ANNUAL REPORT Dear friends of Design Impact, About a year and a half ago, we significantly changed our organizational model from a focus on India and our fellowship program to one that allows us to meet a variety of partner organization needs—wherever they might be in the world. This major pivot was the toughest choice we’ve made so far, and required us to abandon a model that took us years (and the metaphoric blood, sweat, and tears) to build. In short, we practiced innovation on ourselves. And that process had all the scary, doubt-filled moments that doing something new and uncomfortable always does. As it turns out, changing our model and taking that risk was one of the best decisions we’ve made. We’ve moved from a staff of three to seven, expanded our geographic reach, and deepened our impact around innovation in the social sector. More importantly, we’ve solidified a deep organizational culture of learning, growth, and exploration that continues to guide our work.
INCUBATE projects that transform communities
EQUIP leaders with
social innovation tools
ADVANCE methods of
creative community change
Check out our transformation for yourself in the stories below. Thanks for being part of our journey.
Looking forward,
Kate, Ramsey & the Design Impact Team
supported
new social innovation
projects in
DI equipped
700
with design + innovation tools
over ears HEARD
DI staff
SPEAK
FEATURED PROJECTS
July 2013 - June 2014
SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
TWO-GEN APPROACHES
Cincinnati’s Sarah Center is a place for hope and healing for women who have experienced economic and personal hardship. Design Impact collaborated with the Center’s staff and artists to explore the artisan jewelry market in order to understand what it would take to build a social enterprise. Currently Sarah Center artists are working towards launching a new product. Read more.
In partnership with United Way of Greater Cincinnati, Design Impact developed a six month social innovation lab called Studio C. This program provided space and support for teams from 15 regional organizations to develop new, two-generational ideas that reduce the impacts of poverty for parents and their children. Read more.
Sarah Center: Empowering female entrepreneurs
CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
United Way: Building social sector capacity
DESIGN + COLLECTIVE IMPACT
Mount Mary University: Developing creative leaders
Greater Cincinnati Foundation: Big ideas for change
The Center for Creative Leadership asked us to join their efforts to re-imagine a course taken by all freshmen at Mt. Mary University, Milwaukee. The course includes a three-lens focus on leadership development, human-centered design, and social justice, and includes active learning modules that deeply engage MMU’s all-female student body in creative community development. Read more.
Channeling the energy of a multitude of voices toward a single goal is never easy. To support these Collective Impact efforts, Design Impact worked with 40 Cincinnati non-profit leaders through a six-month design workshop. These leaders learned to apply design thinking to build systems and strategies that would better engage and reflect the voices of their stakeholders. Read more.
INNOVATION + LEADERSHIP
NEW PROGRAM DESIGN
In the second year of the program, we continued to mint Global Citizen Leaders through a combination of leadership development, design thinking, and social impact. This partnership with the CCL and the Welignkar School of Management was a transformative educational experience for over 200 MBA students to become empowered and conscious citizens of the world. Read more.
For the second year, Design Impact partnered with non-profit Cincinnati Made to develop a four month ‘product accelerator: First Batch. This program helps local entrepreneurs take their inventions from living room production to small batch manufacturing. Six entrepreneurs from four companies went on to build partnerships with local manufacturers. Read more.
Center for Creative Leadership: Student to leader
Haile Foundation: Supporting local makers
STAFF & BOARD
FINANCIALS
We are excited to announce four new staff members and four new board members joining the DI team!
DI Staff: Brittney Kreimer* Bizzy Young* Kate Hanisian Ramsey Ford Rashid Owoyele* Sarah Corlett* Sharmila Sitther
Board Members: Cindy Tripp* Gavin DevoreLeonard Geoff Zoeckler* Matt Kornau Mike Baker* Shiloh Turner*
* The new faces!
INCOME $380,855
EXPENSES $392,111
IN-KIND DONATIONS $ 151,205
DESIGNING-IN-ACTION $ 329,975
PROGRAM REVENUE $ 113,000
RUNNING THE SHIP $ 47,155
GRANTS $ 105,000
SPREADING THE WORD $ 9,596
CORPORATE DONATIONS $ 10,050
RENTING THE SPACE $ 5,385
INDIVIDUAL DONATIONS $ 1,600 * The perceived budget deficit was covered by funds commited in the previous fiscal cycle.
THANK YOU
OUT AND ABOUT
We are grateful to our donors,
partners, clients, and volunteers, who have helped us bring design and innovation where it’s needed most.
Adam and Laurel Smart Agenda 360 Air Inc. Amazon Smile Amy Untch Applied Sunshine ArtWorks Ayush Chauhan Babitha George Brewery District CURC Center for Creative Leadership Center for Great Neighborhoods Christian Moerlein Brewing Company Cincinnati Made Cincinnati Union Cooperative Initiative Corey Buchholz Danny Alexander David Thompson Design Corps/Public Interest Design Institute Elli Matejka FEAST Ford Motor Company Fund Greater Cincinnati Foundation Indianapolis Museum of Art Ingrid Lange
James Zimmerman Janis Ford Jerad Raines Jessica Chen Jill Friden John Kirsch Joiner Family Fund of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation Kaleidoscope Kate Hanisian and Ramsey Ford Kathleen and Michael Krug Fund of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation Katrina D’Esopo Kirsch CPA LaunchWerks LeEcole De Design Lila Englander Loose Parts Project Lyndon Rego Matt Kornau Mount Mary University National Endowment for the Arts Northern Kentucky University Partners for a Competitive Workforce
Paul DeMarco Random Snacks of Kindness Rhinegeist Rian Austin The Sarah Center The Women's Fund School of Visual Arts SEEK, Inc. St. Francis Seraph Ministries Taft Law The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation Tom Dierking United Way of Greater Cincinnati University of Cincinnati DAAP University of Cincinnati School of Social Work Vera Soper We Have Become Vikings We School/iFEEL Woven Oak Initiative Xavier University
A special shout out to Kaleidoscope — five years of sharing design and engineering expertise and an awesome work space! Thank you!
DONATE 205 W 4th Street Suite 1140 Cincinnati, OH 45202
We’re honored to have had the opportunity to speak at some exciting places this year: The Aspen Institute Contemporary Arts Center The Indianapolis Museum of Art National Endowment for the Arts Northern Kentucky University Public Interest Design Institute WorldStudio Yale University Additionally, our Deep Griha Society nutritional laddoo project in India was featured by Fast Company, DMI Review, was a semi-finalist for the Classy Awards and was selected as one of the top seven picks for the World Design Impact Prize.
WHAT KIND OF WORLD ARE YOU DESIGNING? “Every dollar you spend... or don’t spend... is a vote you cast for the world you want.” - L.N. Smith, Illustrator Please consider giving a gift to DI this year and help us advance design and innovation in spaces that otherwise cannot afford it.