The SHM Foundation aims to provide communities and individuals with the practical tools they need to develop innovative solutions. It uses knowledge from the humanities and social sciences to understand human motivation, and draws on academic disciplines, from philosophy to anthropology, to address social challenges.

The Foundation believes in the importance of working in partnership. It uses its resources and financing to forge new alliances which, in turn, attract the resources and financing of other organisations. The Foundation uses these partnerships to empower groups of people to bring about economic and social transformation.

The SHM Foundation actively seeks partnership with those who share its aims.

The Foundation was set up in November 2008 by Professor Maurice Biriotti and Professor Henrietta Moore, who co-founded the strategy and insight consultancy SHM Productions, based in central London, in 1996.