Case Studies
Challenge: An academic department is heavy on theory but light on practice, with limited opportunities for real world applications, in-the-field testing, and diverse feedback.
Information gathering: Our team conducted a large amount of interviews with faculty and students and discovered they were excited at the idea of applying their research in different (non-academic) settings.
Solution: We created a series of location-based workshops. As an experiment, we took applications from our community and decided which research was the best fit for our “maiden voyage” to Detroit, MI. With grant funding, we were able to bring 20 students and faculty members, and meet 20-30 people from Detroit working in a very wide range of fields from urban farming to criminal justice reform. We hosted a weeklong workshop with five tracks.
Iterate: After our first workshop, we reviewed learnings and made changes. Over the course of 7 years and 7 workshops, we managed to bring more than 100 researchers to Manaus, Berlin, Abu Dhabi, Mexico City, Kenya, and more, and built lasting relationships. We created a workshop handbook that provided all of the necessary tools to host a similar event, and made it accessible to everyone in our network to use and share.
Challenge: How could an organization affect change by lifting up the work of activists, and make a public show of support for pro-social activism and non-violent disobedience, without being “too political?”
Information gathering: What do activist need? After spending time talking to “disobedient” people within this organization’s network, it was decided that financial support is the best way to help push their work forward. High level connection were also important to them.
Solution: Our team decided to launch a Disobedience Award, with cash prize and access to “VIPs” in the spaces these activists were trying to reach. $250,000 going to a group or individual demonstrating pro-social, non-violent disobedience in any field.
The nominations were public, and winners could use the money in any way they deemed suitable to advance their work. We realized during the award selection process that there were too many amazing people to choose from, so we awarded runners up with cash prizes.
Iterate: In the second year of the Disobedience Award program, the process of selecting winners became much more streamlined and formalized.
Do-Gooders Unite: We created a large network of change-makers who all had the Disobedience Award in common. This program was able to introduce a new network of incredibly bright and hardworking activists from all over the world, who are still in touch and supporting each others work today.