We’re excited to have just launched the Global Impact Collective, a consultancy focused on helping your organization use design thinking to shape a world where people have access to safe, reliable food sources that reduce waste; where high-quality healthcare is available to all; and where climate change can be addressed through innovation.
Our Team has decades of collective experience working with some of the most impactful organizations in the world. We’ve seen firsthand the power of design thinking as a way to drive innovation – now we want to help you apply this to impact and sustainability programs at your organization.
We will work with a variety of organizations of any size and scale. Read on to see how.
Are you attending GreenBiz 24 in Phoenix in February? We’re conducting a circularity workshop on the first day of the conference. We’d love to connect with you in person any time that week! |
Companies with a mission-driven ethos
Companies can prosper and do good in the world. In fact, that’s exactly what employees, shareholders, and consumers expect. Over the last decade, worked with dozens of companies that have a mission-driven ethos, including Unilever, Cargill, PepsiCo, and others.
An example of how this plays out: At Microsoft, I headed up Partners in Learning, a global program that worked with teachers and school leaders to use effectively in classrooms. We trained millions of teachers, school leaders, and policymakers.
Founding Advisor Don Coyner also worked in Microsoft Education, helping design relevant products for teachers, including Teams for Education, OneNote, Immersive Reader and the Reading Coach. Don recalls how important it was to visit a variety of schools to see the challenges that teachers face when using new technologies in diverse classrooms.
If you work for a company – whatever size -with a mission-driven ethos, we can help you infuse human-centered design into future product, program, and partnership development. Our expertise in product development, industrial design, user experience, conservation, partnerships, branding, and storytelling means we will bring a multi-dimensional approach your work, ensuring that future solutions are designed, first and foremost, with the human experience in mind.
Foundations and family offices
New forms of private philanthropy and investment have recently taken shape, including impact investments, taking equity in small businesses, and other investment vehicles. If you work at a foundation or family office, we can help you use design thinking to ensure that you are deploying resources to the most impactful initiatives around the world.
Co-founder Carey Renn worked for 16 years at Vulcan, Paul Allen’s investment, innovation and philanthropic organization. She and her team led many of the major social impact and conservation efforts across multiple sectors of interest to Paul. Carey led the development of the Allen Brain Atlas, was instrumental in the launch of the Allen Institute for Brain Science, led the launch of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, the Great Elephant Census, Earth Ranger, Sky Light, and several other initiatives at the intersection of conservation and technology.
Carey epitomizes what sets the Collective apart: her formal training in neuroscience, which evolved into technology and human centered design, allowing her to carve out a unique niche at the convergence of science, data, technology, and discovery. This extensive experience positions her take on the challenges the Collective looks to address.
NGOs and non-profit organizations
Nonprofits often have the best perspective on what people need in a community – they are the eyes and ears with true local perspective. Founding Advisor Surya Vanka has worked with numerous non-profits to deploy design solutions, including an organization focused on girls' education in Sierra Leone and a group working on homelessness in Seattle.
Our partner, Judith Hochhauser Schneider, led corporate partnerships for the World Wildlife Fund, working with the likes of Walmart, Coca-Cola, and Starbucks on environmental sustainability programs. Each of these companies, and their corporate foundations, are making significant investments in improving supply chain transparency, increasing circularity, and driving conservation efforts.
If you work for an NGO or non-profit organization, we can help you design efficient, appropriate solutions to enhance new programs, partnerships, and products, helping improve lives and raise more money.
Government and multilateral institutions
Government agencies are investing in new technologies, both domestically and internationally, leading to more efficient delivery of government service and improvement of lives in emerging economies. With the growth of better connectivity and access around the world, we believe there’s unlimited potential to apply human-centered design principles with government organizations.
I once worked on a donor-funded tech platform called OpenLMIS that helped governments in developing countries ensure delivery of medicines to remote clinics. The success of the partnership was dependent on understanding the needs of health workers, ministry officials, patients, and others in the supply chain, many of whom had limited connectivity, literacy, and access to electricity.
If you work for a government institution, we’d love to help you consider the best options for designing new tools, platforms, apps, programs, and approaches to your audience.
We’d love to hear from you -- drop us a line! You can find more specific information about how we work with clients on the Our Process page.