The UN is under more pressure than at any point in its modern history. The task is no longer to ask for more, but to do more with less - and that demands reinvention. We help make that reinvention real.
Hellon is one of very few independent innovation companies to have earned a lasting foothold inside the UN system. Since 2022 we have worked with UNICEF, UNHCR and UN Global Pulse on around
thirty projects worldwide, helping them reinvent how they engage with audiences, raise funds, and put AI, data and technology to work, at the moment it matters most.
Why Now Matters
Under the UN80 reform, the 2026 Secretariat budget cuts resources by more than nine percent and posts by over twenty percent, and the year began with thousands of roles lost. Austerity alone does not modernise an institution, though. Doing more with less is only possible if the way work gets done is rethought, and if technologies that were optional five years ago become central now.
That is exactly where large, mandate-driven organisations tend to move slowly, and exactly where the right partner creates disproportionate value. The pressure the UN faces is not a reason to wait. It is the strongest argument yet for reinvention.
Earning a seat at the table
In 2022, UNICEF ran a global tender to find the world's best innovation consultancies for its roster. Dozens were considered and only a handful chosen. Hellon was one of them, awarded a six-year long-term agreement.
We have worked with UNICEF ever since, reaching headquarters, country offices and national committees, including the UNICEF National Committee in Finland. We also work with UN Global Pulse, the Secretary-General's innovation lab in New York, where Hellon co-founder Timo Patiala serves as a Senior Adviser. Trust like this is not won with one good proposal. It is built over years, by delivering work that holds up at the most senior levels.
From Fundraising Innovation to AI
The work has evolved as the needs have, from vision and strategy into the harder questions of how AI, data and technology make that vision operational across many markets at once. With UNHCR, we designed the vision and Target Operating Model for a global Digital Fundraising Hub, with AI opportunity mapping built into the model itself rather than added later. Across the system, our contribution has spanned:
● Bold, audience-centric fundraising visions and the strategies to deliver them
● Target Operating Models and governance for scaling digital and AI capability
● AI and emerging-technology opportunity mapping for regional markets
● Rapid innovation sprints, frameworks and prototypes embedded into strategic plans
● Hands-on facilitation and upskilling across headquarters, regions and national committees
We do not arrive with technology looking for a problem. We start with the mission, find where reinvention will matter most, and bring the design, strategy and engineering to make it real.
Proof in numbers
Across the UN system, our selected collaborations span 25+ innovation and strategy projects, with thousands of people engaged in design and strategy work, 850 UN employees trained, and delivery in more than ten countries. UNICEF selected Hellon as a global innovation partner on a six-year agreement. With UNHCR we delivered a Digital Fundraising Hub vision and Target Operating Model. With UN Global Pulse we support private-sector fundraising strategy and advisory. These are not one-off engagements, but a sustained, multi-year body of work at a level of the system few outside partners ever reach.
The Agent of Change
Reinventing how a large institution works is uncomfortable by design. New technologies and new operating models ask people to let go of the familiar, often faster than feels safe, and that discomfort is where the value sits. An organisation under this much pressure cannot reinvent at the pace it finds comfortable. It has to move at the pace the moment demands.
Want to reinvent the way your organisation works, faster than you thought possible? Let's make it happen together.