Innovation for Social Change

Transform your nonprofit’s ability to innovate for the future In Innovation for Social Change, distinguished author Leah Kral delivers a practical manual for nonprofits and charitable organizations seeking to innovate their way toward new and exciting possibilities. In the book, you’ll explore hands-on design thinking strategies and techniques you can use as a disciplined process for exploring what’s possible in your organization. You’ll learn how to identify hidden needs, deal with the knock-on effects of your ideas, and focus your efforts where they can have the most impact. You’ll also discover how to transform your ideas into action, building small experiments and learning from them before scaling them up organization-wide, and how to create an ecosystem for everyday innovation. Finally, the author explains what we can learn from social entrepreneurs as they boldly challenge the status quo. The book also includes: Six basic and mutually reinforcing principles that will help you become more innovative today Instructive and engaging case studies from nonprofits with a variety of missions, visions, and political backgrounds Strategies for applying straightforward principles from economics to supercharge nonprofit innovation A can’t-miss roadmap to creative innovation, Innovation for Social Change will earn a place in the libraries of nonprofit board members, managers, fundraisers, and other professionals in the charitable space.

Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 1 A Story of Transformative Innovation 11 Part 1 Tools for Sparking Innovative Ideas 17 2 Surfacing Unmet Needs 19 3 Stretching the Imagination 29 4 Stress Testing for Feasibility 43 Part 2 Transform Innovative Ideas into Action 57 5 Designing Small Experiments 59 6 Forming a Vision and Theory of Change 65 7 Evaluating, Learning, and Adjusting 77 Part 3 Build Innovation into Our Organizational DNA 103 8 Encourage Creative Collaboration 105 9 Optimize Organizational Design for Innovators 119 10 Attract Donor-Partners Who Fuel Social Change Breakthroughs 155 Part 4 Bring Your Innovation A Game 173 11 Discover Your Superpower 175 12 Challenging the Status Quo 183 13 Win Others Over to Your Cause 199 Epilogue 213 Notes 217 References 235 About the Author 247 Index 249