WHAT YOU WILL
FIND IN THIS PAGE
Embedded Files
Humanitarian and environmental challenges are growing faster than our ability to solve them. Aid and philanthropic resources are shrinking. Time is running out. With just five years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, we urgently need to rethink how we work.
Scaling our impact isn’t optional - it’s essential.
SCALING_1.mp4Across WWF and the broader sector, we’ve created powerful solutions. But most remain small and localised, making only a dent in problems that are global and growing.
Scaling is hard.
It requires a different mindset, different capabilities, and a commitment to design for scale from the start; as individuals, teams, offices, and as a network.
This page is your learning and application hub for scaling. Whether you're designing projects, leading teams, funding ideas, or simply curious; you’ll find tools, examples, and guidance to help you explore, apply, and strengthen your scaling journey.
Scaling impact isn’t a one-size-fits-all process; it’s about intentional design, strategic support, and organisational readiness. As we work to embed scaling more deeply into WWF’s approach, we aim to support you in exploring the following questions:
What should
we scale?
Which solutions are scalable, effective, and worth expanding - based on evidence, science-backed decisions, and tipping points that indicate whether an intervention has the potential for system-wide impact?
How do we design
scalable projects?
How can we build conservation solutions that are aimed to scale from the outset, ensuring they are adaptable, cost-effective, and designed to be implemented by doers and payers that are beyond WWF?
What do we need to support scale efforts successfully?
How can we create the right conditions for impact to scale within your office; through funding, partnerships, and organisational support that enable solutions to scale effectively and sustainably?
-- 1 --
-- 1 --
OUR SCALING OFFERS
OUR SCALING OFFERS
Find your role below to explore tailored support offers:
You're curious about scale and want to build your personal knowledge and confidence.
Offer: Join the Demystifying Scale Series
6 weeks of light-touch learning: newsletters, online workshops, and self-paced materials
Get familiar with core concepts, tools, and real WWF examples
WWF Offices:
You want your office to speak the same language about scaling and build conditions for scale.
Offer: 2-hour Tailored Office workshop
Build shared understanding and terminology
Reflect on what helps or hinders scale in your context
Identify high-potential projects in your portfolio
Email Kate at kgardner@wwfint.org to book a session
Projects & Initiatives:
You’re working on a project - either piloted or still in design - and want to set it up for scale.
Offers:
Join a Scale Lab
For projects that have been piloted and validated, and are now exploring potential pathways to scale.
Sprint-style support (1–6 months)
Bespoke coaching, strategic guidance, and fundraising positioning
Identify doers, payers, and enabling conditions
Design Support for Early-Stage Projects
For initiatives still in the design or testing phase that want to scale in future.
Clarify your impact ambition and scale vision
Design delivery models with future doers and payers in mind
Strengthen your theory of change for scale
Email kgardner@wwfint.org to explore which offer is right for you
-- 2 --
-- 2 --
SCALING BASICS
SCALING BASICS
Scaling is a nuanced and often debated topic, with different thinkers, sectors, and organisations offering their own definitions and approaches. We’ve cut through the noise to bring you a clear, simplified introduction to what scaling impact really means and why it matters. This section highlights the most relevant ideas to help you build a strong foundation for thinking about scale in your work.
What is Scaling Impact?
Learn what we really mean by scale; and why growing your organisation isn’t the same as scaling your impact.
Pathways to Scale
Explore the different routes impact can take and how your endgame shapes the path.
-- 3 --
SCALING SUCCESS STORIES AT WWF
-- 3 --
SCALING SUCCESS STORIES AT WWF
Here are five case studies from different regions, realities and sizes for inspiration:
NEW! The FSC
Improving global forest management through credible certification efforts.
SMART
Transforming wildlife protection through scalable technology.
EU Nature Restoration Law (EUNRL)
Embedding nature restoration in European policy.
Earth Hour
From a single-city event to a global movement for environmental action.
Recharge Pakistan
Scaling nature-based solutions to transform flood resilience and water management
We’re looking for more case studies! Do you know of a WWF Initiative that has scaled or is in the process of scaling? Please take 2 minutes to tell us about it here.
HOW ARE OTHER ORGANISATIONS SCALING?
HOW ARE OTHER ORGANISATIONS SCALING?
Scaling is a challenge that many mission-driven organisations face.
Here’s how others are tackling it:
Each of these organisations has had to rethink how to fund, structure, and implement solutions for scale—and we can learn from them.
-- 4 --
-- 4 --
DIY SCALING RESOURCES
DIY SCALING RESOURCES
Want to explore or apply scaling tools in your own time? This library is for you. Each tool includes a summary, use-case, and link to download or learn more.
Spring Impact: Scaling Toolkit
By who: Spring Impact, a social enterprise that supports mission-driven organisations to scale social impact.
Best for: WWF teams at any stage of the scaling journey—especially those looking for a structured, step-by-step process from design to execution. It’s ideal for teams who want a guided approach to developing and testing scalable models, including support on replication types, funding models, and readiness assessments.
USP: This is the most comprehensive and user-friendly toolkit available, guiding users through six stages—from understanding the problem to managing scale. It includes actionable worksheets, checklists, and a Scale Pathways worksheet to match your model to the right approach.
PPPLab: Scaling Strategies for Systemic Change
By who: PPPLab (a Dutch learning initiative), focused on scaling in complex multi-stakeholder development settings.
Best for: WWF teams working in partnership-heavy or systems change contexts—especially those trying to influence markets, value chains, or policy environments. Helpful if your project is stuck between strategy and reality and you want to explore strategic tensions and adaptive scaling.
USP: Provides a realistic, systems-savvy lens on scaling, including 10 strategic scaling routes and the “Scaling Scan” tool to assess enabling conditions. Strong on the limitations and trade-offs of scaling in messy, real-world contexts.
Progress to Scale Framework by Elrha
By who: Elrha is an organisation supporting humanitarian innovation.
Best for: WWF teams in early-stage innovation or piloting, especially those who want to track progress over time and better understand how far along they are on the scaling journey.
USP: Offers a clear maturity framework across five stages of scaling. Focused on readiness and transition from idea to systemic uptake. Especially useful for communicating progress with funders or internal stakeholders.
FOS Scaling Challenge
By who: FOS (Future of Strategy), a strategy consultancy working in conservation and systems change.
Best for: Teams who want to reflect on the real-world conditions needed for successful scaling—especially those facing complex systems, fragmented efforts, or slow uptake of proven solutions.
USP: Provides a set of provocative statements (the “scaling challenge”) to spark honest conversations about what scaling really takes. Rather than presenting a how-to model, the tool reframes scaling as a testable challenge: “If this worked, why hasn’t it spread?” and identifies deeper blockers like incentives, resourcing, capabilities, and systems leadership. Designed to disrupt simplistic scaling assumptions and guide more grounded strategy.
Scaling Value Playbook Toolkit
By who: John Bessant and Ian Gray
Best for: WWF project leaders and innovation teams seeking to design a networked approach to scale and sustain impact, with real-world examples and practical steps.
What it offers: A playbook-style toolkit built for iterating through scaling challenges, combining diagnostic tools, system mapping, partnership guidance, and strategic design frameworks. Rich with examples and templates.
WWF fit: Excellent for teams looking to understand how to build partnerships, networks, and support structures needed to grow impact beyond your direct reach.
-- 5 --
-- 5 --
KEY SCALING REPORTS & TEXTS
KEY SCALING REPORTS & TEXTS
Want to explore or apply scaling tools in your own time? This library is for you. Each tool includes a summary, use-case, and link to download or learn more.
By WWF:
By WWF:
Our Articles on Scaling
A collection of original articles from Innovation@WWF, offering insights into the complexities and opportunities in scaling conservation efforts.
Leaders' Key Insights on the
Scaling Status Quo in WWF
We spoke with 18 WWF Leaders about their experience and opinions on scaling within the organisations. Our key findings are:
Summary_ Leadership Conversations on Scale_ Thematic Findings.pdfHere is the 4-page summary of the findings from these conversations if you want to dig deeper than the key 8 findings shared above.
RESSOURCES BY OTHERS:
RESSOURCES BY OTHERS:
What’s Your Endgame?
By Alice Gugelev & Andrew Stern – Stanford Social Innovation Review (2015)
This influential article argues that scaling isn’t about getting bigger—it’s about knowing when you're no longer needed. It outlines six nonprofit “endgames” (e.g. government adoption, open source) and urges organisations to define their intended pathway to lasting impact early.OECD DAC Guidance on Scaling Development Outcomes (2024)
By OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC)
A comprehensive guide offering policy and operational insights for funders, implementers, and governments. It provides a structured approach to scaling development outcomes, including enabling conditions, entry points, and how donors can support sustainable scale.Strategy: Go Big or Go… Oh, Just Go Big
By Kevin Starr – Stanford Social Innovation Review, May 4, 2022
This article offers a clear, four-step strategy for scaling impact to match the size of complex global challenges. Starr emphasizes the importance of defining your Big Idea and Dream, identifying the Doer‑at‑Scale and Payer‑at‑Scale, designing a replicable operating model, and continually refining your strategy.Not Invented, but Scaled Here
By Anita Sundari Akella – Stanford Social Innovation Review (2023)
Akella makes the case for INGOs to act as scaling platforms—not by inventing new solutions, but by adopting and amplifying proven innovations developed elsewhere. It’s a call for humility, collaboration, and building scale through existing ecosystems.Pilots Never Fail, Pilots Never Scale
By Ian Johnson – NextBillion, originally based on CIMMYT research (circa 2018)
This in-depth article argues that while pilots often "succeed" in controlled environments, they almost never translate into scalable, sustainable programs. Johnson explains that pilots typically operate within a "greenhouse" protected from politics, markets, and systemic constraints, leading to outcomes that fail when removed from those conditions.
Page updated
Report abuse