Communicate, Grow, Impact, Impact Measurement, Lead, Lean Start-Up, Organizational Assessments, Organizational Culture, Social Impact Architects, Storytelling
I’ve always loved the ancient parable about the elephant. Six blind men were asked to describe an elephant by touching its body parts. The first man felt its side and described the elephant as a wall, the second man touched its tusk and thought it was a spear, the...
Communicate, Fundraising, Impact, Impact Measurement, Marketing & Communication, Social Impact Architects, Storytelling
Countdowns to the holidays have already begun showing up as memes on social media. Of course, in the social sector, that means we are already working on our year-end appeals. In the coming month, we will collectively send out millions of solicitations via email, text...
Business Planning, Grow, Growth/Scaling Plans, Impact, Impact Measurement, Lean Start-Up, Program Development, Social Impact Architects
“Evolve or die.” This saying is even truer today than when I started Social Impact Architects. Just two decades ago, I learned about social business plans in business school at Duke, 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 countless hours conducting case management sessions to help clients navigate “the system.” But these are often only temporary fixes; the opportunity for...
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 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 our programs...
Collaborate, Impact Measurement, Lean Start-Up, Organizational Assessments, Social Enterprise, Social Impact Architects
What’s in a name? This famous phrase from William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, speaks to an important truth. Since I started in the social sector almost three decades ago, I have noticed that we have a funny habit of throwing around important words, such as...
