This newsletter addresses the urgent humanitarian funding crisis, which is an estimated $29.5 billion shortfall, donor trends, and tools for risk-informed resilience.

Developed with IMD’s Center for Social Innovation, the Case Studies Recap clearly articulates that the effectiveness of humanitarian finance depends less on novelty, and more on how well capital is designed to match context, risk, and time horizons.

The Humanitarian Finance Forum and AidEx convened over 500 senior leaders representing around 300 organisations from 39 countries at the QEII Conference Centre, London.

Humanitarian Impact Bonds (HIBs) hold immense potential to mobilise private or philanthropic capital upfront for those who need it most, yet the question remains: how can they scale and replicate instead of remaining as bespoke, one-off pilots?

This edition of our newsletter looks forward to an expanded Humanitarian Finance Summit in February 2026, co-hosted by the Forum and AidEx at the QEII this February, while reviewing our 2025 highlights.

KfW’s “Climate Risk Insurance: A Compendium of Knowledge” provides a strategic framework for shifting from reactive aid to proactive disaster preparedness by utilising innovative climate financing, anticipatory action, and rapid-payout insurance to protect vulnerable communities and maintain fiscal stability.

On 22-23 October, AidEx and the Humanitarian Finance Forum (HFF), with support from the HIFHUB, convened the Innovative Finance Conference at AidEx Geneva 2025. The following summary highlights the key themes, discussions, and insights that emerged from the sessions, as well as the practical pathways identified for translating innovation into action.

The Humanitarian Finance Forum, AidEx, and HIFHub (a Red Cross initiative) convened the AidEx Innovative Finance Conference - Case Studies Room, which spotlighted practical, field-tested innovative financial tools for humanitarian challenges. This note, developed with support from the IMD Center for Social Innovation, captures key insights to sustain the conversation and serve as a model to others.

With traditional humanitarian aid donor still pulling back, private capital is often cited as the answer. Yet, in practice, very little flows into fragile settings. The barriers are well known but one critical aspect remains underexamined: How success is measured.

In this quarter’s update, we invite you to attend AidEx 2025; highlight innovative financial models that are tangibly supporting humanitarian goals; and welcome you to submit case studies for the 2026 Humanitarian Finance Summit.

Together with UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), Instiglio, and DanChurchAid, we convened a private roundtable to examine the design and objectives of the Syria Humanitarian Mine Action (HMA) and Livelihood Development Impact Bond (DIB).

In this quarter’s update, we spotlight the liquidity crisis threatening humanitarian response and actions forward.