Japan-U.S. Social Innovation Network (JUSSIN) Friends Fund

Japan and the United States are navigating remarkably similar social challenges. From aging populations and declining social trust to rural revitalization and workforce transformation, leaders in both countries are asking many of the same questions. Yet while the challenges are shared, opportunities to learn from one another remain rare. JUSSIN was created to bridge that gap, fostering long-term collaboration between leaders who might never otherwise meet.

Mission
JUSSIN is the bilateral catalyst for social innovation. We curate courageous leaders, cultivate unlikely collaboration, and catalyze bold ideas into breakthroughs neither the U.S. nor Japan could achieve alone. JUSSIN is incubated and fiscally sponsored by ETIC, a charitable organization in Japan with funding from the US-Japan Foundation.

Vision
We envision a new era of cross-border collaboration. JUSSIN strives toward a future where the bridge between Japan and the United States sets the standard for how shared challenges can be solved across borders.

How We Work
At first glance, the Japanese and U.S. social sectors couldn't be more different. Japan's was formalized in 1998 and counts around 50,000 nonprofits today; emerging founders often build social businesses instead, which are faster to launch than NPOs, and fewer than 3% of NPOs hold tax-exempt status. The U.S. sector has operated since the 1600s with over 1.8 million registered nonprofits, established philanthropic funders, and built-in incentives like 501(c)(3) tax exemption.

Yet leaders in both countries are hungry to innovate on the challenges they share. What they lack is the infrastructure — the dedicated resources, tools, and expertise — to sustain collaboration across borders.

JUSSIN builds on the existing relationships of peer practitioners and the decades-long work of bilateral institutions that laid the groundwork, transforming cross-border exchange in three ways:

• Between Countries – Where difference drives discovery: We bridge two social sectors, shaped by distinct histories, structures, and scales, because what they share is more consequential than what sets them apart –and when they collide, new possibilities take root.
• Between Leaders – Where steel sharpens steel: We convene the boldest social sector leaders from both countries and drive peer exchange that expands imagination, deepens resilience, and fortifies those on the front lines of social change.
• Between Ideas & The World – Where possibility becomes proof: We identify and resource the most promising leaders so their seeds of possibility may become proof of concept.

Approach
Connection is where we start, not where we stop. JUSSIN's model moves through four stages — Convene, Activate, Catalyze, Amplify — turning relationships into collaboration: from an introduction, to a sustained network, to resourced experiments, to stories the world can learn from.

1. Convene - Once a year, JUSSIN convenes 25 social sector leaders from the U.S. and Japan around shared challenges (i.e aging, rural resilience, workforce development). The annual activation is designed to surface the most promising cross-border collaborations in the room.
2. Activate - Between gatherings, JUSSIN sustains its network through year-round programming that equips leaders with the relationships, insights, and tools to advance change.
3. Catalyze - JUSSIN identifies leaders with emerging ideas that hold real potential. Three to five selected individuals spanning both countries will enter a six-month structured experiment where JUSSIN deploys resources, including grant funding, funder introductions, and expert connections, to evolve promising ideas into innovations.
4. 04 Amplify - JUSSIN translates insights from experimental collaborations into narratives that showcase the power of cross-border innovation. Through strategic storytelling partnerships, it extends the reach of leaders’ work and shares their learnings with global audiences.