Today, a key team of Impact Hub staff, board members, and external partners will convene in UNESCO World Heritage Site Évora, Portugal for a week-long strategy workshop hosted by the Eugénio de Almeida Foundation (EAF). Participants will review, challenge, and improve proposals sourced through a broader strategic engagement with the network in May in order to outline a first draft hypothesis for Impact Hub’s 2018-2020 strategy.
Over the past six years, Impact Hub has grown from 18 locations primarily in Europe and North America to over 100 Impact Hubs open or in the making across five continents. We now have a direct membership community of more than 15,000 and together reach over 22 million people through our services, products, and activities.
“With growth and diversity also comes great responsibility and accountability for unlocking our new potential for impact in the world,” said Gabriela Gandel, Managing Director at Impact Hub Global. “In line with our commitment to shared and distributed leadership, we have entered a collaborative strategizing process that will help us codify our best innovations, evaluate our learnings to date, identify and prepare for our future ambition, and hone our diversity and uniqueness in an inclusive and powerful shared narrative. We call this our Next Level Strategy.”
Impact Hub chose the site of our strategy workshop based on common ties to entrepreneurial action for sustainable impact. Évora is a city active in social innovation powered by the Eugenio de Almeida Foundation. The EAF has facilitated research projects, meetings, and seminars on the topic since 2006, and, last year, entered a formal agreement with the Government of the Portuguese Republic to promote an ecosystem of investment, innovation, and social entrepreneurship in the region.
The Eugénio de Almeida Forum, one of the EAF’s historic cultural heritage spaces and main site of the Impact Hub Strategy workshop
During the week of the workshop, EAF will support Impact Hub’s strategic development processes through space and accommodation. Impact Hub will in turn hold a session with the EAF team, including regional and national stakeholders, to build on the foundation’s regional social innovation plans and share lessons learned.
“In the wonderful location of Evora and hosted by a mission aligned partner, we look forward to iterating our strategy, tapping into our highest potential, and contributing to the vision that is being seeded locally by The Eugénio de Almeida Foundation,” said Gandel.
About the EAF:
The Eugénio de Almeida Foundation, founded in 1963, is a private institution of public interest, based in Évora, Portugal. Its mission seeks the integrated development of the Évora region, helping to reduce the consequences of isolation and regional disparities by creating cultural, educational, and social opportunities for all. Its main core activities are focused on the promotion of: contemporary art; knowledge; reflection and debate; preservation and enhancement of heritage; training of social organisations and players; social innovation and entrepreneurship; active citizenship and action-research projects, particularly on volunteering.
About the Eugénio de Almeida Forum:
The Eugénio de Almeida Forum is a space designed for the promotion of artistic and cultural actions guided by social responsibility and sustainable practices; committed to a multidisciplinary, instructive, and inclusive programme in the form of exhibitions with a particular focus on contemporary art; and the organisation of performance projects and educational programmes geared toward raising awareness and increasing the motivation of target audiences.
For more information, visit: http://www.fundacaoeugeniodealmeida.pt/ (site in Portuguese).
