An original version of this text was authored by Odin Mühlenbein and appeared in German in WirtschaftsWoche on the 24th of January, 2020. https://www.wiwo.de/politik/ausland/aufruf-in-davos-stiftungen-lasst-sozialunternehmen-die-welt-besser-machen/25471298.html -- Foundations, let social enterprises make the world a better place! At the World Economic Forum, leading organisations in the field of social entrepreneurship are challenging the current funding practices of foundations. Their demand: spend your money differently! In Davos, the big issues are once again being discussed: extreme poverty, climate change and social inequalities. Women social entrepreneurs can make an important contribution here. However, current funding practice often means that social innovations are only implemented on a small scale and do not benefit society as a whole. Here are two examples. The company Irnsinnig Menschlich encourages schoolchildren in Germany to seek help with mental health problems early on. The events reach around 36,000 students every year. Truckers Against Trafficking trains truck drivers in the USA to recognize human trafficking on highways and report it to the police. As a result, hundreds of victims have already been saved and traffickers arrested. However, the greatest value of social entrepreneurs is not that they themselves work with students or train truckers. It comes from interfering with legislation, changing industry standards, establishing new practices in schools or hospitals, and making their innovations freely available for many other organisations to adopt. In this way, women social entrepreneurs change the educational system, law enforcement, health care, urban planning and many other social systems at national or even international level. Truckers Against Trafficking has helped to ensure that the subject of human trafficking is included in training courses for truck drivers in various American states. The innovation is thus anchored in state structures and reaches millions of people. In the meantime, an entire industry sector is making life difficult for traffickers. However, the organisation has not received sufficient support for its lobby work. The many trips and talks had to be subsidised from income and grants in other areas. lrrinsinlich Menschlich would also like to institutionalise its prevention work. To do so, the organisation would have to work with health insurance companies and ministries, do some persuasion work, and bring the various actors together around one table. However, there is no funding for this network work. The benefits would be enormous: according to a study by Ashoka and McKinsey, every percentage point saved by a school year's participation in the "Crazy? So what! Mentally fit at school", saves the state 80 million euros per year in early treatment. And that does not even include the alleviated suffering of those affected. Most of the money from foundations and donors is spent on short-term projects with clear, measurable results. What counts is the number of people who have been helped directly after one to three years. Changes in the law, new content in teacher training or a new role for truck drivers in law enforcement cannot be achieved with this. Plannable money for longer periods of time In Davos, a broad alliance of leading international organisations in the field of social entrepreneurship has now called on donors to change this funding practice - including Ashoka, Co-Impact, Echoing Green, Schwab and Skoll. To put it in context: Of the top 5000 social entrepreneurs in the world, almost all of them are members of at least one of these networks. Together with the consulting firms McKinsey and SystemIQ, the alliance has coordinated its common position with dozens of other actors and confirmed it in a survey of more than 100 social entrepreneurs. The unanimous opinion of all those involved is that there is a lot to do. Social entrepreneurs not only need more money to institutionalise their ideas. The money should also be made available over longer periods of time. Three years are simply not enough to achieve lasting changes in the education or health system. The often usual earmarking should also be abolished. It is simply not possible to know in advance exactly which activities will lead to systemic changes. Too rigid financing makes it unnecessarily difficult for social entrepreneurs to adapt to current circumstances. In general, more money should be invested in people and networks with social visions rather than in concrete projects. Cooperation between sponsors and recipients is also important. Almost half of the social entrepreneurs stated that they had already adapted their approach at one point only to meet the demands of sponsors. Instead of hierarchies and relationships of dependence, we should strive for cooperation at eye level. This includes joint discussions on strategies, success criteria and the details of funding. Above all, however, we need more donors who eliminate systemic causes of social problems and are not content to treat the symptoms permanently. Foundations are predestined for this role. Above all, with assets in the background, they can take risks and provide long-term support. As a result, they could be a much stronger driver of social progress than they have been to date. The wake-up call in Davos is also an invitation to all donors and investors. Let's work together to improve our ability to disseminate the innovations of social entrepreneurs. Perhaps then the talks in Davos will change.