Approach

Human-Centered Design

Create WITH, NOT FOR

Human-centered design (also called participatory design or co-design) is a method for solving collective problems by sharing knowledge and power.

We engage directly-impacted stakeholders with lived experience of the problem. Using interactive practices that leverage creativity, partners transform their knowledge and needs into collective solutions.

Knowledge

We use community engagement tools like listening sessions and interviews to learn and research with stakeholders.

Evaluations

We measure the impact of programs with the beneficiaries they serve.

PolicY

We co-design laws, protocols, and policies with the constituents directly impacted by them.

Decisions

We facilitate events where critical choices are made with the people directly affected.

Resources

We create toolkits, handbooks, and model with the people who will use them.

Capacity

We train others to use co-design methods to create with community.

• Center marginalized and excluded voices

• Value lived experience and personal stories

• Embody anti-racist, feminist, and decolonalizing values

• Practice cultural humility

• Co-organize and launch new initiatives

• Co-create equitable power dynamics

• Are trauma-informed and survivor-centered

• Work virtually or in-person

WAshington STATE HEALTH CARE AUTHORITY

The Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA) is the state's largest health care purchaser. They hired Do Big Good in 2022 to help close the gap in youth substance use treatment. To jump-start this systems change, Do Big Good conducted listening sessions virtually and in-person, reimagining treatment with youth across the state who have substance disorders and with their adult allies.

WAshington State Office of SuperIntendent of Public Instruction

The Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) oversees the state’s K-12 public school system. In 2022 they hired Do Big Good to develop recommendations on school responses to sexual assault with student survivors. The project required student listening sessions, adult stakeholder interviews, policy review, and academic research.

SPOKANE FOOD SECURITY COALITION

Spokane Regional Health District's Food Security Coalition unites over 40 organizations strengthening the food system in Eastern Washington. In the spring of 2022, Do Big Good facilitated two virtual workshops to develop a community outreach strategy with adults impacted by food insecurity.

IMPACTA LATAM

In 2021, Do Big Good partnered with international donor National Endowment for Democracy and local Guatemalan nonprofit Red Ciudadana to launch the Impacta Latam network and facilitated the network’s first action, the co-design of a toolkit on impact measurement with Latinx activists working to strengthen democracy and governance.

Open Knowledge Foundation

The Open Knowledge Foundation (OKF) is a global nonprofit network whose mission is to create a world where all non-personal information is open and free for everyone to use, build on, and share. In 2021, they hired Do Big Good to help them co-design a measurable, participatory strategy to relaunch the organization under their new CEO.

Code for America

Code for America is a tech nonprofit that believes government can work by and the for people in the digital age. In 2019, they hired Do Big Good to co-design a new model of impact measurement with their volunteers across the country. The results in-person and virtual process, piloted by brigades across the country, resulted in the Impact Cascade model and process.

University of Michigan

University of Michigan's Center for Socially Engaged Design (C-SED) hired Do Big Good to co-design a two-part train-the-trainers workshop with their graduate facilitators in the spring of 2022. The focus was Do Big Good’s Decision Cascade, a model we developed to make power dynamics visible in design and decision-making.