Design Thinking and Philanthropy

For those who like me are concerned that too frequently funders, nonprofits and social innovators are not adequately communicating with one another as they partner to address serious social problems, may be missing important questions and/or addressing the wrong ones and therefore are not coming up with solutions that lead to meaningful change – take heart and read “Think Like a Designer for Greater Impact in Philanthropy,” by Nadia Roumani of Stanford’s Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS).  She suggests that grantmakers use design thinking – an intense, iterative methodology that reframes, focuses and most importantly, engages all beneficiaries and stakeholders in identifying problems and creating and prototyping solutions – to become more effective and impactful.