The survey confirms three defining trends in Switzerland's non-profit sector. First, Swiss non-profits hold a notably more positive view of their sector's overall health than their counterparts abroad, underpinned by a strong culture of collaboration among civil society actors — one that opens up genuine opportunities for partnership, peer learning and shared impact. Yet this positive outlook coexists with familiar pressures: financial and operational sustainability that remains the sector's central challenge, driven by intensifying competition for funding, the costs of adopting new technologies, and rising expenses more broadly. As elsewhere, Swiss organisations face the paradox of being asked to do more with less — a strain many describe as difficult to sustain day to day.

The second finding concerns income diversity and long-term resilience. Swiss non-profits benefit from a distinctively broad funding base: higher shares of income from legacies, philanthropic giving and donations from the general public, which help offset reliance on government and multilateral donors, while a greater proportion of this funding is unrestricted than is typical elsewhere. Together, these features appear to make the sector more resilient: were funding to stop tomorrow, more Swiss organisations would be able to continue operating for longer than their international peers.

Finally, Swiss non-profits stand out for their stronger capacity to measure and communicate impact, supported by deliberate strategies, methods and operational infrastructure built for this purpose. This capability appears closely tied to the sector's high levels of public and governmental trust: local and national non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are viewed more favourably than international ones, a gap likely reinforced by perceptions of accountability and demonstrated impact.