At the end of April, AIDN curated a bespoke experience at the Skoll World Forum, the world’s leading gathering for social innovators, funders, and changemakers for a small delegation. Held annually at the University of Oxford, the Forum is an invite-only convening, bringing together a global community of leaders working to solve the world’s most pressing challenges.
Through our collaboration with the Skoll Foundation team, AIDN was able to offer rare and privileged access for Australian funders to join the global conversation on social innovation and philanthropy, to advance our mission of “more” and “better” giving from Australia to international causes.
From main stage plenaries, to dinners in Oxford’s historic halls, to key funder–doer meetings, and Sidebar and Marmalade events, the delegation had countless opportunities to connect, collaborate, and learn.
👉 On Monday, before the official forum began, the team was delighted to attend events hosted by the Judith Neilson Foundation, and Segal Family Foundation, Dovetail Impact Foundation and the Livelihood Impact Fund. Our delegation was also represented at the Skoll Awardee Dinner.
👉 Day 2 began with an invitation to a Co-Impact hosted breakfast, and then saw the delegates registered with official name badges, and a private lunch introducing the official Skoll awardees for 2026: ChildLife Foundation (Pakistan), SmartStart (South Africa), and Indus Action (India). Following the opportunity to attend various key funder-doer meetings, the day concluded with a Welcome Reception in the Said Business School, followed by dinner with Livelihood Impact Fund.
👉 Day 3 had our delegates split in the morning across the breakfast and book launch with Safeena Husain of Educate Girls for her book “Every Last Girl”, and a Rippleworks and Skoll Awardee breakfast at the Randolph Hotel. For lunch (and a roundtable) Dovetail Impact Foundation hosted with 2026 Skoll Awardee Indus Action.
This was followed by a quick group catch up before heading down the street for the funder reception and finally the Opening Plenary featuring Trevor Noah and Wawira Njiru of Food4Education. Finally, the delegates were assigned to various prestigious Oxford Colleges to enjoy dinner and make valuable connections.
👉 Day 4 started with a systems transformation event with Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, and other various meetings before the main event: the Awards Ceremony 2026. Held in the New Theatre, this honoured the Social Innovation Recipients. For those still with energy left, we were grateful to attend a Rippleworks end of conference event at Rhodes House.
👉 The final day in Oxford for the group included an opportunity for more funder/doer meetings and the Skoll World Forum closing plenary. The Insight Tour concluded with a group lunch at the historic Trout Inn on the River Thames.
AIDN’s Insight Tour to Skoll was brilliant. As always, the magic of our Insight Tours often lies in the shared learning within the group.
Thank you to the Skoll Foundation, Woubzena Jifar and Rachel Flynn for the opportunity to participate in this fantastic week, and to Emily Umbers (AIDN) for her incredible organisation behind the scenes.
We’re also grateful to our fantastic delegation for their energy, enthusiasm and insights, including Meghal Shah and Jane Ogilvie (Action on Poverty), Anna and Darrell Wade (Intrepid Foundation and Philanthropy Australia), Leonie Bell (Bell Family Foundation), David Loggia (Hibou Holdings Foundation), Jessica La Mesa and Louise Pfeiffer (The Life You Can Save), Mark Cubit, Amy Cubit and Lenah Gideon (Partners for Equity), and Julie Rosenberg and Dr. Hannah McNicol (AIDN).
