The start of 2025 was utter chaos. For months, every conversation I had with peers in our community came back to the same question: how do we survive and continue to show up for the communities we’ve been building alongside?

When I bumped into Topher Wilkins at Skoll, the global development sector was four months into its unraveling. As CEO of Opportunity Collaboration, he was absorbing the overwhelm radiating through his global network of changemakers. And just nine months into my role at IDEO.org, I was trying to lead IDEO.org into a new era as the landscape and market fractured beneath us.

Catching up over coffee, we shared how much we were craving a space that was more informal than a conference—somewhere to grieve the weight of the moment, but also structured and collaborative enough to begin imagining beyond the urgencies of tomorrow together. With Opportunity Collaboration’s expansive community and our experience designing generative spaces, we decided to build that space together.

In mid-July, we launched The Future Of, a collaborative gathering to explore what comes next in global development. We prototyped our inaugural events in San Francisco and New York, bringing together funders, implementers, and ecosystem builders for lightning talks and hands-on activities.

Our Senior Design Lead Emily Sadeghian said best: crises are dramatic. Rebuilding is slower, quieter, and if we let it be, bolder than the fall. The Future Of is our way of beginning that work and giving others who are already mobilizing to connect, spaces to think bigger, and move faster.

In New York, we heard from Punit Kohli, CFO of the MacArthur Foundation; Kady Sylla, Director for Africa and the Middle East at Myriad USA; and Jaspreet Singh, Co-Founder and Advocacy Strategist at ICAAD. In San Francisco, our speakers included Rikin Gandhi, Co-founder and CEO of Digital Green; Lindsay Smalling, former Head of Sales at 60 Decibels; and Sarah Johnson, Head of Capital at Rippleworks. Their vantage points spanned the system, from where decisions are made, to where dollars are moved, to where change actually meets people. Their talks surfaced where progress is taking root and where imagination and pressure still need to be applied, setting the tone for the activity ahead.

Afterward, participants broke into facilitated groups to imagine what the sector might look like in 2050. Each group explored one of four themes—the future of sustainable funding, collaboration, local ecosystems, and tech and AI—and began sketching the services, programs, or organizations that might emerge from that future.

Debriefing both events, we came away with a few things we believe must be true for the next system to be more just, and more enduring.

• Capital must come from broader sources and flow with fewer barriers. Traditional, gatekept funding systems are too slow, too narrow, and disconnected from the realities on the ground. To build a future that reflects more voices and priorities, we need to legitimize and strengthen alternative flows like mutual aid networks and diaspora giving that already moves billions. When capital is more accessible and decisions are made closer to the work, we can fund more relevant goals and respond faster to urgent needs.
  

• AI should bring communities in from the margins. When democratized and used with care, AI can help elevate the experiences, priorities, and knowledge of communities historically left out of data systems. AI is a tool for expanding understanding, not a framework for defining problems or setting goals. When designed to reflect a fuller picture of the world, it can support more inclusive decisions and unlock faster insight into what matters most. Embedding perspectives from the margins can help shape agendas that are more just, more responsive, and more effective.

• Major development actors must evolve from central players to capable stewards. The goal isn’t to disappear, but to fundamentally change how we show up for and work with communities. That means moving away from top-down approaches and toward deeper partnership. That means loosening our grip on process and outcomes, and working in true partnership with communities. When our presence is defined by trust, humility, and shared purpose, not control, we make space for solutions that are rooted, resonant, and built to last.
  

• Local systems must lead. The success of global development goals rest on the strength of local systems. That means investing in local economies, reinforcing public infrastructure, and enabling the local policies and institutions that allow communities to thrive. Without those foundations in place, our global development goals, if achieved, won’t last.

After both events, our guests agreed that more spaces are needed where implementers, funders, and other ecosystem players can come together to build. And just as urgently, we need space within our own work to step back from the day-to-day and imagine what’s next.

As designers, we see our role as creating the conditions for bold ideas to surface and helping people take the first steps toward making them real. These early moments of swirling together—checking in, sharing ideas, suspending disbelief—can feel overly optimistic or even abstract. But that’s okay. They’re a necessary part of clarifying what matters and building the trust that real collaboration demands. We believe that with creativity, connection, and a bit of courage, the impossible almost always becomes inevitable.

If you’re interested in co-hosting a future of session in your community, reach out to us below.