Designing Tomorrow: Creative Strategies for Social Impact

Eric Ressler
  • 5.0 (15)
  • NON-PROFIT
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Designing Tomorrow explores a new playbook for modern social impact leaders and brands to reach their true impact potential.    Why do some social impact brands thrive, while so many others fail to get traction, build support for their cause, and make meaningful progress? Imagine your impact with truly sustainable revenue and resources. With deeper community engagement and relationships. With more influence in your social impact category.   Hosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center, each episode dives into the strategies, mindsets, and behaviors top social impact brands use to play and win in the attention economy. Go beyond high-level concepts to specific tools and tactics you can use today.   Watch on YouTube or listen to new episodes each Tuesday.  Let’s design a better tomorrow, together.Designing Tomorrow is a Cosmic Production. Learn more at https://designbycosmic.com/ Designing Tomorrow is a registered trademark of Design By Cosmic, Inc. 

  1. 1D AGO

    Trust No One Is Exactly What Authoritarians Want

    Every major technological paradigm shift has broken society before it fixed it. The printing press, radio, television. Each one reshaped how we communicate and what we believe. Now the internet, social media, and AI are repeating the pattern at unprecedented speed. Joel Breakstone, co-founder and executive director of the Digital Inquiry Group, has spent over a decade studying how people evaluate online information, and what he's found is alarming: students, academics, and everyday adults are failing at even the most basic tasks of digital discernment. But his research also reveals a path forward, built on the surprisingly simple strategies of professional fact checkers. Episode Highlights:  [00:01:55] Was the internet a huge mistake?  [00:08:30] From Stanford History Education Group to the Civic Online Reasoning curriculum  [00:12:35] Fact checkers vs. PhDs vs. Stanford freshmen: who evaluates sources best?  [00:15:20] Lateral reading: the counterintuitive skill that changes everything  [00:26:20] The collapse of institutional trust and rise of influencer trust  [00:31:05] AI as both threat and tool for digital literacy Notable Quotes:  Joel Breakstone [00:11:25]: "The myth of the digital native is very much a myth. Young people, like the rest of us, need help making sense of the unbelievably crowded and confusing landscape that we encounter when we go online."  Joel Breakstone [00:27:30]: "It can become really easy to just throw your hands up in the air and say, 'Nothing's real. I don't know what to trust.' And that is a really dangerous place for us to end up because it plays into the hands of authoritarians." Resources & Links: Digital Inquiry Group — https://www.inquirygroup.org/Civic Online Reasoning (COR) Curriculum — https://cor.inquirygroup.org/Verified by Mike Caulfield & Sam Wineburg — https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/V/bo207015182.htmlHosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. New episodes every Tuesday. → Subscribe: designingtomorrow.show → Work with Cosmic: designbycosmic.com Listeners, now you can text us your comments or questions by clicking this link. *** If you liked this episode, please help spread the word. Share with your friends or co-workers, post it to social media, “follow” or “subscribe” in your podcast app, or write a review on Apple Podcasts. We could not do this without you! We love hearing feedback from our community, so please email us with your questions or comments — including topics you’d like us to cover in future episodes — at podcast@designbycosmic.com Thank you for all that you do for your cause and for being part of the movement to move humanity and the planet forward.

    44 min

  2. APR 28

    Visibility Beats Impact

    There's a quiet belief running through the social impact space that being too visible somehow cheapens the work. That good organizations should let their impact speak for itself. But the orgs that get the funding, the talent, and the momentum aren't always the ones doing the best work; they're the ones who've made their work visible. This episode makes the case that visibility matters more than impact, and that staying humble is a belief most orgs can no longer afford. Episode Highlights: [00:00:00] Visible orgs outperform high-impact orgs  [00:02:30] The humility trap and the "scrappy org" fallacy  [00:03:30] Why the most funded orgs are the most visible, not the most effective  [00:08:30] Visibility as the most underleveraged strategy in social impact  [00:10:00] The visibility test: can people describe what you do?  [00:17:00] Building visibility into every program from the start  [00:25:00] From skeptic to podcast host: Jonathan's visibility journey  [00:31:30] Using media to scale your face time with future donors Notable Quotes: Eric Ressler [00:01:05]: "Orgs who are consistently good at visibility outperform and are more successful, generally speaking, than orgs who are really good at impact." Jonathan Hicken [00:02:25]: "There is just some sort of moral objection to maybe if we're too visible that devalues the sincerity or the authenticity of the impact. There's a sort of humility thing in there." Eric Ressler [00:14:00]: "Visibility, man. At least you get the chance. If you have no visibility, you don't even have a chance." Resources & Links: Seymour Marine Discovery Center — Jonathan Hicken's organization at UC Santa CruzScience Solutions Santa Cruz — Jonathan's new video podcast.Gallup Poll: What's in a Name? Affordable Care Act vs. ObamacareObamacare/ACA polling data — Measures of public opinion of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)Hosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. New episodes every Tuesday. → Subscribe: designingtomorrow.show → Work with Cosmic: designbycosmic.com Listeners, now you can text us your comments or questions by clicking this link. *** If you liked this episode, please help spread the word. Share with your friends or co-workers, post it to social media, “follow” or “subscribe” in your podcast app, or write a review on Apple Podcasts. We could not do this without you! We love hearing feedback from our community, so please email us with your questions or comments — including topics you’d like us to cover in future episodes — at podcast@designbycosmic.com Thank you for all that you do for your cause and for being part of the movement to move humanity and the planet forward.

    33 min

  3. APR 21

    Who Actually Gets a Seat at the Table?

    The social impact sector has made community co-creation almost sacred. Design with people, not for them. Give everyone a voice. But what happens when the loudest voices aren't the most informed, and the planning process stalls because nobody can make a call? Taylor Stuckert, CEO of Lead for America, has lived this tension from every angle. Eric and Taylor dig into the question nobody in social impact wants to ask out loud: can too much community input actually be a problem? Episode Highlights: [00:01:30] Wilmington, Ohio and the day DHL disappeared [00:06:30] The guerrilla flyer campaign that drew hundreds to a town hall [00:08:30] When community input becomes a double-edged sword [00:14:00] Stop trying to please everyone [00:17:30] There is no "the community" [00:28:00] Why the brain drain narrative misses the bigger story [00:37:00] Why AI will widen the divide we never closed Notable Quotes: Taylor Stuckert [00:17:40]: "We act as if the community is this unified object that has complete consensus and you're either engaging them or you're not. And that's just so inaccurate to reality." Taylor Stuckert [00:14:10]: "We have to get away from this notion that we're going to make perfect decisions. You're not going to please everyone — but that shouldn't take away from how we engage everyone." Resources & Links: - Lead for America — https://www.leadforamerica.org/ - American Connection Corps — https://www.leadforamerica.org/ - Carnegie Corporation of New York — https://www.carnegie.org/ Hosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. New episodes every Tuesday. → Subscribe: designingtomorrow.show → Work with Cosmic: designbycosmic.com Listeners, now you can text us your comments or questions by clicking this link. *** If you liked this episode, please help spread the word. Share with your friends or co-workers, post it to social media, “follow” or “subscribe” in your podcast app, or write a review on Apple Podcasts. We could not do this without you! We love hearing feedback from our community, so please email us with your questions or comments — including topics you’d like us to cover in future episodes — at podcast@designbycosmic.com Thank you for all that you do for your cause and for being part of the movement to move humanity and the planet forward.

    49 min

  4. APR 14

    Most of Your Brand Strategy is a Waste of Time

    Most nonprofit leaders have been through some version of the brand strategy process. Eric calls it process theater: brand strategy work that sounds great in proposals but leaves everyone wondering what they're actually building toward. This episode puts ten common elements of brand strategy on trial. Eric and Jonathan each rank them as essential, important, or overrated, and the results surface a real philosophical divide. Where they genuinely disagree is on brand values, and the tension reveals the gap between how brand strategy is supposed to work and how it actually plays out.  Episode Highlights: [00:01:00] Brand strategy has a "process theater" problem  [00:03:00] Mission and vision statements: both rank them overrated  [00:05:00] Brand values: essential or a motivational poster trap?  [00:09:00] Why positioning and niche is the most undervalued element  [00:14:00] Audience segmentation vs. the persona exercise trap  [00:22:00] Value proposition: Jonathan's "God tier" pick  [00:30:00] The four questions that replace your entire brand strategy Notable Quotes:  [00:01:20]: "Sometimes these processes can be overinflated, a bit of process theater. Things that sound great in proposals, and then halfway through you're like, 'What are we even doing here?'" Eric Ressler  [00:12:30]: "As an executive director, knowing what your niche is, is like a stress reducer. When other organizations pop up, rather than being fearful, you can just be like, 'Oh no, that's a different thing.'" Jonathan Hicken  Hosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. New episodes every Tuesday. → Subscribe: designingtomorrow.show → Work with Cosmic: designbycosmic.com Listeners, now you can text us your comments or questions by clicking this link. *** If you liked this episode, please help spread the word. Share with your friends or co-workers, post it to social media, “follow” or “subscribe” in your podcast app, or write a review on Apple Podcasts. We could not do this without you! We love hearing feedback from our community, so please email us with your questions or comments — including topics you’d like us to cover in future episodes — at podcast@designbycosmic.com Thank you for all that you do for your cause and for being part of the movement to move humanity and the planet forward.

    35 min

  5. APR 7

    AI Doesn't Know What Empathy Looks Like

    Technology promised to close the digital divide, but too often the people building it don't reflect the communities affected by it. Tina-Marie Gulley, former CEO of Ada Developers Academy, sits down with Eric to talk about what it takes to build a more intentional, equitable tech industry, from embedding AI into nonprofit curriculum to running hackathons that solve real problems for community organizations. Episode Highlights: [00:01:00] From corporate marketing to nonprofit CEO: how a computer science competition revealed tech's inclusion problem  [00:02:00] Why technology hasn't fulfilled its promise of closing the digital divide  [00:05:30] Using vibe coding and hackathons to build real solutions for nonprofits  [00:07:30] Cutting through the AI hype cycle: grounding innovation in mission  [00:10:00] Why AI should never replace your therapist  [00:17:00] Why billionaires' kids aren't using AI in school the way everyone else's are  [00:21:00] Reframing DEI in a hostile political climate without compromising on impact  [00:23:30] Keeping funder relationships alive after the checks stop Notable Quotes: [00:11:10]: "AI only knows how we describe empathy, but it doesn't know what empathy looks like in practice." Tina-Marie Gulley  [00:17:00]: "A big part of investing in AI is investing in humanity." Tina-Marie Gulley  Resources & Links: Ada Developers Academy — https://adadevelopersacademy.orgAI2 Incubator — https://www.ai2incubator.comHosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. New episodes every Tuesday. → Subscribe: designingtomorrow.show → Work with Cosmic: designbycosmic.com Listeners, now you can text us your comments or questions by clicking this link. *** If you liked this episode, please help spread the word. Share with your friends or co-workers, post it to social media, “follow” or “subscribe” in your podcast app, or write a review on Apple Podcasts. We could not do this without you! We love hearing feedback from our community, so please email us with your questions or comments — including topics you’d like us to cover in future episodes — at podcast@designbycosmic.com Thank you for all that you do for your cause and for being part of the movement to move humanity and the planet forward.

    30 min

  6. MAR 31

    Funders Don't Owe You Anything

    There's a post going around LinkedIn right now where a fundraiser is calling out a foundation for not structuring a grant as multi-year support. The tone is essentially: our work matters, so funders should give us what we need. That sparked the thorniest disagreement Eric and Jonathan have had on the show. Jonathan's take is blunt: nonprofits need to stop treating funders as fuel for their missions and start treating them like customers. Not in a transactional way, but in the way a great customer success team operates, deeply understanding what success looks like for the individual program officer.  He's so committed to this idea that he's stopped pursuing competitive grants entirely, opting instead for a relationship-first approach.  Eric agrees with the pragmatism, but he can't let the systemic critique go unspoken. These are organizations with massive tax advantages hoarding wealth, spending down the legal minimum, and investing in ways that sometimes directly contradict their stated missions. Trust-based philanthropy is a structural response to a power dynamic that's been broken for decades.  Eric draws a parallel to his own decision to stop doing RFPs at Cosmic, and Jonathan admits his approach might be its own quiet act of resistance.  Most fundraisers live in this tension every day… they just don't say it out loud. Episode Highlights:  [00:02:00] Why funders should be treated like customers, not fuel  [00:06:30] Why Jonathan gave up on competitive grants entirely  [00:08:00] Eric's pushback: isn't this a broken system?  [00:20:00] Whose job is it to fix philanthropy? Notable Quotes:  [00:05:25]: "If I deeply understand what my funders are trying to do, that puts me in a position where I'm actually seen as an ally and a partner rather than a hungry mouth to feed." Jonathan Hicken  [00:23:00]: "If you're commenting on systems change, fantastic. Let it rip. If you're talking about actually going after money, the entitlement tone is hurting all of us." Jonathan Hicken Hosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. New episodes every Tuesday. → Subscribe: designingtomorrow.show → Work with Cosmic: designbycosmic.com Listeners, now you can text us your comments or questions by clicking this link. *** If you liked this episode, please help spread the word. Share with your friends or co-workers, post it to social media, “follow” or “subscribe” in your podcast app, or write a review on Apple Podcasts. We could not do this without you! We love hearing feedback from our community, so please email us with your questions or comments — including topics you’d like us to cover in future episodes — at podcast@designbycosmic.com Thank you for all that you do for your cause and for being part of the movement to move humanity and the planet forward.

    27 min

  7. MAR 24

    Inside charity:water's Big Brand Bet

    The nonprofit sector has a marketing philosophy problem. We adopted a playbook built almost entirely around conversion: get the click, get the gift, optimize the funnel. But all of that activation depends on something most organizations never intentionally build: a brand people actually know, remember, and feel something about. Brady Josephson, Head of Growth & Innovation at charity:water, spent most of his career in direct response. Then the data told him something different, and charity:water went all in on brand. Episode Highlights: [00:03:00] How charity:water unknowingly burned through its brand equity  [00:05:30] What "investing in brand" actually means beyond logos and colors  [00:11:00] Self-determination theory and why trust is really about competence  [00:22:00] You can tell the same story far more times than you think  [00:25:00] Inside charity:water's 7,000 sq ft immersive experience space  [00:44:00] Pick one growth engine and stop trying to do everything Notable Quotes: [00:44:15]: "What you say no to or what you do less of is the game. That is strategy." Brady Josephson [00:24:00]: "You acknowledge some of the footage is old, some of the facts are out of date, and yet you're putting millions of dollars of ad spend behind that piece." Eric Ressler  Resources & Links: charity:water — charitywater.orgThe Factory at Franklin — factoryatfranklin.comLenny's Newsletter — lennysnewsletter.comHosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. New episodes every Tuesday. → Subscribe: designingtomorrow.show → Work with Cosmic: designbycosmic.com Listeners, now you can text us your comments or questions by clicking this link. *** If you liked this episode, please help spread the word. Share with your friends or co-workers, post it to social media, “follow” or “subscribe” in your podcast app, or write a review on Apple Podcasts. We could not do this without you! We love hearing feedback from our community, so please email us with your questions or comments — including topics you’d like us to cover in future episodes — at podcast@designbycosmic.com Thank you for all that you do for your cause and for being part of the movement to move humanity and the planet forward.

    58 min

  8. MAR 17

    Who Are You Becoming?

    A single phrase from a previous episode sent Eric into an existential tailspin, and reshaped how he thinks about organizational identity. In this episode, Eric and Jonathan unpack why "Who are we becoming?" hits harder than any strategic planning question, how it works as a daily filter for every decision you make, and why the social impact sector needs to be asking it right now. Episode Highlights: [00:01:30] The phrase that triggered an existential crisis  [00:02:00] Why "becoming" reframes identity, not just strategy  [00:05:00] Who is Cosmic becoming?  [00:05:30] The follow-up: "What would I do differently if I were already that?"  [00:07:00] Every decision is a vote for who you're becoming  [00:09:00] What happens when you don't choose who you're becoming Notable Quotes:  [00:05:30]: "The next question that I ask myself is, 'Well, what would I do differently if I were already that?' And that's where I think it becomes extremely powerful." Eric Ressler [00:06:55]: "Every action I take, every decision I make as an individual is sort of a vote for who I'm becoming." Jonathan Hicken [00:09:30]: "If you don't have a clear sense of who you want to become, you are inevitably going to become someone else's version of you." Eric Ressler Hosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. New episodes every Tuesday. → Subscribe: designingtomorrow.show → Work with Cosmic: designbycosmic.com Listeners, now you can text us your comments or questions by clicking this link. *** If you liked this episode, please help spread the word. Share with your friends or co-workers, post it to social media, “follow” or “subscribe” in your podcast app, or write a review on Apple Podcasts. We could not do this without you! We love hearing feedback from our community, so please email us with your questions or comments — including topics you’d like us to cover in future episodes — at podcast@designbycosmic.com Thank you for all that you do for your cause and for being part of the movement to move humanity and the planet forward.

    23 min
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Designing Tomorrow explores a new playbook for modern social impact leaders and brands to reach their true impact potential.    Why do some social impact brands thrive, while so many others fail to get traction, build support for their cause, and make meaningful progress? Imagine your impact with truly sustainable revenue and resources. With deeper community engagement and relationships. With more influence in your social impact category.   Hosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center, each episode dives into the strategies, mindsets, and behaviors top social impact brands use to play and win in the attention economy. Go beyond high-level concepts to specific tools and tactics you can use today.   Watch on YouTube or listen to new episodes each Tuesday.  Let’s design a better tomorrow, together.Designing Tomorrow is a Cosmic Production. Learn more at https://designbycosmic.com/ Designing Tomorrow is a registered trademark of Design By Cosmic, Inc. 

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