Amid rising global tensions, shrinking foreign aid budgets, and growing fatigue with corporate responsibility, I keep wondering: is the golden age of multilateral partnerships for social good over – or simply evolving into something new and perhaps better? 

As a B Team Leader from the organization’s inception in 2013, I have always championed partnerships between and among companies, governments, and nonprofits. Back then, I was proudly labeled a “tri-sector athlete” – having worked across all three sectors. I saw firsthand what aligned missions could achieve: breakthroughs in global health, humanitarian aid, technology for good, climate care, and education. I also saw all three sectors learn from each other – with the true recognition that no sector had the market cornered on efficiency or compassion compared to what they could do together. It was a golden age that was celebrated at the UN, in Davos, at global conferences and in board rooms.

So, why is this a question today? Of course, one answer is political backsliding. Yes, the U.S. Administration pulled the thread on some hard-won gains around Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), climate, and justice of the last decade. But in fact there are bigger forces at play that require all of us to rethink how we are best able to meet those goals and to take the time to examine and build new solutions-based (not challenge-based) models.

So what are some of the ways we can respond? In my conversations with former colleagues, I hear several emerging themes. 

First, many companies and nonprofits are still committed to working in partnership – but it looks different and is not so public. Where funders previously wanted scale and return on investment, the focus is now on collaboration and reducing redundancy. There is a real desire to be in the same canoe pointing to the same shore.

Second, there is a reluctance to place big bets or to commit to multi-year funding strategies. At the same time, there is more interest in unrestricted and pooled funding support that gives companies, funders and foundations more cover and less exposure.

Third, there is a shift in communications. “CSR”, “ESG”, “DEI” and other acronyms may be gone, but the work is still ongoing in many organizations. There is less flag-flying, more focus on the work than on the announcements. More roundtable conversations than big stage events.

Fourth, while commitment to the SDGs remains high, there are important shifts in approaches. One was highlighted in the recent issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR), noting how companies like B Team Leader company Novonesis integrates them into overall company strategy and operations versus claiming a few as talking points. And as Mo Ibrahim, another B Team Leader, pointed out last month in the Financial Times and B Team newsletter, it’s also time to move away from short-term fixes to sustainable, long-lasting solutions to reduce aid dependency.

And there is a somewhat changing aid landscape. While the US and UK and other Western nations have announced large cuts to their foreign aid budgets in the last few months, Japan has more than doubled its foreign aid in the last five years and China continues to wield significant influence globally.

Finally, AI can be a real asset in some of these trends, but there is also an ongoing risk that much of what AI is, has been adapted from today’s world, not the world we want. That could be the real opportunity for a new golden age of multilateral partnerships.

As Henry Morgenthau Jr, the US representative at the closing session of the Bretton Woods Conference in July 1944, said: “The best way to guarantee one’s national interest is through international cooperation.” That remains true today, but let’s ask ourselves: what does the next golden age of multilateralism look like, and what role can each of us play in building it? Let’s learn from the past and keep the conversation going.

Kathy Calvin is the former President and CEO of the UN Foundation and a B Team Leader. Learn more about Kathy.

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