ISEAL Innovations Fund
About the Innovations Fund
To remain effective in a fast-evolving landscape of emerging legislation and stronger calls for sustainability action, sustainability systems need to push boundaries.
The ISEAL Innovations Fund awards grants for sustainability systems to advance collaborative solutions that strengthen the effectiveness and credibility of their systems and address critical sustainability challenges.
Co-founded in 2016 with the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), the Fund will continue supporting projects until 2027, thanks to funding from SECO and UK International Development from the UK government.
Grant funding
Applications are open until 14 April 2025. Grant funding is available for projects looking to 'future-proof sustainability systems'.
The ISEAL Innovations Fund launched a call in March 2025 for Community Members to submit expressions of interest for project ideas responding to the theme: Future proofing sustainability systems See key details of this grant funding opportunity below. The Fund is open to applications submitted by ISEAL Community Members. External organisations interested in leading or partnering on a project should reach out to our members to explore the potential for collaboration. Explore examples of projects by ISEAL Community Members contributing to future-proofing sustainability systems.
Find details of current and past funding rounds in the overviews below, including theme or focus, key criteria, and grant selection process.
Focus areas
Five cross-cutting focus areas help us to streamline learning and gather the latest evidence. These areas specifically address how sustainability systems can improve their effectiveness in driving sector transformation and address the needs of governments, companies and smallholders along the value
Guiding principles
Principles that guide grant selection, as core values to be upheld by our projects:
Innovation:
Each project tests new ideas, tools or approaches, and generates learning.
Relevance:
Each project contributes to the Innovations Programme's overall objectives.
Replicability and applicability:
There is high potential for replicability of project outputs and outcomes across different sustainability systems, sectors and regions.
Engagement:
Where applicable, there is strong buy-in and engagement from stakeholders and intended participants.
Monitoring and learning:
Each project commits to capturing and sharing lessons and outcomes to support cross-sector learning, including measuring and reporting on key indicators.
Collaboration:
Each project takes a partnership approach, engaging with other sustainability systems, or coordinating and integrating with other tools or frameworks.
Value for investment:
The expected impact of each project, including its learning value, is high relative to its investment.
Fund updates and resources
Since 2016, the ISEAL Innovations Fund has created an enabling environment for ISEAL Community Members and their partners to experiment and pilot innovative new ideas, approaches and strategies to scale their impact, effectiveness, efficiency and inclusiveness. Recent updates and key resources from the Fund are available below.
Recent updates
