energize how projects are designed, tracked, and financed, the Forum restores the UN system’s legibility and agility, while offering impact finance a pipeline of credible, measurable, and SDG-aligned projects.
Unlike other major international gatherings, the Geneva Forum cultivates a deliberate discretion.
No flashy announcements, little grandstanding — just a series of concrete, lasting successes.
“Our role is not to be visible, but to be useful,” summarizes Thomas EGLI. “That assertive, humble posture likely explains the Forum’s longevity and credibility: it attracts sincere actors — those who prefer to build rather than shine. During the COVID year, the Forum stretched over two weeks instead of one due to the sheer number of projects being brought and shared!”
From Talk to Transformation
In 2025, as FAGI and others strive to prevent the bankruptcy and fragmentation of International Geneva, the Geneva Forum offers a model of unity:
a cooperative, participatory, and economically realistic platform, capable of fostering dialogue among scientists, financiers, diplomats, and citizens through a shared language — the language of impact measurement.
“Geneva doesn’t need to speak louder,” concludes Thomas EGLI, “it needs to be legible. So those who want to help can finally understand where to act. Great fortunes are among the first to request this! This situation, now global, is an incredible opportunity to stand out.”
In a century where trust is the rarest resource, that ambition might seem revolutionary.
To make the world legible again — perhaps that’s the greatest contribution Geneva can offer the planet.
It’s a bold bet: to make Geneva not just the place where the world is discussed, but where it is repaired — together.
Also read:
A Pro-to-Pro Boot Camp Dedicated to Impact – Program of the 17th Geneva Forum
Where Do the 4’000 Billion euros Invested Each Year in Impact Finance Actually Go?
Enterprise and Wealth Creation for Impact
Since 2001, Sustainable Development Projects have their own Business Forum.
The Impact Project explained like I’m 5
Interview with Mr. Thomas EGLI: Transforming a changemaker idea into an impact project
Interview with Mr. Thomas EGLI: Supporting an Existing Project Towards Impact