I would like to wish all my readers, colleagues, and friends a happy new year! I had a fantastic break, including a family vacation in Hawaii, walking, hiking, quiet, and reflection. How about you? But before jumping into the daily grind, during the first week of January I use the quiet time to engage in several New Year's rituals that help me prepare for the year ahead and identify professional growth areas. My rituals include: 1) Review the Year: For as long as I can remember, I have … [Read more...]
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Happy, Healthy 2016: What's Your Theme for the Year?
Happy New Year! I had a wonderful break – filled with fun, family, walking, hiking, reading, quiet, and reflection. How about you? Last year, I decided that I didn’t need to wait until New Year’s to establish happy, healthy habits in my life. For example, just a few weeks ago I decided to kick a bad habit to curb: sleeping with my mobile phone which was disrupting my sleep. I did it! I'm now am feeling refreshed and recharged for a new year. I also have New Year’s rituals that help me … [Read more...]
Using Design Thinking for A Foundation's Investment Strategy
What if a funder got real-time input from its grantees and other partners to develop its investment strategy? What if they used a design thinking process to not only get feedback from grantees but as a way to develop a more agile way of working? I was thrilled to work with the Brainerd Foundation staff to help design and facilitate a design lab using techniques based on Luma Institute methods earlier this month. Here's what I learned about the facilitating design thinking processes: What … [Read more...]
Measuring the Impact of Your Nonprofit Program
A few months ago, I facilitated a mini-innovation lab on measuring impact for grantees of the Google Nonprofit program at the Impact Hub. The workshop used design-thinking based on Luma methodology to help participants develop a communications strategy for measuring impact. The process took participants through an assessment of the problems facing them, collective brainstorming, and prototyping. The group included a mix of Google grantees as well as measurement professionals. That's … [Read more...]
Help! My Nonprofit Needs A Data Nerd
Last week, I facilitated a mini-innovation lab on measuring impact for grantees of the Google Nonprofit program at the Impact Hub. The workshop used design-thinking based on Luma methodology to help participants develop a communications strategy for measuring impact. The process took participants through an assessment of the problems facing them, collective brainstorming, and prototyping. We spent a fair amount of time framing and reframing the problem and ended up with a question that … [Read more...]