Approach

Co-Governance

Make Public Policy With the Public.

Co-governance* is a socially just model of institutional decision-making that empowers the communities most impacted by policy problems to work side-by-side with institutional representatives to co-create policy solutions.

Your Experts in Policy Co-Design

Do Big Good’s original co-governance method is policy co-design, a process by which institution and community collaboratively co-write the governing document.

*Quotes from the Chicago Co-Governance Framework.

1) Project Design

We develop clearly-structured timelines of community and institutional consultations to co-design fair and effective policy. We have policy expertise in health, education, and tech (reports below) and are always looking to delve into new fields, learning from the lived experience of communities. 

3) Community consultation

We skillfully facilitate virtual and in-person workshops, listening sessions, and deliberations to collect community input. Our sessions are not focus groups. They are venues for collaborative policy co-writing between community and institution. In co-governance, power is shared.

2) Community Outreach

Co-governance values and relies on existing community infrastructure. We conduct ethical engagement by working in compensated collaboration with organizations already in impacted communities, bringing diverse voices to the process in a way that is respectful, empowering, and trauma-informed.

4) Policy Delivery

Unlike civic assemblies, our projects do not generate lists of recommendations and proposals still miles away from practical application. Instead, we use policy co-design to synthesize community and institutional input into governing documents the institutions can implement directly.  

1) Co-Governance Training

To expand co-governance capacity, we provide virtual and in-person training on how to use co-design for inclusive public decision-making. You can view decks from past trainings further down on this page. 

2) Meeting Facilitation

To support ongoing co-governance, we also design and facilitate virtual and in-person group events, such as board meetings and annual general meetings. We moderate these events with an eye to fairness and efficacy, so collective goals are achieved.

3) Organizational Elections

In addition to our core co-governance work, we also design and manage organizational elections, including the creation and distribution of e-ballots, communication with eligible voters, and tabulation and distribution of results.

• Center marginalized and excluded voices

• Value the wisdom of lived experience

• Embody democratic and anti-oppressive values that are feminist, anti-racist, and decolonalizing

• Co-create equitable power dynamics

• Are trauma-informed and culturally humble

• Work virtually and 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 caregiver 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.