Across the for-purpose and international development sectors, changemakers are being asked to do more with less - again. Funding sources have disappeared and are shifting faster than strategies and processes can adapt. Donors require increasing transparency into measurable outcomes. Teams in the field and at headquarters are stretched thin in a hazardous world. And enabling technologies are changing faster than organizations can understand, no less adopt.   

In the context of this turbulence, there is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to recommit not just to keeping people at the center but to rebuilding the trust that sustains partnerships and the clarity that drives decisions. Resilience isn’t static—and it is becoming more achievable.   

A For-Purpose Sector in Motion 

In the past few weeks, threshold has had the privilege of seeing this opportunity firsthand. We co-hosted a fundraising webinar with Microsoft Elevate, celebrated our seventh anniversary, and joined more than 1,000 humanitarian and technology leaders in person at the NetHope Global Summit in Amsterdam. 

What we heard again and again is that nonprofit leaders are seeking clarity, not as a lofty ideal but as something practical they can act on right now. Clarity of trust to strengthen and harvest value from partnerships, clarity of purpose to diversify and increase funding, and clarity of outcomes to scale impact. They want to trust their data, their insights, and their ability to communicate results in context. 

It’s easy to underestimate how powerful clarity can be. But when you achieve it, progress becomes possible. 

Signals of Change: What We’re Learning 

At NetHope, one message echoed loudly: collaboration is the engine of progress. The willingness of organizations to share what’s working—and what isn’t—is reshaping how we move forward as a sector. 

Data standards like the Common Data Model (CDM) for Nonprofits, stewarded by Microsoft and a global ecosystem of contributors, are also proving transformative. They’re not just technical frameworks; they’re trust frameworks. They improve interoperability and reduce the time and cost to implement modern systems. When organizations like the Norwegian Refugee Council use the CDM to reimagine humanitarian supply chains, it shows what’s possible when design and data flow freely and transparently across partners. 

Another signal: everyone is using AI, whether their organizations have adopted it or not. But its real potential lies in being additive, not substitutive. Leaders from the World Wildlife Federation and Microsoft Elevate reminded us that AI’s best role is to enhance human work: automating mundane operations, personalizing engagement, and freeing up time for creativity and relationship-building. 

Clarity and trust are not optional principles; they are requirements for resilience. In a sector built on collaboration, ambiguity erodes confidence and slows impact. - Dan Lammot, Co-founder and CEO at threshold

So how do we make clarity our most valuable asset and trust something we renew every day?