In 2015, King Khalid Foundation (KKF) partnered with Innovety to strengthen the sustainability of Saudi NGOs by embedding innovation and financial resilience into their operations.
Over a three-day intensive program in Riyadh, Innovety trained 20 NGOs on innovation strategy and financial capacity, applying frameworks developed through our innovation consulting service, guiding them to transform intellectual assets into viable revenue-generating services.
The process generated 30+ innovative concepts across sectors such as youth, women’s empowerment, disability, and volunteering, with 15 opportunities prioritized for execution. This initiative equipped NGOs with the tools and roadmaps to reduce grant dependence and scale their social impact across Saudi Arabia.
King Khalid Foundation (KKF) is a leading non-profit established in Saudi Arabia in 2001. With a mission to advance equality, KKF seeks out people, nonprofits, companies, and initiatives that share its vision and equips them with the tools, knowledge, and expertise needed to solve complex social problems at scale.
In 2015, KKF convened an event in Riyadh for 20 NGOs and civil society organizations from across Saudi Arabia, including several working in education, to strengthen their ability to design sustainable and impactful programs. The focus was on teaching NGOs how to apply different business models to their work, enabling them to expand their impact while reducing dependency on traditional funding sources.
At the time, most Saudi NGOs relied almost exclusively on short-term grants, which made it difficult to plan strategically, invest in growth, or scale successful initiatives. KKF’s goal was to equip NGOs with innovation and financial sustainability tools that would help them transform existing intellectual assets into viable revenue streams and long-term social solutions.
Innovety designed a capacity-building curriculum for Saudi NGOs, combining innovation strategy, financial sustainability, and practical business model design. This included toolkits, templates, and case examples adapted to local NGO contexts.
Over a three-day program in Riyadh, Innovety trained 20 NGOs/CSOs on how to identify, design, and test financially sustainable opportunities. The training blended knowledge transfer, hands-on exercises, and applied projects to ensure participants could immediately use the tools in their own organizations.
Through structured ideation and coaching sprints, NGOs developed 30+ innovative concepts across sectors such as education, women’s empowerment, health, volunteering, and culture. Examples included the Big Sister Program for Orphans (a mentorship and education support initiative), a National Activities Day for People with Disabilities, and a Family and Marriage App offering counseling and resources to couples.
From this pipeline, 15+ opportunities were refined and prioritized as the most feasible and impactful. Each was translated into a clear implementation roadmap, outlining objectives, beneficiaries, delivery models, partnerships, and financial mechanisms to sustain the service.
Following the workshops, Innovety provided one-on-one coaching clinics to help NGOs tweak their concepts, refine their financial models, and prioritize opportunities most aligned with their mission and capacity.
To ensure scalability, Innovety documented the process, tools, and success factors into a practical operational guide, enabling King Khalid Foundation to replicate the methodology with future cohorts across Saudi Arabia.
