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. 21h ago

    What Would Have to Be True?

    Sarah Newkirk became executive director of the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County in the middle of a capital campaign, the same week Jonathan Hicken took over at the Seymour Center. Five years later, she's landed a $15 million farmland deal, a wildlife crossing Caltrans is now replicating statewide, and a strategic plan built around one question: what would have to be true for this to work? She and Eric talk relationships, risk, and why joy is the real return on conservation work. Episode Highlights: [00:01:30] Coming in as the new ED mid-capital-campaign, the same week Jonathan started at the Seymour Center [00:06:30] Beach Ranch: taking flood-prone farmland out of production to let marshland move inland [00:07:30] Retiring 47-year-old branding and finally owning the "conservation incubator" identity [00:09:30] Inside the Highway 17 wildlife crossing, now a model Caltrans is replicating statewide [00:16:00] The Land Trust's three beneficiaries: wildlife, working agriculture, and people, together [00:26:00] The "what would have to be true" method that turned a twice-failed ballot measure into Measure Q Notable Quotes: Sarah Newkirk [00:28:00]: "We made a list of what had to be true, and we made those things true." Sarah Newkirk [00:39:15]: "When you provide this kind of conservation work to the broader public, the public loves it, and therefore they love you. That is a beautiful, virtuous cycle." Eric Ressler [00:39:30]: "I love that the answer is joy. I think we need a lot more joy in how this work happens."  Resources & Links: Land Trust of Santa Cruz County — landtrustsantacruz.orgHighway 17 Wildlife Crossing — landtrustsantacruz.org/protected-areas/highway-17-wildlife-crossing/Beach Ranch wetland restoration — hilltromper.com/article/wetland-restoration-beach-ranch-benefits-nature-wildlife-and-peopleLearning the Land podcast — landtrustsantacruz.org/podcast/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.

  2. Jul 7

    Drafting Our Strategic Dream Teams

    There's a push right now to democratize strategic planning. Survey the community, poll the staff, put the big calls to a vote.  I get the instinct, but it goes too far. Influence is not the same as decision-making power, and collapsing the two is how good orgs freeze.  In this episode, Eric and Jonathan draft their ideal strategic planning teams fantasy-sports style from a pool of ten possible inputs, and work out how much weight each voice actually deserves. Episode Highlights:  [00:00:00] Drafting fantasy strategic planning teams from ten possible inputs  [00:02:30] First picks: leadership team vs. the community you serve  [00:05:15] Influence vs. decision-making power, the distinction that runs through everything  [00:08:45] Gut and intuition as a legitimate strategic input  [00:10:45] Data beats opinions, and predictive vs. directional data  [00:15:45] Why boards should support more than they decide  [00:28:30] Synthesizing every input into a decision you can own  [00:33:00] Win-win as a cheat code, and why pleasing everyone signals a weak choice Notable Quotes:  Eric Ressler [00:05:35]: "The community should have a lot of influence, but I don't think this work usually works when it's truly democratic."  Jonathan Hicken [00:11:05]: "We have a saying at Seymour Center here where data beats opinions 100% of the time."  Eric Ressler [00:33:35]: "If literally everyone is happy, maybe the decision was too obvious and weak." Resources & Links: Designing Tomorrow Spotlight interview with Rob Acton on designing effective nonprofit boardsCause Strategy Partners — Rob Acton's firm, focused on nonprofit board placement and governance trainingHosted 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.

  3. Jun 30

    Money in Motion, Not Money Warehoused

    There's a number treated like gospel in philanthropy: the 5% annual payout private foundations are required to hit. It was written into law as a floor.  Kristin Todd has watched it become a ceiling instead. After nearly two decades at the Daniels Fund, a $1.5 billion private foundation, she now leads the NoCo Foundation in Northern Colorado, where she's more than doubled annual grant-making by refusing to let donor dollars sit still. Episode Highlights:  [00:01:00] Running a $1.5 billion legacy fund vs. a nimble community foundation  [00:07:00] Why mergers stopped being a taboo word for nonprofits  [00:11:30] How NoCo doubled its grant-making by keeping money in motion  [00:12:30] The 5% floor that became a ceiling  [00:20:30] Stop calling them charities. They're businesses with social impact.  [00:34:00] Punching above your weight locally instead of waiting on Washington Notable Quotes:  Kristin Todd [00:12:30]: "In the private foundation world, that 5% has become a ceiling, not a floor."  Kristin Todd [00:11:30]: "We do not want to be a sponsor of DAFs that are warehousing dollars, and in fact we are not."  Eric Ressler [00:21:30]: "These are the hardest problems in the world that no one else has solved, and yet they're not getting the same attention as the latest AI startup."  Resources & Links: NoCo Foundation — nocofoundation.orgDaniels Fund — danielsfund.orgHosted 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.

  4. Jun 23

    Your Most Durable Asset Is Still Your Website

    Everyone keeps predicting the death of the website. First it was social, now it is AI. But it is still the one channel you actually own and control, which is exactly what makes it your most durable asset. So when a site has gone untouched for five years and a redo runs six figures, the real question is whether it is worth it, and when. Episode Highlights: [00:03:00] The identity impact gap, and when a redo is the wrong call  [00:10:30] The 10-second homepage test 90% of nonprofit sites fail  [00:13:00] Brand as coherence: the Apple experience, and your version of it  [00:17:30] What happens the moment a funder leaves your meeting  [00:23:30] What funders actually look for: financials, team bios, clear impact  [00:28:00] The underperforming employee analogy, and the player on your team Notable Quotes: Eric Ressler [00:05:20]: "I still believe that your website is your most important and your most durable asset as a brand."  Eric Ressler [00:26:20]: "Your website should be your best fundraiser, not your only fundraiser."  Jonathan Hicken [00:29:10]: "Website is almost the wrong word. It's a player on your team." Resources & Links: Seymour Marine Discovery Center — seymourcenter.ucsc.eduCandid — candid.org“Are Website's Dead?" — earlier Designing Tomorrow episode.Joel Breakstone interview — earlier Designing Tomorrow episode.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.

  5. Jun 16

    Can Business Actually Be a Force for Good?

    For the last 50 years, we've operated under a single dominant idea: the purpose of business is to maximize shareholder value. But what if this whole era of extraction and short-termism isn't the natural order at all? What if it's just a blip? Sarah Gillard, CEO of Blueprint for Better Business, has spent 25 years inside major corporations watching what happens when companies forget what they're actually for, and she makes the case that business has both the power and the obligation to change it. Episode Highlights: [00:02:42] Two very different business models: profit maximization vs. employee ownership, from inside the same industry  [00:06:37] The ESG rollback in context: what the data actually shows about corporate commitments  [00:09:03] The forces of gravity that act on companies as they scale, and why purpose needs structural defense  [00:12:17] The 70% problem: why intangible assets dominate organizational value but get ignored  [00:15:27] Rethinking the social contract: why government, business, and civil society can't afford separate swim lanes  [00:27:07] AI as a force for good or fragility: the questions businesses aren't asking but should be  [00:37:58] Blueprint for Better Business's two foundational ideas, and why neither is as radical as it sounds Notable Quotes: Eric Ressler [00:25:20]: "We need more in culture imagining what that future could and should be, instead of constantly only warning about what it's looking like it's going to be."  Sarah Gillard [00:38:40]: "Historically we will see these last 50-odd years as an odd blip. How do we take the most powerful shaper of our societies and just go: just focus on the money? Just weird."  Sarah Gillard [00:40:20]: "Good intentions are necessary, but not sufficient. You need legal and governance mechanisms that keep you on track even when there is significant pressure to move." Resources & Links: Blueprint for Better Business — Sarah's organization; the one-page AI framework for boardrooms is available on their websiteJohn Lewis Partnership — The UK's largest employee-owned business, where Sarah led purpose strategyThe Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson Dear Alice: Utopian anime yogurt commercial — mentioned by Eric as a rare example of positive future imageryHosted 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.

  6. Jun 9

    The Real Cost of Playing It Safe

    Jonathan recently learned that the Seymour Center is about to absorb a permanent new expense in the $150,000 to $200,000 range. On a $2.2 million operating budget, that's roughly 10% of the whole thing, and it's not a one-time hit.  The instinct for most leaders is to pull back: tighten the budget, pause the big swings, and try again in a few years. But contraction changes the story you can tell funders, and that cost is harder to recover from than the budget hit itself. Episode Highlights: [00:00:30] Contract or keep pushing? The fundamental question.  [00:02:00] The outdated overhead myth and why it makes budget shocks worse  [00:05:30] The power of flexibility that reserves actually buy you  [00:08:00] Eric's pandemic-era decisions at Cosmic: no layoffs, no pay cuts in 16 years  [00:12:00] Why liftoff windows are sacred and rarely repeat on your timeline  [00:17:00] The story you can tell funders when you're in motion vs. when you've pulled back  [00:20:30] Separating ego from mission in high-stakes financial decisions  [00:22:30] The case for nonprofit mergers in a shrinking funding landscape Notable Quotes: Jonathan Hicken [00:17:00]: "I can go to those meetings right now and sit down at the table and look at these people in the eye and authentically tell the story of this liftoff. If I start to contract, I can't do that." Eric Ressler [00:18:10]: "There's a saying in the business world: never need a deal. I think we're wired as humans to just be super attuned to desperation." Resources & Links: Seymour Marine Discovery Center — https://seymourcenter.ucsc.eduVisibility Beats Impact — Designing Tomorrow podcast episodeHosted 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.

  7. Jun 2

    Feelings Don't Drive Change

    Most social impact campaigns are built on two ingredients: information and emotion. The data makes the case. The storytelling makes people care. But caring, on its own, has a shelf life. Saralynn Finn, founder of Sett & Sley Consulting, joins Eric in the studio to argue that the third ingredient, what she calls "the hands", is where campaigns succeed or quietly die. Not more awareness, not more storytelling, but actionable pathways that give audiences something real to do with everything they now know and feel. Episode Highlights: [00:01:30] The head, heart, and hands framework for social impact campaigns  [00:05:00] "the hands": actionable, attainable pathways that create real impact  [00:06:00] Why "the hands" breakout at Skoll World Forum was the most well-attended  [00:10:00] The celebrity collaboration that drove 30K subscribers but didn't change healthcare  [00:15:30] Vote by mail in 2020: same message, radically different messengers  [00:26:00] The end-of-year fundraising campaign that 5X'd revenue Notable Quotes: Saralynn Finn [00:06:00]: "It's the piece of most campaigns that's missing, that people are trying to break the nut of and figure out: how do I create a pathway?" Eric Ressler [00:13:00]: "Campaigns need their own little mini theory of change." Resources & Links: Skoll World Forum — https://skoll.org/skoll-world-forum/Represent Us — https://represent.us/Saralynn's LinkedIn article about the AI documentary in Rural America.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.

  8. May 26

    Say What You Actually Believe

    Most social impact leaders got into this work because they care deeply about the mission, not because they wanted to be public figures with opinions. But that instinct to stay quiet and let the work speak for itself may be doing more harm than good. Developing and sharing a strong point of view isn't a nice-to-have; it's a moral obligation for leaders in this space. Episode Highlights:  [00:01:00] The hesitancy Eric keeps seeing in leaders who won't go public with their thinking  [00:04:00] Defining "point of view" as a pattern of lived experience, not expertise  [00:08:00] Eric's origin story: from attention economy manifesto to a new framework  [00:10:30] Introducing the identity impact gap  [00:18:00] Why therapy made Jonathan a better leader  [00:24:00] Devil's advocate: what about pure open-mindedness as a leadership philosophy? Notable Quotes:  Eric Ressler [00:11:05]: "The bigger the difference between who you actually are and how you are perceived by the people that you care about reaching, the bigger all of your problems are going to be."  Eric Ressler [00:29:35]: "People need to do research, they need to develop hypotheses, they need to publish those, not just think about them in their brains." Resources & Links: Seymour Marine Discovery Center — seymourcenter.ucsc.eduKevin L. Brown — Mighty Ally Glen Galaich — Stupski FoundationKevin Starr — Mulago Foundation Skull World Forum Strategy Tier ranking episode - "Most of Your Brand Strategy is a Waste of Time" 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.

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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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