Client Flow/Design Thinking, Collaborate, COVID-19, Grow, Growth/Scaling Plans, Impact, Impact Measurement, Lean Start-Up, Organizational Assessments, Social Impact Architects, Social Movements, Strategic Planning, System Change
As a futurist for the social sector, I get asked a lot about what to expect from a post-COVID-19 world. While there are many things I don’t know, there are some that I do. For example, I know the social sector has risen to the challenge and opportunity of 2020 and...
Communicate, Evaluation Planning, Impact, Impact Measurement, Program Development, Social Impact Architects, Storytelling
Last month, The New York Times published a great article – Social Programs Can Sometimes Turn a Profit for Taxpayers – that put SROI (social return on investment) and cost-benefit analyses into the mainstream. In it, Seema Jayachandran, an economics professor at...
Business Planning, Growth/Scaling Plans, Impact Measurement, Organizational Assessments, Strategic Planning
We love sharing good deeds like a great one we saw from July 2019 when good Samaritans came to the aid of a little boy in Australia who fell in the gap when boarding a train. The boy ultimately was fine thanks to the dozen or so commuters on the platform rushing to...
Business Planning, Grow, Growth/Scaling Plans, Impact, Impact Measurement, Lean Start-Up, Program Development, Social Impact Architects
“Evolve or die” – this saying is even more true today than when I started Social Impact Architects. Just 10 years ago, I learned about social business plans in business school, but today traditional business plans are being replaced by a more efficient tool – the...
Collaborate, Ecosystem Mapping, Impact Measurement, Social Impact Architects, Social Movements, System Change
In the nonprofit community, we often talk about our clients “falling through the cracks.” As a result, we spend a lot of time conducting case management sessions to help each and every client navigate “the system.” But, these are often only temporary fixes for our...
Collaborate, Ecosystem Mapping, Impact Measurement, Organizational Assessments, Social Impact Architects, Social Movements, System Change
In 1997, on my first day as a program developer at Phoenix House, a nationwide evidence-based substance abuse treatment program, I started to learn bottom-up program design. And, to ensure I really understood the journey of those we served, I spent a lot of time in...
