The second half of 2026 brings a packed calendar of social impact events for anyone working in social innovation, impact investing or the wider social economy, from AI-for-good gatherings in Geneva to Africa’s largest social and solidarity economy forum in Dakar. Whether you’re scouting for partnerships, funding, or simply fresh thinking, these gatherings are worth planning your autumn around.

We’ve picked eight social impact events spanning four continents, chosen for their relevance to social entrepreneurs, funders and policymakers alike. Between them, they cover almost every corner of the field: artificial intelligence, blended finance, corporate citizenship, and grassroots social economy movements in the Global South.

1. AI for Good Global Summit — 7–10 July, Geneva, Switzerland

Organised by the UN’s International Telecommunication Union alongside more than 50 UN agencies, the AI for Good Global Summit remains the leading global gathering on using artificial intelligence for good. Expect keynotes, workshops and live demonstrations spanning healthcare, education, longevity and the future of work, plus a dedicated Youth Zone, a useful stop for social innovators exploring how AI tools intersect with their own missions, and one of the more accessible entry points on this list, with passes starting from a modest fee.

2. FORA’ESS Dakar 2026 — 7–9 July, Dakar, Senegal

The Second African Forum for the Social and Solidarity Economy is expected to draw around 2,500 participants from roughly 30 countries, making it one of the most significant gatherings for Africa’s social economy movement this year. Organised under Senegal’s Ministry of Microfinance and Social and Solidarity Economy, it’s a key venue for anyone building partnerships or funding relationships across the African social enterprise ecosystem, and a reminder that not all of this year’s most important impact events are based in Europe or North America.

3. AVPN Global Conference 2026 — 25–27 August, New Delhi, India

Asia’s largest gathering of social investors and impact leaders, the AVPN Global Conference, and one of the leading social impact events globally, returns under the theme “A Blueprint for Action in Asia,” expecting more than 2,000 delegates across 100-plus sessions and 12 thematic tracks, including corporate giving, climate action, gender equality and AI for good. It’s the go-to stop for anyone building funding relationships across Asia’s fast-growing impact investing landscape, and among the largest of this year’s impact events by delegate numbers.

4. The Conference Board Corporate Citizenship Summit — 14–16 September, Boston, USA

A long-running gathering for corporate social impact and sustainability leaders, this summit focuses on governance, reporting and the business case for responsible practice, useful for social enterprises looking to understand how corporate partners are approaching CSR strategy and cross-sector collaboration this year. It’s a smaller, more practitioner-focused room than some of the flagship conferences on this list, which can make it easier to have substantive conversations.

5. UNGA Climate Week cluster — week of 22 September, New York, USA

The UN General Assembly’s opening week transforms New York into a hub of parallel convenings, including Climate Week NYC, the Social Innovation Summit’s VIP convenings, and gatherings tied to major philanthropic and multilateral players. It’s less a single event than a dense cluster of high-level panels and receptions, ideal for building relationships across the philanthropy, corporate and policy worlds in a single trip, provided you plan your schedule carefully in advance.

6. Building Bridges — expected late September, Geneva, Switzerland

Billed as Europe’s leading forum for sustainable finance, Building Bridges has previously launched initiatives like the Carbon Accelerator Programme and consistently draws finance, government, business and civil society leaders to align capital with sustainability goals. Exact 2026 dates were still to be confirmed at time of writing, but the summit has run in late September or early October in recent years, so it’s worth keeping on your radar even before the calendar is finalised.

7. SOCAP26 — 12–14 October, Chicago, USA

The world’s longest-running impact investing conference, SOCAP26, makes its first move to Chicago, bringing together funders, founders, philanthropies, NGOs and social entrepreneurs from more than 60 countries. After nearly two decades based on the West Coast, this relocation signals organisers’ intent to spotlight impact work happening across the American Midwest, arguably making it the single most anticipated of this year’s impact events for the investing side of the field.

8. Web Summit 2026 — 9–11 November, Lisbon, Portugal

While not exclusively an impact event, Web Summit has become an increasingly important stop for climate tech and early-stage social innovation, with a growing spotlight on green tech startups pitching to top investors. For social entrepreneurs working at the intersection of technology and impact, it’s one of the largest rooms in the world to be in, and a useful closing stop before the calendar year winds down.

From Dakar to Chicago, this is a season defined by cross-sector convenings, proof that the biggest social innovation conversations increasingly happen wherever finance, technology and policy leaders are already in the room. Whichever of these impact events fits your calendar and budget, showing up in person still tends to open doors that emails never quite manage.

If travel budgets are tight, most of these impact events also offer some form of virtual or hybrid access, live-streamed keynotes, digital passes or recorded sessions released afterwards, so it’s worth checking each organiser’s website even if a flight isn’t in the cards this year. Either way, following the themes and announcements coming out of each gathering is a useful way to stay current, even from a distance.

Learn more at Social Innovation Academy

Attending impact events is a great way to build a network, but it’s only one part of building genuine social innovation capacity. For this reason, we have developed the first online Social Innovation Academy in Europe, now a global and fully online management training programme focusing exclusively on social innovation. We invite you to follow our Social Innovation Academy training on Udemy. It combines the theory and practice of social innovation to help you create social impact and systemic change.

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