About Us IDEO has been working in the social sector for more than ten years. Recently, it became clear that launching a nonprofit organization focused solely on social innovation would allow IDEO to make an even bigger impact on global poverty. Enter, IDEO.org! Through Human-Centered Design projects, we're bringing stability, hope, and dignity to communities around the world that are wrestling with poverty. To establish IDEO.org, IDEO provided substantial seed funding. Spot.us - Home Start Something That Matters I A Book by Blake Mycoskie 5 Hot Startups Using Tech for Good In our social entrepreneurship series, The World at Work, Mashable interviews the faces behind the startups and projects that are working to make a global impact. By harnessing the power of the web and digital technology, these companies have built a way for companies to commit to charity, made electric cars affordable and offered a new way for people to rally around political issues. While the companies are diverse, they are all on a mission to change our lives for the better and improve society. Here's a roundup of featured projects from the last week, including exclusive video interviews with the founders of these innovative startups. To read more and watch the videos, click through to the full story, and follow the series to learn about more breakthrough companies. 1. Big Idea: Sparked is an online-only volunteer hub for people to donate their talents to non-profits, as well as an engagement tool for businesses to engage and incentivize employees to contribute to volunteer causes. 2.
Using Your UX-pertise to Save the World: Pro Bono Work That Also Benefits YouUser Experience Magazine Figure 1. A designer and researcher pair up and propose website usability improvements to a nonprofit representative during our World Usability Day event. There are companies and organizations in our community that are struggling to improve life beyond the commercial sector. Most of them lack the expertise or the resources to improve their messaging or the usability of their products. Critical communication is lost in translation between the lines of their cluttered website. Here is the story of how I coupled my love for helping others with my passion for user experience to create a meaningful and lasting impact on both the nonprofit community and my career. Rite of Passage into the World of UX Pro Bono My own journey of UX enlightenment began with a seemingly simple conversation with my career coach. She asked, “What are you missing from your old job and how can you incorporate that into what you’re doing today?” But I wanted to take it a step further. Figure 2. Figure 3. Benefits
Third Sector blog What Workers Want Is What the World Needs Employers who provide workers with tangible ways to make a positive social or environmental impact will find that it pays off. Natalie Fleming graduated from Arizona State University two weeks ago. Like many new grads, she’s been applying to jobs since December and has applied to more than 50 jobs. Natalie wants a position with a mission, ideally at a values-based company. “I’ve been in short-term jobs and internships without impact,” she explained. “Those don’t feel as productive ... in order for me to keep my energy levels up and help others do the same, I need to be doing meaningful work.” Natalie’s isn’t alone. Impact work can manifest itself in many ways—roles in corporate social responsibility departments at large companies or in mission-driven organizations like nonprofits are just a few. All of this is good news, because the world needs Natalie’s talent and the talent of others like her to solve problems like climate change, income inequality, and education.
Assessing Funders’ Performance: Five Easy Tools Measuring impact is so tough that many funders give up, but there are some insightful and actionable tools for funders that aren’t daunting. When I was a charity CEO, we approached a family foundation. There was no formal application process. Instead, we had to write various emails, and I had to attend various meetings (not unusually, the foundation wanted to see only the CEO, the highest paid staff member). One hears worse. Clearly it’s important for any organism to learn, adapt, and improve. Let’s look at why getting a perfect measure is so hard, and then at some simpler “good” tools. Funders: Don’t measure your impact ... A funder’s impact is the change in the world that happened that would not have happened otherwise. First, most funders support work that is too diverse to aggregate its effect. Second, there normally isn’t an “otherwise” that we can compare with reality. Many funders give up. ... rather, understand your performance.