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Via our research, we identified five core shifts for giving platforms to advance equity in the giving economy. Each shift is supported by stories, a handful of learnings, and a call to action for giving platforms to consider. 

Report Findings

Individual Organization

|

Ecosystem

Partners

Funding a

Moment

|

Funding a

Movement

Transactional

|

Relational

Simplicity

|

The Full 

Story

Invisibility

|

Intentionality

CENTERING PROXIMITY

Blending in-depth background research with 1-on-1 qualitative conversations resulted in a report that highlights a deep need for a perspective shift within charitable systems of giving.

Date

Summer 2023

Role

Senior Design Researcher

"

Social change happens in communities. And proximate organizations make that change happen. This is the work the world needs. Yet it’s not what’s getting funded.

The Process

Phase 1 - Learn and Process​

Phase 2 - Write, Reviewing, Refine 

Deliverable(s)

In the end, we delivered a printable report and an interactive website with report highlights.

The Design Challenge

How might we drive more equity in everyday giving?

Listen to the Leaders

From project scoping to the final reveal party, we were intentional about centering the voices and stories of these leaders who work tirelessly fighting for their communities.

Leader Voices
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Phase 1
Research Setup + Learning

I was in charge of research setup, conducting conversations, structuring synthesis, and drafting key portions of the report. Throughout this whole process, I centered care, respect, and clarity for my participants. Being able to learn from so many incredible leaders who push for social change on a daily basis, was one of the many benefits of this project.

Prior to chatting with these leaders, a junior design researcher and I spent 2 weeks doing a deep dive into the 25 + organizations and leaders that we were planning to chat with. Time is precious for leaders and we wanted to respect that, so we did not want to waste their time with questions that we could find the answers to.

Our in-depth desktop research really set us up for success with these leader conversations.

Phase 2
Writing, Reviewing, Refining

The writing phase was a journey.

My team collaborated on this project with 3 key groups, The Gates Foundation, Radiant Strategies, and various leaders of non-profits. They all played a key role in the development and editing of the report. 

Visibility and transparency around the writing and editing process were core in honoring the voices and stories in the report. 

POST PROJECT:
Learnings from the report were socialized at the Gates Foundation HQ in Seattle for the Greater Giving Summit of 2023. This is a moment where people who work in both the philanthropy and non-profit spaces come together and knowledge share.
The summit acted as the stage for the voices and ideas of this work. As a result, leaders in the philanthropy space self-organized themselves into cohorts. These cohorts focused on specific problems in the giving ecosystem that were highlighted in the report.

Next Project

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