Organizations working toward social impact use a range of interventions to advance their goals and address complex challenges. These interventions lead to outcomes, the measurable changes or effects seen within a given social issue. Understanding the link between what an organization does and the results it achieves is key to designing effective solutions.

Interventions typically fall into three broad categories: products, programs or processes, and policies. While these categories provide a useful framework for organizing different approaches, they are not rigid or mutually exclusive; many organizations combine elements of all three to maximize their impact. This chapter explores each type of intervention, drawing on real-world examples to illustrate how they are applied in practice and how they contribute to meaningful outcomes.

Products are tangible goods, either durable or non-durable, that are designed to address specific social challenges. These products often improve quality of life, enhance access to essential resources, or aid in solving long-standing problems in innovative ways. Social enterprises, nonprofits, and private companies frequently design and distribute products with a strong focus on affordability, scalability, and sustainability.

What makes a product effective as a social intervention?

The best products solve problems people face daily. Theyre designed with input from the people who will use them, made affordable and accessible to those who need them most, and can be produced and distributed at scale. Products work particularly well when the social issue involves a lack of access to a physical good or tool that can directly improve someone's life.

Examples:

Products like these alleviate human suffering or increase human flourishing by offering practical and immediate solutions to the negative consequences of a social issue.

What is an example of an organization that provides a product as an intervention? What social issue does it address, and why is the product an effective solution?

Programs and processes are structured initiatives or systems that create experiences for customer-partners, leading to social impact outcomes. Unlike products, which are physical objects, programs are organized sets of activities designed to create change through education, training, support services, or community engagement. These interventions are typically implemented by nonprofits, governments, or community organizations.

What makes a program effective as a social intervention? The best programs are scalable and replicable. They create intervention models that can be adapted and implemented in different contexts and empower individuals and communities rather than creating dependency. They often involve ongoing relationships and support rather than one-time transactions. Programs work particularly well when the social issue requires behavior change, skill development, relationship building, or sustained support over time.

Examples:

Programs and processes often involve collaboration with local stakeholders and require ongoing support to ensure sustainability. The programs long-term impact relies on its ability to empower individuals and communities to actively participate in their

change. Unlike products that can be given and used immediately, programs require continued engagement and relationship building to be sustained.

What is an example of an organization that provides a program or process as an intervention? Why is a program better suited to address this issue than a product alone?

Policies are systemic interventions aimed at addressing root causes of social challenges through regulation, legislation, or institutional change. While products and programs help individuals and communities, policies change the rules and structures that govern entire populations. Typically led by governments, advocacy groups, and international organizations, policy interventions have the potential to drive system-wide impact across entire populations.

What makes a policy effective as a social intervention?

Policy has the capacity to address systemic barriers and create structural change that outlasts individual organizations and initiatives. Once implemented, they often require less ongoing resource investment, as the system itself enforces the change. Policies work particularly well when the social issue stems from systemic inequality, lack of regulation, or structural barriers that individual actors cannot overcome alone. However, policies are also the most challenging interventions to implement. They require extensive advocacy, research, coalition building, and often years of work before enactment. They face political opposition and may be difficult to enforce or implement consistently. Despite these challenges, well-designed policy interventions can create lasting change that benefits society as a whole.

Examples:

Although these policies require extensive advocacy, research, and negotiation to implement, they have the ability to tackle systemic inequalities on a scale that is otherwise inaccessible. Once positive social impact policies are implemented, they have the power to benefit people for generations.

What is an example of an organization that advocates for policy as an intervention? What systemic barrier does the policy address that products or programs alone couldnt solve?

While products, programs/processes, and policies are distinct types of interventions, they often intersect and complement one another. In fact, the most effective social impact work usually combines multiple intervention types to address both immediate needs and systemic challenges.

The Power of Integration

Strategic Sequencing

Integration does not always mean implementing all interventions simultaneously. In many cases, the intervention order significantly affects the impact. For example, organizations may start with products or programs to demonstrate effectiveness, then use that evidence to advocate for policy change. On the other hand, they might focus on policy advocacy first to create an enabling environment and then seek to develop programs and products that thrive within that new policy framework. The key is to think strategically about how different intervention types can reinforce and amplify each other over time.

Choosing Your Approach

Not every organization needs to work across all three intervention types. A small organization might focus on one intervention type and partner with others who work at different levels, while large organizations may integrate all three. Ultimately, understanding which intervention type (or combination) best aligns with the nature of the social issue and the organizations current capacity is the key to enhancing the interventions effectiveness.

Ask yourself:

Think of a social issue you care about. How might products, programs, and policies work together to address it more effectively than any single intervention type could alone?

As you move forward in your social impact efforts, understanding the tools available to you is essential. Social impact interventionswhether products, programs, processes, or policiesare the means through which you can create change. Each intervention operates at a different level of the system: products often meet immediate, tangible needs, programs and processes shape behaviors, access, and service delivery, and policies influence the broader structures and incentives that sustain change. However, the effectiveness of any intervention depends on how well it aligns with the root causes of the issue it seeks to address.

The greatest impact is often achieved when these approaches are intentionally combined. Products can address urgent gaps, programs can expand reach and build capacity, and policies can embed successful solutions into systems at scale. By combining multiple interventions, organizations can create a more comprehensive and lasting impact. Understanding how and when to apply these interventions is critical for anyone seeking to make a difference in the social impact field.

1 - LifeStraw. About Us. (2025)

2 - Solar Sister. Our Model. (2025)

3 - Days for Girls International. Our Work. (2025)

4 - Mentalyc. Social Work Interventions for Social Workers (Complete Guide). (2025)

5 - Grameen Bank. 2025. Introduction Grameen Bank. Grameenbank.org.bd. 2025. https://grameenbank.org.bd/about/introduction.

6 - Heifer International. Passing on the Gift. (2025)

7 - Heifer International. Passing on the Gift. (2025)

8 - Teach For America. Our Mission. (2025)

9 - Social Work Exams. Types of Community Intervention in Social Work. (2024)

10 - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Summary of the Clean Air Act. (2025) 11 City of San Antonio. Fair Chance Housing Ordinance. (2024)

When solving social problems, its essential to respect and preserve the dignity of the people you are trying to help. Historically, the importance of maintaining dignity has often been overlooked in international development and social impact.

However, there have been growing efforts to protect human dignity in social impact work since the 20th century, and these efforts have been exponentially increasing in recent years.

The concept of dignity is closely tied to how affected individuals are positioned within social impact efforts. This chapter explores those relationships and examines how the different positioning of individuals within the work can affect the long-term sustainability and effectiveness of potential solutions.

Read these resources to better understand dignity and its role in social impact.

When seeking to create change through social impact work, individuals and organizations often treat those they serve as beneficiaries of their intervention. A beneficiary, within a social impact context, is a person who receives help or services from a social impact program without any kind of active involvement in procuring those services. Though these individuals may benefit from the received support, the term

carries hidden implications that can undermine the well-being of the people being served.

Beneficiaries are generally treated as passive recipients of aid, which can undermine their dignity, limit their agency, and reinforce their dependency on externally directed resources.

This one-sided relationship becomes transactional rather than transformational, with power concentrated among those providing aid rather than being shared with those receiving it. This stifles meaningful long-term change because the recipients are not actively contributing to the solution meant to improve their circumstances. If those affected by the problem are not engaged in the solution, it is less likely to endure.

Its important to note that this limitation exists because the individual or organization offering aid is using a beneficiary mindset. They see the individuals they are serving only as beneficiaries of their work and do not allow themselves to view them as collaborators or partners. This is not a fault of the recipients themselves but rather a result of how the organization has chosen to approach the issue.

Consequences of Beneficiary Thinking

A beneficiary mindset can lead to several problematic outcomes, both with those involved and the implementation plan itself:

The customer-partner model addresses these challenges by offering a more dignified approach. It recognizes affected individuals as active participants and collaborators, promotes respect, fosters engagement, and supports the development of more effective solutions. It reinforces the belief that individuals experiencing social issues are not lacking in worth or intelligence; theyre simply in circumstances that require support.

Consider a time when you may have unintentionally treated someone as a beneficiary? How could you have engaged them differently?

A customer-partner mindset is an approach in which people who receive a service, program, or support are treated not merely as beneficiaries, but as active partners in shaping services and support. Instead of designing solutions for them, organizations work with them to shape decisions, services, and outcomes.

This approach redefines the relationship between SPSOs and the people they serve by integrating two complementary frameworks from the business world: customer orientation and partner orientation. Together, these concepts recognize individuals both as customers, those who receive services, and as partners, those who contribute to building those services and outcomes. The following sections define those roles in greater depth and explain how they complement each other in social impact work.

Customers: Choice, Voice, and Influence

Customers drive demand and influence product development. As such, businesses invest heavily in understanding their customers to ensure their satisfaction and loyalty. Its well-known that a businesss success is dependent on its customers continued engagement.

Why does this matter in social impact? When affected individuals are treated as customers, the power dynamic fundamentally shifts. Customers have:

In social impact work, treating affected individuals as customers means designing programs and solutions that respond to their wants and needs, while also listening to and implementing their feedback.

Real World Example: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a federal anti-hunger program in the United States. They treat their program participants as customers instead of beneficiaries by allowing participants to choose foods that fit their preferences, dietary needs, and household circumstances rather than giving families a predetermined box of food. SNAP benefits are accepted by participating retailers, enabling people to shop in ordinary grocery stores alongside their neighbors rather than visiting a separate assistance center. This approach preserves dignity, gives people a voice in what they receive, and improves the likelihood that provided assistance will meet their needs.

How would you utilize the customer orientation if you were working to solve child hunger in local elementary schools?

Partners: Collaboration and Co-Creation

Partners are collaborators with common goals. They work together to accomplish specific objectives by sharing knowledge and resources. Through mutual respect, clear communication, and a commitment to shared success, effective partnerships foster collaboration and magnify potential results.

Why does this matter in social impact? When treated as partners, the expertise of affected individuals is recognized. Their experiences and understanding of the problems nuances are acknowledged and utilized to create better interventions. Partners:

A partner orientation emphasizes creating and maintaining beneficial relationships, aligning strategic goals, and fostering collaboration to achieve mutual success. This means moving from Im here to fix your problem to Lets work together to address this challenge.

Example: DC Central Kitchen (DCCK) in Washington, D.C. implements a partner focus by recruiting individuals who have personally experienced food insecurity and employment barriers to train as culinary professionals through its Culinary logistics shape how meals are planned and delivered to local schools, shelters, and nonprofits. Many graduates return as culinary instructors and mentors, ensuring that those closest to the problem remain central to the solution.

How would you utilize partner orientation if you were working to solve child hunger in local elementary schools?

Customer-Partner Model: The Best of Both Worlds

The customer-partner model brings these two roles together in a single, cohesive approach. As customers, individuals are able to receive important services with respect. Their preferences matter, and their feedback drives improvement. As partners, they are involved in co-creation and decision-making, making them integral to designing and implementing solutions.

When these two concepts are brought together, affected individuals are both valued

actively engaged in the work. It recognizes that people can simultaneously be recipients of support (customers receiving quality services) and contributors to change (partners shaping those services). Aligning organizational decisions with peoples needs and preferences creates a more respectful, effective, and sustainable approach to social impact. Because both roles emphasize different aspects of dignity, utilizing the customer-partner model amplifies the agency and empowerment of affected individuals.

Example: In a customer-partner approach to child hunger, families have choices about meal options and timing (customer focus), while also participating in program design, providing feedback that shapes policy, and potentially helping run certain aspects of the program like weekend food distribution (partner focus). Families might provide input on menu preferences and timing (customer focus) while also serving on advisory committees or peer education teams (partner focus).

How would utilizing the customer-partner model change or influence your ability to solve child hunger in local elementary schools?

The customer-partner model offers a more dignified and effective approach to social impact by moving beyond the traditional beneficiary mindset. Rather than treating individuals as passive recipients of aid, it recognizes them as active participants with agency, insight, and a meaningful voice in shaping solutions. This shift not only respects their lived experience but also leads to more relevant and sustainable outcomes. By engaging people as partners, organizations can build relationships grounded in mutual respect and shared responsibility, where each party contributes knowledge, perspective, and value. In doing so, the model strengthens both the quality of the work and the long-term impact it creates.

1 - IDinsight. The Dignity Report. (2023): Poverty Unpacked. Impatiently Waiting for Dignity in International Development. (2021)

2 - Poverty Unpacked. Impatiently Waiting for Dignity in International Development. (2021)

3 - Sprinklr. What is Customer Orientation (+ How to Develop). (2024): Moin AI. Customer orientation definition, examples & tips. (2025)

4 - Rhodes, Elizabeth C, Kate Nyhan, Ngozi Okoli, Kathleen OConnor Duffany, Maria Elena Rodriguez, Benjamin Perkins, Daniel Ross, and Rafael Prez-Escamilla. 2023. Client Experience of Food Assistance Programs among Adults in the United States: A Qualitative Evidence Synthesis Protocol. Frontiers in Public Health 11 (August).

5 - DC Central Kitchen. n.d. DC Central Kitchen: Morgan, J.P. 2024. This D.C.-Based Nonprofit Is Creating Jobs and Fighting Hunger. Jpmorganchase.com. J.P. Morgan. July 24, 2024.

The word ecosystem often brings to mind a biological system, where organisms are interconnected, each depending on and shaping the others. Similarly, a social impact ecosystem reveals the interdependencies and relationships within a community working on or experiencing a shared challenge. Addressing complex social issues requires collaboration among all parts of the ecosystem, each with unique expertise and resources. No organization works in isolation. This chapter explores how understanding a social impact ecosystem enhances strategic planning, reveals gaps and best practices, equips social organizations to engage with stakeholders, and improves overall social impact.

Ecosystem mapping is the process of creating a visual tool that illustrates the relationships, resources, and interactions surrounding a social issue. It shows how different parts of the system connect, using lines, shapes, and colors to represent roles and relationships. In turn, it serves as a strategic guide for identifying assets, strengthening collaboration, and informing more effective solutions.

An ecosystem map typically includes the following elements:

These components help map out the complex web of relationships and resources within their social impact context, revealing how each part of the system plays a role in shaping outcomes. A well-constructed ecosystem map doesnt just list these elements; it shows how they interact and depend on each other.

Think of a personal challenge you are currently facing. What resources and relationships might be helpful to you in addressing this challenge?

An ecosystem map provides a comprehensive overview of a social issues landscape. By mapping out the various components of an ecosystem, stakeholders can:

Through this visual diagram, stakeholders gain a deeper understanding of how each part of the ecosystem influences the other, providing insight into possible solutions and interventions. As a result, ecosystem mapping transforms an overwhelming landscape into a navigable map.

Why is it important to visualize the relationships and resources within an ecosystem when working to address social issues? How can this help in making strategic decisions?

Key players in an ecosystem are organizations, individuals, or institutions that have a direct stake in the social issue being addressed.

They are the most influential actors. Not only is it important to identify these players, but it is crucial to understand their role, their resources, and their connection to other parts of the ecosystem.

Key Player Categories

Peers: Organizations or people doing similar work in a comparable way. These are your colleagues in the field. Theyre addressing the same issue with similar approaches, serving similar populations, or working in the same geographic area. While you might sometimes compete for funding or attention, peers are valuable sources of learning and potential partners.

Collaborators & Resource Providers: Those who assist in parts of the work, offering resources, expertise, or support. These actors dont fill the same role as you, but they provide essential input. Collaborators and resource providers might include foundations that fund your work, universities that provide research support, government agencies that offer data or facilities, or businesses that donate goods or services.

Competitors: Organizations that may compete for the same resources or attention but offer opportunities for learning and improvement. Competition isnt necessarily negative. It can drive innovation, reveal what works, and show where the field is heading. Understanding your competitors helps you differentiate your approach and learn from their successes and failures.

Customer-Partners & Target Users: The individuals or groups directly affected by or benefiting from the interventions. These are the people experiencing the social issue youre trying to address. They should be at the center of your ecosystem map because ultimately, the entire ecosystem exists to serve them.

Example: Homelessness Ecosystem

An ecosystem map for an organization addressing homelessness might include these key players:

Important note: Some organizations may fill multiple roles. A government agency might be both a collaborator (providing funding) and a competitor (running its own homelessness programs). A peer organization might be a resource provider by sharing best practices, while also being a grant competitor. These overlapping roles are normal, and understanding them helps you navigate complex relationships.

By mapping the connections between key players, organizations can identify gaps (populations or services not being addressed), opportunities for collaboration (complementary strengths), and potential areas for intervention (unmet needs in the ecosystem).

Who are the key players in a social issue ecosystem that you care about? Try to identify at least one actor in each category.

Learning from Best Practices

Acting within an ecosystem helps SPSOs learn from existing practices and integrate relevant strategies into their own work. It invites collaboration with experienced organizations and stakeholders that often possess valuable insights into what strategies are most effective.

Rather than reinventing the wheel, SPSOs are encouraged to build on the proven methods and best practices of other organizations. This approach allows them to develop solutions faster and take them further by expanding on prior learning and demonstrated.

The Ballard Center refers to this concept as Proudly Found Elsewhere. It distills the idea that many successful strategies and approaches have already been tested and refined by other organizations.v Theres no shame in adopting or adapting what works elsewhere. In fact, its often the smartest and most efficient approach.

By recognizing these existing practices, SPSOs can:

The principle is simple: Innovation for its own sake can waste time and resources. If someone has already created an effective solution, adapt it rather than starting from scratch. Save your innovative energy for the gaps where no good solution exists yet.

For more information about the concept Proudly Found Elsewhere and the prioritization of effective replication over redundant innovation, read the Stanford Social Impact Review: Enough Innovation Already! by Kevin Starr, with Greg Coussa.

Fostering Strategic Collaboration

Ecosystem mapping also helps organizations connect to a larger network of resources, expertise, and stakeholders. By better understanding the broader context of the issue and the key players, they can join existing partnerships and networks rather than working in isolation.

This collaborative approach offers several strategic advantages:

Imagine you are working with a for-profit organization that focuses on providing mental health services to underserved communities. After creating an ecosystem map, you discover several other organizations in your area offering similar services. What steps would you take to foster collaboration and improve your programs effectiveness?

Ecosystem mapping is a valuable tool for addressing social issues because it makes visible the connections among key players, resources, and external factors. By clarifying how the system functions, it helps organizations position themselves strategically, collaborate more effectively, and maximize their impact. In particular, it strengthens collaboration by enabling organizations to identify stakeholders, understand their roles, and recognize available support. It also accelerates the development of effective strategies by revealing gaps, highlighting best practices, and making it easier to learn from others. This aligns with the concept of Proudly Found Elsewhere, which encourages organizations to build on proven approaches rather than reinventing solutions, saving time and effort while achieving stronger outcomes.

Ultimately, ecosystem mapping drives sustainable and meaningful social change by deepening understanding, strengthening partnerships, and enhancing the impact of social programs. It transforms a fragmented landscape of isolated efforts into a coordinated network working toward shared goals, benefiting not just individual organizations but the communities they serve.

1 - Visible Network Labs. Ecosystem Mapping 101 Infographic: System Change for Social Impact. (2023)

2 - Stanford Social Innovation Review. Cultivate Your Ecosystem. (2007)

3 - Starr, Kevin, and Greg Coussa. Enough Innovation Already! (2020)

4 - Starr, Kevin, and Greg Coussa. Enough Innovation Already! (2020)

Social issues exist on a spectrum, ranging from those with clear causes and direct solutions to deeply complex, evolving problems that require long-term, adaptive strategies. Understanding the complexity and scope of social issues is essential for social problem-solving organizations (SPSOs) to implement appropriate intervention methods. As issues become more complex, the framework used to define and understand them becomes increasingly important. How social issues are categorized can shape the way solutions are designed and applied, especially when impacted by simplistic or monolithic thinking.

This chapter teaches you how to recognize when monolithic thinking is at play, how to break down complicated issues, and how to distinguish these situations from truly wicked problemscomplex, interconnected, and evolving issues that require a different approach.

Traditionally, a "monolith" is a large single block of stone, particularly one shaped into or serving as a pillar or monument. It's meant to be symbolic and intimidating; indivisible. Another use of the term "monolith" refers to problems that have some of the same characteristics. They are treated as one giant issue or problem and are considered intractable. The truth, though, is that most problemseven ones that seem monolithicare actually made up of much smaller parts.

The problem isn't that the issue itself is an impossibly large, indivisible, unsolvable monolith; it's that

as though it were one. This is called monolithic thinking. Monolithic thinking occurs when people see a complex issue in a way that oversimplifies it and treats it as unsolvable, without breaking it into its component parts and understanding that these smaller parts can be addressed.

One of the surest ways to identify monolithic thinking is when an issue appears both as a contributing factor and as a consequence of the same social problem. This can be referred to as a recursive loop. Recursive loops refer to how some issues reinforce themselves in cycles, creating a problem that feels unapproachable and unending. Social issues like poverty are particularly vulnerable to this kind of thinking. Limited access to education, healthcare, and employment opportunities all contribute to

result from poverty, creating a feedback loop that extends across generations.

This self-reinforcing nature encourages monolithic thinking by making poverty feel like a single, immovable issue, even though it's made up of many interrelated parts. However, recognizing the recursive loop is precisely what allows you to break the issue into smaller, more specific pieces, ones that are far more useful in your analysis and ultimately more actionable.

What are three ways that monolithic thinking can make addressing social issues more difficult?

Deconstructing monolithic thinking begins with rejecting the illusion that a large social issue is a single, unified problem. It only appears that way because it hasnt been scoped effectively. The key to deconstruction is moving away from a surface-level view of the issue and instead working to find and understand the issues root causes. This is accomplished by breaking the issue into smaller, more manageable pieces through scoping. After a problem is appropriately scoped and its key contributing factors and negative consequences have been identified, interventions can be designed to reflect its actual complexity rather than oversimplified assumptions. Once broken down, the perceived monolith becomes a network of solvable challenges.

Methods for Deconstructing Complex Social Issues

As you approach and break down complex social issues, utilize these methods to avoid monolithic thinking:

Consider a social issue in your community that seems large and overwhelming. What are three smaller parts of that issue?

Wicked problems are the most complex and challenging type of social issue to address. The term wicked problem was coined by theorists Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber in their 1973 paper

Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning

in which they chose to label this kind of problem as wicked to depict the malignant, vicious, or tricky nature of issues that resist straightforward treatment. Rittel and Webber asserted that wicked social problems are never solved: At best, they are only re-solvedover and over again.

Unlike monolithic thinking, wicked problems are not created by the mindset used to approach the problemtheyre an entirely separate classification of social issues. These problems are characterized by causes and effects that shift over time, stakeholders with conflicting priorities, and interventions that result in new complications.

Wicked problems cannot easily be broken down into clear parts and tackled one by one.

An attempt to address one aspect creates new challenges, and any implemented solutions are frequently met with unintended consequences.

Part of what makes wicked problems so difficult is that even defining them is a challenge. As Rittel and Webber explain, The formulation of a wicked problem

the problem. Essentially, the process of understanding the issue and developing a response are inseparable.

You cannot fully describe the problem without already beginning to think about solutions, and every new piece of information changes how the problem is understood. This continuous gathering of information constantly shifts how the causes and effects surrounding the issue are deciphered and addressed. The involvement of different stakeholders also complicates matters. Each approaches the problem with their own perspectives and priorities, and agreeing on both the problem and the solution is difficult. However, regardless of the wicked nature of these problems, long-term, collaborative, and adaptive strategies can still be leveraged to improve them.

Example: Climate Change

Climate change is generally viewed as a wicked problem. It involves various interconnected factors, including greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, industrial practices, and consumer behavior.

Implemented solutions intended to mitigate climate change, like reducing carbon emissions, often lead to new challenges, like policy conflicts, shifts in global markets, or new environmental tradeoffs (such as the resource extraction required for battery materials). The complex interconnections between social, economic, and environmental systems make it a dynamic and ongoing issue that cannot be permanently resolved.

Climate change is not simply wicked because its complicated; rather, the problem itself shifts as solutions are put into practice. New technologies create new possibilities but also new challenges. Invested stakeholders (governments, industries, communities, and individuals) hold conflicting priorities and can inadvertently create problems for one another. The problem resists being solved in any final way.

Approaching Wicked Problems

Approaching a wicked problem requires accepting that no permanent solution likely exists. Rather than attempting to solve it outright, effective responses rely on flexible, iterative strategies continuously assessed and adjusted as the problem evolves. Collaboration, experimentation, and humility are essential.

Wicked problems remain deeply complex even after thorough scoping, requiring more collaboration, adaptation, time, and iteration than other types of challenges. They are a well-established classification of social issues, signifying complexity and interconnectedness that persists even after careful analysis. Some issues that appear straightforward or monolithic are actually wicked problems in disguise, and some wicked problems may even appear simple at first, making it important to approach unfamiliar problems with curiosity and an open mind.

Think of a wicked problem youve encountered in your life. What makes it wicked?

Understanding the difference between a mis-scoped (or monolithic) social issue and a wicked problem can change how you approach potential interventions. Any social issue can fall victim to monolithic thinking if it hasnt been scoped well. Difficulty in approaching the issue does not necessarily mean its a wicked problem. Monolithic thinking is merely the oversimplification of a problem, which can be overcome through effective scoping. By acknowledging the many layers of the problem, you can improve interventions and take steps toward solving it.

Unlike monolithic thinking, wicked problems are given their own distinct social issue classification. Even after thorough analysis, wicked problems remain difficult to fully understand, not because they haven't been studied enough, but because this tangled complexity is fundamental to what they are.

The problems themselves are constantly changing in ways that make understanding the issue and developing solutions more difficult. Wicked problems require long-term, flexible strategies that evolve over time and often resist full resolution. Engaging with wicked problems demands resilience, ongoing iterations, and systems-level coordination. These efforts are valuable; however, their impact generally helps to manage the problem rather than solve it.

Social issues exist on a spectrum. At one end, there are issues with clearly defined causes and solutions. In the middle, there are more complex challenges subject to monolithic thinking because of poor scoping and limited understanding. At the far end, there are wicked problemsintensely interconnected, constantly evolving, and resistant to any permanent solution.

Recognizing the distinction between these categories is critical for SPSOs to choose the right strategy. Issues that feel monolithic often require a more thoughtful, structured scoping process to break them down into solvable parts. Whereas wicked problems call for ongoing adaptation, collaboration, and flexible approaches. Understanding these differences helps SPSOs navigate the complexity of social impact work with greater clarity, aiding their pursuit of meaningful, lasting change.

1 - Rittel, H. W. J., & Webber, M. M. (1973). Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy Sciences, 4(2), 155169.

2 - Rittel, H. W. J., & Webber, M. M. (1973). Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy Sciences, 4(2), 155169.

3 - Rittel, H. W. J., & Webber, M. M. (1973). Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy Sciences, 4(2), 155169.

4 - Rittel, H. W. J., & Webber, M. M. (1973). Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy Sciences, 4(2), 155169.

5 - IPCC Reports (latest version, 2021/2022) 6 Rittel & Webber (1973)

Secondary research involves utilizing existing information to gain a deeper understanding of a problem before designing a solution. This chapter explains how secondary research is defined, conducted, and implemented within social impact work by outlining research methods and introducing the role of context. The process of conducting secondary research is pivotal in establishing subject matter, navigating the various aspects of an issue, and learning to love the problem.

Before continuing: Visit the Ballard Brief website and review one of the student-written research articles in their library. These briefs are strong examples of how secondary research can deepen your understanding of a complex issue. While reading, take note of the sections included and the types of content covered.

Secondary research is the process of analyzing information that others have already collected and published, otherwise known as secondary data.

Secondary data can be both quantitative (numeric and measurable) and qualitative (descriptive and abstract), including items like surveys, polls, public records, reports, academic studies and reviews, and other collected research. An individual conducting thorough secondary research pulls information from as many applicable data sources as possible. Secondary research is most effective when there is already a substantial amount of published and relevant research available regarding your topic, and time and budget constraints limit your primary data collection.

The goal of secondary research is to synthesize existing information from various sources to clearly establish what is known on a certain topic and where gaps in the knowledge exist.

Real World Example: Dr. Julie Valentines work on the connection between mental illness and sexual assault is a great example of how secondary research functions in a real-world context. In her study,

, Valentine and her co-authors conducted a retrospective chart review of 7,455 sexual assault medical forensic examinations from 2010 to 2020. The research team collected the information documented by sexual assault nurse examiners, coded it into a shared dataset, and examined the demographic details, self-reported mental illness, medication use, assault characteristics, and injury documentation of those affected. To strengthen the study, the team also reviewed crime-lab information and de-identified data. By gathering these existing resources together, the authors were able to identify patterns that proved mental illness was associated with greater vulnerability to sexual assault, as well as more violent assault characteristics.

Secondary vs Primary Research

To better understand the role of secondary research, its helpful to distinguish between secondary and primary approaches. Secondary research and primary research are complementary, not competing methodologies. Identifying the difference between them is essential for knowing when each is appropriate to use and how they might work together when applicable.

Primary research involves the direct, first-hand collection of new data. Meaning, you, or your team, are personally conducting and documenting survey responses, interviews, focus groups, field observations, and controlled experimentsall of which generate original data that did not previously exist. Primary research can be tailored to specific research questions that give practitioners direct insight into the population they are studying. However, it is time-intensive, resource-demanding, and requires careful ethical planning, particularly when working with vulnerable populations.

Secondary research, by contrast, works entirely with data and findings that others have already produced. Rather than going out to collect new information, the researchers synthesize, analyze, and draw meaning from existing sources. This makes secondary research significantly faster and more cost-effective than primary research, though it is worth noting that accessing certain databases, proprietary datasets, or specialized industry reports can still carry real costs. Additionally, since secondary data was collected for a different purpose and audience, it may not perfectly fit a practitioner's specific questiona limitation that primary research does not share.

In practice, the two methods are most powerful when used together. Secondary research typically comes first: it establishes the knowledge base, narrows the focus, and identifies where new data is needed. Primary research then fills the gaps that secondary sources cannot address.

For many social impact projects, secondary research alone is sufficient to inform a theory of change, scope a problem, and justify an intervention, but primary research becomes essential when the existing literature is sparse, when local context differs significantly from published findings, or when new, original evidence is required for credibility with funders or stakeholders.

Secondary research takes many forms, and choosing the right type depends on your question, your context, and the kind of evidence you need. The following methods are among the most commonly used in social impact work:

Literature Review: A literature review is the most common form of secondary research in academic and applied settings. It is a comprehensive analysis of existing scholarly content on a given subject. This involves gathering, studying, and synthesizing applicable published research to establish a knowledge base and identify research gaps.

Statistical and Database Research: This type of secondary research involves examining existing quantitative datasets that were collected for other purposes, often by governments, international organizations, or research institutions. Examples include census data, administrative records, economic indicators, and public health surveillance data. Statistical secondary research is powerful because it provides access to large, representative samples that would be expensive to collect independently.

Case Study Research: A case study is an in-depth examination of a specific organization, program, community, or event.

case study research draws on existing documentationsuch as program evaluations, organizational reports, and journalistic accountsrather than conducting new, firsthand investigations. This approach is particularly powerful in social impact work, where learning from real-world precedentunderstanding not just what worked or failed, but whycan meaningfully inform future interventions.

Secondary case studies are valuable because they capture the kind of complex, context-rich detail that surveys or statistics often miss. However, they come with limitations. The quality and completeness of existing documentation varies widely, and because each case reflects a specific context, findings may not transfer directly to a different population, setting, or problem.

Before you can design a solution, propose a program, or seek to advocate a new policy, you must have a robust understanding of the issue. Secondary research allows practitioners and organizations to build on existing knowledge rather than starting from zerosaving time, reducing cost, and grounding decisions in evidence rather than assumption.

In social impact work specifically, secondary research serves several critical functions.

Understanding past successes and failures, identifying research gaps, and strengthening your theory of change are not isolated tasks. They work together to reduce the risk of unintended harm and increase the likelihood of meaningful impact. It is also important to recognize that secondary research is not simply a preliminary step to be completed before the "real work" begins. Effective practitioners return to it continuously as programs evolve, new studies are published, and the broader context of an issue shifts. In social impact work, staying grounded in existing evidence is not a one-time exercise but an ongoing discipline.

One of the most important outcomes of secondary research is a deeper understanding of the context surrounding an issuethe historical, cultural, economic, political, and environmental factors that interact to shape a social problem. Without this understanding, even well-intentioned interventions risk being ineffective or harmful.

To begin mapping an issue's context, secondary research should address foundational questions such as:

Working through these questions builds the kind of contextual foundation that allows practitioners to clearly define the problem, identify its contributing factors and negative consequences, and design responses that align with the lived realities of those affected.

Context in Practice: Child Helpline International

One powerful example of the importance of context is Jeroo Billimorias work founding Childline India, an emergency telephone service for unhoused children in India.

These children frequently navigated emergencies like injury and illness, with no way to access aid. In Indias society at the time, children living on the street were often viewed with suspicion and distrust, and police frequently saw them as criminals rather than vulnerable youth. This created a deeply-rooted fear of law enforcement among the children, who avoided police even in emergencies. Pay phones were common, and could be used in an emergency, but the children didnt have the money to pay for them. Billimoria's awareness of both barriers directly shaped her response: a free helpline (Childline) and an "uncle police" program designed to rebuild trust between children and local police, so they could better access Childline.

Without that contextual understanding, her intervention would have struggled to reach the people it was designed to serve. Childline India has since grown into Child Helpline International, now active in over 180 countries, and a testament to what becomes possible when solutions are built to address real-life barriers.

The Danger of Ignoring Context

Moving forward with a solution without first understanding the context of a problem can lead to serious harm. Just as a doctor wouldnt operate on a patient without first knowing their symptoms, medical history, and overall condition, an SPSO shouldnt seek to solve a social issue before understanding its own underlying history.

The Bangladesh arsenic well disaster serves as a powerful illustration of how well-intentioned efforts can worsen an issue if context is ignored.

In the 1970s and 1980s, millions of shallow tube wells were installed across Bangladesh to provide safe drinking water and combat deadly waterborne diseases, a logical, well-intentioned intervention. However, the geological context specific to the region was not appropriately examined, and the soil was not properly tested. As a result, the wells exposed more than 50 million people to toxic levels of arsenic, triggering widespread illness, death, and social disruption. The very effort designed to save lives created a new public health crisis.

This is precisely the danger of skipping contextual research. The problem was not a lack of resources or good intentions. It was a failure to ask the right questions before acting. What are the environmental conditions of this specific place? What factors might interact with this intervention in unexpected ways? Secondary research, done thoroughly, is what surfaces those questions before they become tragedies. Context is not merely helpful; it is essential for defining problems accurately, anticipating unintended consequences, and designing interventions that truly help rather than harm.

What is a time you acted without context? What challenges did that create?

Once you understand why secondary research is valuable and how it helps build context, the next step is learning how to engage in it effectively. Secondary research is an iterative and flexible process that can be adapted and implemented based on specific research needs. However, there are best practices that, if followed, can strengthen your research.

Qualtrics, an experience management company based in the United States, outlines five key steps to conducting secondary research effectively and efficiently.

Step 1: Define your research topic or question.

To ensure that your research efforts are cohesive and relevant, you need to be clear about what you are trying to learn, solve, or understand. A vague starting question leads to unfocused searching, wasted time, and inconclusive findings.

Step 2: Find existing data sources.

This step prioritizes gathering sources for further study. Draw from a wide range of source types, each with distinct strengths and limitations, to compile a personal library of research centered around your topic.

Step 3: Begin studying and sorting existing data.

As you study your gathered sources, document the quality and application potential of each source. This step requires both strategic thinking and disciplined record-keeping. Filter out unnecessary or irrelevant data and begin building your evidence base.

Step 4: Combine the data and compare the results.

Collecting data is only part of the work. The real intellectual effort of secondary research begins when you start synthesizing across sources, identifying patterns, reconciling contradictions, and building a coherent picture of what the existing evidence says about your question or research topic.

Step 5: Analyze your data and explore further.

Analysis transforms your research from a collection of facts into valuable insights. This requires interpreting what the combined evidence has proven or disproven. Which of your assumptions were incorrect? How does the collected research change your perspective on the issue? Strive to gain a clear understanding of the verified claims regarding your topic, as well as its existing research gaps.vii

You will cycle back through some of these steps as your topic is refined and your research exposes valuable new subtopics to explore. Continue compiling research until you feel thoroughly grounded in the various aspects of your topic.

Handling Conflicting Evidence

Its common to find sources that contradict one another. Rather than dismissing conflicting evidence, treat it as informative. Ask yourself:

Acknowledging conflicting evidence in your research can strengthen your credibility. It suggests you have engaged deeply with the literature rather than specifically selecting sources that confirm a predetermined conclusion.

Conducting secondary research requires careful evaluation of the quality and credibility of found sources. Not all sources are reliable, which is why its essential to develop the skills to assess source validity. The recommendations listed below offer simple reference points to help you find the best sources available.

Secondary research is a critical piece in loving the problem because loving the problem is rooted in understanding it. The process of collecting, studying, and analyzing existing research enables you to develop a nuanced understanding of the issue and its context. This research process then informs how an intervention is designed, implemented,

how it should be evaluated. Combined with available primary research, this foundation becomes the bedrock for innovative solutions and, when done correctly, sets the stage for successful, long-term social impact.

1 - Illinois Institute of Technology Library. (n.d.). Secondary Research. Illinois Tech Library Guides.

2 - Illinois Institute of Technology Library. (n.d.). Secondary Research. Illinois Tech Library Guides.

3 - Miles, L., Valentine, J. L., Mabey, L., & Downing, N. R. (2022). Mental Illness as a Vulnerability for Sexual Assault: A Retrospective Study of 7,455 Sexual Assault Forensic Medical Examinations. Journal of forensic nursing, 18(3), 131138. https://doi.org/10.1097/ JFN.0000000000000361

4 - Billimoria, J. (2013). Building Childline: Lessons in Scaling a Social Innovation. Stanford Social Innovation Review.

5 - Smith, A. H., Lingas, E. O., & Rahman, M. (2000). Contamination of Drinking-Water by Arsenic in Bangladesh: A Public Health Emergency. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 78, 10931103.

6 - Qualtrics. (n.d.). Secondary Research: Definition, Methods, and Examples. Qualtrics.

Now that youve identified the one and constructed an issue triangle, you can scope your social issue. As you scope, keep in mind that the information gathered during the secondary research stage will better inform your efforts. This chapter will clarify causation from correlation, explain causal thinking, and equip you to identify contributing factors and negative consequences. Each of these elements acts as a tool to increase the productivity of your issue scoping and prepare you to conduct quality research.

Scoping is a tool for defining the boundaries and specifics of the issue at hand by identifying contributing factors, negative consequences, and additional context related to an issue. This process centers around the specified population, geography, and issue identified in your issue triangle, and is meant to catalog what outside sources are affecting the chosen problem and how the problem is manifesting in that particular community. Gathering this information allows you to scope the issue and clarify objectives, ensuring those involved have a clear and consistent understanding of what the work entails. Properly scoping the issue provides crucial context for how future interventions should be implemented and what influences might alter their effectiveness.

A key part of scoping a social issue is correctly identifying its causes and effects, or causation. Causation is often mistaken for correlation, though the two are quite different. Correlation means that two variables move together and have a loose connection, whereas causation means that one variable is directly

in another. Looking for causation when solving social issues can help you identify variables with a direct cause-and-effect relationship to the problem.

To establish causation, you need all of the following:

To illustrate the difference between correlation and causation, think of the amusing correlation between shark attacks and ice cream consumption. Although shark attacks and ice cream consumption both occur during the summertime, ice cream consumption has nothing to do with shark attacks.

Both variables are moving together, proving correlation, but not necessarily causation. In other words, eating ice cream on the beach will not increase your likelihood of being attacked by a shark.

In the same way, not everything happening in the same population or geography of your social issue has a cause-and-effect relationship with your social issue. Some factors may be correlated, but do not necessarily cause the issue.

Referring to the list of requirements for causation, the factor of ice cream consumption is correlated with shark attacks (the first requirement), but there is no temporal order, elimination of alternatives, or plausible mechanism. As a result, ice cream consumption cannot be proven as a cause of shark attacks.

Mistaking correlation for causation can cause problematic misunderstandings about social issues. In the analogy of shark attacks and ice cream, imagine a social entrepreneur wanting to prevent shark attacks. If this social entrepreneur mistook correlation for causation, he might create an intervention to discourage ice cream consumption. Rather than preventing shark attacks, the social entrepreneur has just created some unhappy beachgoers. Mistaking what is correlated with a social issue for what is causing it can derail an attempt to make a positive impact.

By understanding the clear distinction between correlation and causation, you are able to begin appropriately scoping a social issue and searching for its root causes. Complete this lesson from Khan Academy to learn more about the difference between correlation and causation.

Causal thinking refers to the process of identifying and understanding the cause-and-effect relationships within a system.

Driven by causation, not correlation, this kind of thinking analyzes how certain actions or events (causes) might lead to specific outcomes (effects). Honing this skill enables individuals to better discern which underlying factors, if altered, could drive positive change. The practice of causal thinking can also help those engaged in social impact work anticipate the consequences of different interventions, both positive and negative, thereby facilitating productive brainstorming and meaningful reflection regarding potential solutions.

Causal thinking can act as a vital tool in social impact work when used correctly. By applying causal thinking, practitioners can:

Causal Thinking in Practice:

In approaching the topic of food-related health issues in urban areas like Chicago, causal thinking focuses on how specific conditions directly produce poor health and food access outcomes.

For example, rather than simply noting that areas with more fast food have higher obesity rates, causal thinking examines how the lack of nearby grocery stores (cause) forces reliance on fast food (effect), contributing to diet-related illness. It also shows how transportation barriers (cause) limit access to healthy options (effect), and how economic instability (cause) reduces individuals ability to afford nutritious food (effect).

By understanding these root causes, city planners and community organizations can design targeted interventions like mobile food markets, better public transportation routes to grocery stores, or local urban farming initiatives to improve healthy food access in a sustainable format. This example shows how causal thinking encourages you to consider the cause-and-effect relationships between a problem and the surrounding infrastructure so you can create more promising solutions.

A local government notices that neighborhoods with higher youth crime have fewer after-school programs. They respond by funding new after-school programs, assuming this will reduce crime. Why is it important to confirm causation before they invest? What problems can arise if decisions rely only on correlation?

Social issues typically arise from a complex interplay of contributing factors, including economic disparities, institutional barriers, cultural norms, and environmental conditions. Contributing factors are the various elements that play a role in increasing the prevalence or severity of a social problem. Some of these factors may be causal, while many are simply correlational.

As explained earlier in the chapter, it is critical to clarify which factors are merely correlated with an issue and which are directly causing it. Though correlated factors may increase the intensity and complexity of a social issue, they do not necessarily cause it. Causation identifies which contributing factors, if addressed, will directly impact the issue itself: If we can solve these factors, the social issue will be improved. Identifying these factors helps changemakers concentrate their efforts on the root causes.

SPSOs often start by identifying numerous contributing factors for a given issue. Out of the many contributing factors, an SPSO might pick the top three to understand deeply. For example, addressing healthcare disparities may involve prioritizing factors such as inadequate funding for healthcare infrastructure, lack of health education programs, and regulatory barriers to healthcare access. By focusing first on some of the more critical factors, SPSOs can maximize their impact and allocate resources toward interventions with the greatest potential for positive change. Over time, an SPSO might add a wider variety of contributing factors to its focus.

What are some potential contributing factors to childhood obesity in the United States?

After coming up with a few ideas, check out this Ballard Brief: Childhood Obesity in the United States to compare your answers.

Negative consequences are the adverse conditions that affect individuals, families, or communities because of a social issue. These consequences can manifest through economic, social, psychological, and health-related circumstances. In theory, if the social issue were to be solved, all the negative consequences would be taken care of as well. Understanding the negative consequences of an issue is key when gauging the urgency and scale of the problem, as well as informing stakeholders why they should take action.

Before moving forward, you should identify the negative consequences related to your social issue. Looking at the population and geography, specified in your issue triangle, is the best place to start. Why is this issue bad for the community? What is happening as a result of this particular issue? Be careful not to oversimplify negative consequences into general terms that fail to convey the specific impact on individuals. A broad term like poverty can be specified even further. What happens because this individual is experiencing poverty? What occurs in the community because of these circumstances? Answering these questions can help you identify some of the unique negative consequences related to your social issue. Being aware of the variety and severity of your issues negative consequences can help guide your research and direct your problem-solving efforts.

What are some potential negative consequences of childhood obesity in the United States? After coming up with a few ideas, go back to the Ballard Brief given on the previous page to compare your answers.

Scoping a social issue involves analyzing the cause-and-effect relationships that shape it. Causal thinking is central to this process because it clarifies the difference between correlation and causation. This ensures that interventions focus on the factors that drive the problem, rather than those that simply surround it. Scoping also requires the identification of both key contributing factors and the issues resulting negative consequences. With these insights, organizations can prioritize the more significant factors, enabling them to allocate resources more strategically and increase their overall impact. In this way, effective scoping establishes a strong foundation for meaningful and sustainable social change.

1 - Vigen, T. (2015). Spurious correlations. Hachette Books.

2 - Shadish, W. R., Cook, T. D., & Campbell, D. T. (2002). Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for generalized causal inference. Houghton Mifflin.

3 - Khan Academy. (n.d.). Correlation and causation. Statistics and probability module.

4 - Kelley, H. H. (1973). The processes of causal attribution. American Psychologist, 28(2), 107128. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0034225.

5 - Gallagher, M. (2006). Examining the impact of food deserts on public health in Chicago. Mari Gallagher Research & Consulting Group.

6 - Ballard Brief. (n.d.). Childhood obesity in the United States. Brigham Young University, Ballard Center for Social Impact.

As explained previously, loving the one is the central principle of the Social Impact Cycle. It reminds those involved in social impact work that by improving the life of one specific individual, they can create solutions that will benefit a larger group or population. Loving the one is, however, different than identifying the one. This chapter will begin to explore how you can utilize specific strategies to identify the one in social impact work and how identifying the one lays the foundations for designing and implementing effective solutions.

The one is an individual directly involved in the social issue. They are firmly rooted in the affected community and understand the nuances of the social problem, usually because theyve lived them.

They are someone who grounds you to the cause and those it affects. The one is oftentimes a real person, possibly someone youve met and built a relationship with who inspired you to engage with the cause, or they could be someone you met as you began to research a particular social problem.

The one could also be a detailed persona that represents the targeted population on an individual level.

Regardless, the emotions, needs, and hardships of the one should act as a frequent reference point for how an intervention might affect people personally and should prevent your efforts from becoming too abstract. Remembering the needs of the one acts as a stabilizing force in building effective, lasting solutions.

Some key strategies for identifying the one include evaluating your affinity and proximity to an issue and constructing an issue triangle.

Examining your affinity and proximity is a key step in identifying the focus of your work. They help you narrow a broad social issue into something more specific and actionable, something you can meaningfully engage with and address. First, lets define affinity and proximity.

Affinity: A natural liking, attraction, or connection between people or things based on shared interests, values, or qualities.

Proximity: Nearness in space, time, or relationship to a person, place, event, or circumstance.

In the social impact sphere, having an affinity for a cause means you have a natural interest or desire to help with a particular social issue. Proximity means that the issue is close to you in time, space, location, or relationship. Oftentimes, this means that the issue is relevant in your school, community, or family. Your interest in and closeness to the issue increase your likelihood of success when working to solve the problem.

Having both affinity and proximity to a social issue also makes it easier to identify the one.

Before beginning phase one of the Social Impact Cycle and working to love the problem, you will first identify an individual or a location-specific social issue to which you have both affinity and proximity. For example, a high school student might realize that their friend doesnt have enough food to eat on the weekends. They are moved by compassion for their friend and want to take action. This friend has become the one. As a result, the high school student might begin asking specific questions about how they can improve the life of their friend. Does the friend receive free lunch at school? What resources are currently available to them outside of school? Is parental involvement required to access the food bank as a minor? By identifying the one, this student has also clarified what social issue they want to engage with: food insecurity among high school students in their community.

Some people may have affinity and proximity to an issue without already having the one in mind. If this is the case, they might begin their research on the topic and find the one during the research process. The goal is to identify an individual amidst the affected population on whom they can center their efforts. In both cases, the next step, after identifying either an individual or a social issue, is creating an issue triangle.

For what social issue/individual do you have an affinity? To what social issue/individual are you proximate?

Now that youve identified either the one or the social issue, the next step is creating an issue triangle. An issue triangle contains valuable information about the population, geography, and social issue you plan to engage in, with the one acting as the center of the issue triangle. By examining your affinity and proximity, you can identify at least one piece of your issue triangle: the one or the social issue. From this point, the goal is to define three key aspects of your social issue before beginning your research.

Population: Those impacted by the problem

Geography: Where the problem occurs

Issue: What the problem is

Clarifying these three focus areas sets helpful parameters around your social impact work. It sparks productive questions and steers future research in a distinct direction. Gathering information on the demographics and geography tied to a social issue also helps you understand how localized factors influence the nature and severity of the problem. Later in the Social Impact Cycle, having a firm grasp on the issues geography and how the population adapts to that geography will improve how resources are allocated and interventions are prioritized.

Constructing an Issue Triangle

An issue triangle is constructed by combining its three parts into a single statement, with each element present and clearly defined. If one component is vague or disconnected from the others, the research focus moving forward will be too unstable to build on. Use the formula:

[Issue] + [Population] + [Geography]

For example: High Anxiety Among College Students in Utah.

The diagram below illustrates how the elements come together:

Construct an issue triangle with a social issue you recognize in your community. What is the affected population? What is the geography? What is the issue?

Using an Issue Triangle to Identify the One

If you havent already identified the one during the affinity and proximity stage, you can do so after building your issue triangle. The one sits at the center of the issue triangle, as a symbol of the population, geography, and issue.

This individual should be experiencing the effects of your specific social problem while being firmly established within your chosen population and geographic boundaries. By designing your efforts around helping this individual, your work becomes customized to the specific needs of the people living with your issue, in that particular place. Thereby allowing you to serve the whole by serving the one.

Creating meaningful social impact starts by focusing your efforts on improving the life of one person. To identify that person, begin by reflecting on your affinity and proximity to specific issues and communitieswhat you care about and where you have a natural connection. This helps you either recognize someone to center your work around or clarify an issue youre closely tied to. From there, you can construct an issue triangle to narrow your focus. By defining the issue, the population, and the geographic context, you can identify the one at the intersection of all three. This commitment to identifying the one

moving forward with your social impact efforts is a simple but powerful method to ensure youre beginning the love the problem phase with clear, purposeful intent.

1 - World Bank. (2000). Voices of the poor: Can anyone hear us? Oxford University Press.

2 - Dahiya, A., & Kumar, J. (2018). How empathizing with persona helps in design thinking: An experimental study with novice designers. In Proceedings of the IADIS International Conference Interfaces and Human Computer Interaction 2018 (pp. 3542): (PDF) HOW EMPATHIZING with PERSONA HELPS in DESIGN THINKING: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY with NOVICE DESIGNERS. n.d. Www.researchgate.net.

3 - Trope, Y., & Liberman, N. (2010). Construallevel theory of psychological distance. Psychological Review, 117(2), 440463.

Compassion is a fundamental human quality that transcends cultures, religions, and societies.

It is a powerful force that not only connects people to one another but also drives them to take action in the face of suffering. In the realm of social impact, compassion serves as both the inspiration and the fuel for creating lasting and meaningful change. This chapter explores the essence of compassion: what it is, how it differs from related emotions like empathy and pity, and how it can be cultivated. It also examines the crucial role that compassion plays in addressing social issues and fostering a more just and equitable world.

Compassion is derived from the Latin roots com- meaning with or together, and passion, meaning to suffer.

At its core, compassion means to suffer together or co-suffering. Its more than just an emotion; its a complex response that includes an inclination to act. Compassion involves recognizing the suffering of others, feeling moved by their suffering, and having the desire to alleviate it.

Compassion, as a concept, is often misunderstood and may be confused with other related emotions. The following section clarifies key terms to distinguish these concepts and provide a more precise definition of compassion. Ultimately, the inclination to act is what differentiates compassion from other emotions like pity, sympathy, or empathy.

Pity: Pity is generally defined as a feeling of sorrow for someone elses misfortune, but with a distinct undertone of condescension. Though it does require the acknowledgement of someones suffering, pity reinforces a sense of inequality between the observer and the person affected.

Feeling pity does not necessarily result in meaningful support or change. When pity does prompt action, those responses often serve more to ease the observers discomfort than to address the immediate needs of the person involved.

Sympathy: Sympathy involves feeling sorry for someones circumstances while maintaining an emotional distance from the situation. Though sympathy can sometimes motivate supportive behaviors, it does not necessarily include efforts to change or improve the cause of suffering.

Empathy: Empathy is the ability to share another persons emotional experience by placing oneself in the others mindset or position. It nurtures deeper relationships between individuals and can act as a powerful force for connection and understanding.

Compassion is empathy in motion. It moves beyond emotional validation, using those feelings to drive action to help alleviate the suffering of the affected individual or population.

Consider the situations in which youve exhibited these different emotions. Write down one example for each emotion. How could you exercise greater empathy and be moved toward compassion regarding these situations?

Emotions like empathy, especially when intense and constant, can be overwhelming and emotionally draining if no productive action grows from them. This feeling of emotional exhaustion can reduce an individuals effectiveness in social impact work.

However, by focusing on compassion in the work rather than just empathy, individuals can channel that emotional energy in a positive and purposeful direction. Viewing compassion as a skill to be developed, practiced, and applied can empower those engaged in social impact work to continue moving forward.

Developing compassion is a journey that involves both internal reflection and external practice. While some people might have a natural inclination towards compassion, its a quality that can be cultivated and strengthened over time. Here are several approaches to developing greater compassion:

1. Cultivating Self-Compassion

Its important to remember that compassion starts within yourself. Self-compassion involves treating yourself with the same kindness and understanding that you would offer to a friend. This doesnt mean excusing your mistakes but instead acknowledging them without harsh judgment and recognizing that suffering and imperfection are part of the shared human experience.

Self-Compassion Practices: Practice self-compassion by improving your internal narrative and speaking kindly to yourself when you make mistakes, taking time for self-care, and recognizing your own needs. By being compassionate to yourself, you strengthen your ability to extend compassion to others.

2. Practicing Mindfulness and Self-Awareness

Mindfulness practices, such as meditation, can enhance your capacity for compassion. By acknowledging your thoughts and emotions without judgment or harsh criticism, you become more aware of how your situation, circumstances, or suffering may be affecting you and how outside circumstances might affect others. This awareness is the first step toward compassion, allowing you to be present with someones pain and not overwhelmed by it.

Mindfulness Practices: Boost mindfulness with a specific mindfulness practice that focuses on developing compassion, such as loving-kindness meditation (also known as meta meditation). This type of meditation encourages goodwill toward oneself and othersoften through silently repeating phrases such as may you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be safe while visualizing oneself, a loved one, or othersand is included in the Mindful Self-Compassion program studied by Neff and Germer. It helps people become more aware of their thoughts and emotions without judgment, creating space for greater compassion.

3. Viewing Anothers Perspective

As previously mentioned, compassion is empathy in motion. Practicing empathy by actively trying to see the world through anothers perspective, whether a close friend, a stranger, or even someone with differing views, can deepen compassion and ones willingness to act. Perspective-taking requires intentionally reflecting on the difficult realities of others through their point of view and can be a powerful conduit for increased compassion.

Empathy Exercises: Engage in exercises that challenge you to think about others situations. For example, ask yourself: What might this person be feeling right now? or How would I feel if I were in their shoes? By practicing this mental shift regularly, you train your mind to more naturally consider others experiencescreating a foundation for more consistent, compassionate action.

4. Engaging in Acts of Service

One of the most effective ways to cultivate and increase compassion is through direct action. Volunteering your time, resources, and skills not only benefits others but also reinforces your own sense of compassion. Acts of service can range from small, everyday gestures, like helping a neighbor, to more organized efforts, including volunteering at a shelter or participating in community service projects.

Service Exercises: Participate in service-learning opportunities that combine academic learning with community service. These activities not only help others but also provide a deeper understanding of the issue and can further foster compassion.

5. Increasing Education and Awareness

Educating yourself on the challenges others face can enhance your capacity for compassion. This involves actively seeking out information about different cultures, social issues, and the experiences of marginalized groups. Compassion develops naturally as our understanding of one another grows. We become bonded by common human experiences and emotions. By increasing your knowledge and awareness of a social issue, you can better relate to those experiencing the problem and increase your compassion for them.

Education Exercises: Expose yourself to diverse narratives by reading books, watching documentaries, and engaging with content that provides insights into the lives and struggles of people from different backgrounds to expand your empathy and compassion.

6. Building Community and Connection

Compassion flourishes in communities where people actively support one another. When youre surrounded by individuals who practice compassion, it naturally inspires you to do the same. Thats why intentionally building strong, positive relationshipsgrounded in mutual respect and carehelps reinforce compassion as a daily habit.

Community Engagement Exercises: Participate in compassionate action within your community. Whether through a faith-based group, social club, or advocacy organization, these community entities can provide support, share resources, and work together to address collective challenges.

7. Reflecting on Common Humanity

Compassion is rooted in the recognition of common humanity. Awareness of the fact that everyone experiences pain, joy, love, and loss helps break down barriers separating individuals from one another. This understanding fosters a sense of connection and shared purpose, encouraging compassionate responses to observed suffering.

Universal Connectedness Exercises: Regularly remind yourself of the interconnectedness of all people. This can be done through meditative practices, journaling about your experiences and connections with others, or simply contemplating the ways in which your actions affect those around you.

What approaches for developing greater compassion could be applied in your daily life?

Compassion is a powerful force in the realm of social problem-solving. It helps individuals recognize a shared humanity, reminding them to honor the equal dignity of those who are suffering. This awareness challenges their assumptions and biases, motivating them to pursue real, lasting change. Compassion goes beyond simply feeling for others. It calls individuals to act with them, co-creating solutions that are inclusive, equitable, and sustainable. It also invites those involved to not only care about creating solutions but to engage deeply with the problem itself.

Compassion moves people from a mere awareness of suffering to active engagement in solving the issues that cause it. It is the foundation of meaningful social impact and a driving force in the effort to build a world where everyone can flourish.

Who do you feel compassion toward? What issue are they facing that you would like to alleviate? How can you help solve that problem?

Compassion is more than just an emotional response; it is a catalyst for change. In a world where social issues often seem overwhelming, compassion provides a pathway to action and connection. By understanding what compassion is, how it differs from similar emotions, and how you can cultivate it, you unlock the potential to make a real difference in the lives of others. Compassion propels you to see beyond your personal experiences, to engage with others suffering, and to work together to create a more just and equitable society. As you continue to develop your capacity for compassion, you not only enrich your own life but also contribute to the betterment of the world.

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2 - Gilbert, P. (2017). Compassion: Concepts, Research and Applications. Routledge. (Origins and meaning

3 - Strauss, C., Lever Taylor, B., et al. (2016). What is Compassion and How Can We Measure It? Clinical Psychology Review, 47, 15-27

4 - Nussbaum, M. C. (2001). Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions. Cambridge University Press.

5 - STEBNICKI, MARK A. 2007. Empathy Fatigue: Healing the Mind, Body, and Spirit of Professional Counselors. American Journal of Psychiatric Rehabilitation 10 (4): 31738.

6 - Neff, K. D. (2003). Self-Compassion: An Alternative Conceptualization of a Healthy Attitude Toward Oneself. Self and Identity, 2(2), 85101.

7 - Neff, K. D., & Germer, C. K. (2013). A Pilot Study and Randomized Controlled Trial of the Mindful Self-Compassion Program. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 69(1), 2844.

8 - Batson, C. D., Early, S., & Salvarani, G. (1997). Perspective Taking: Imagining How Another Feels Versus Imaging How You Would Feel. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23(7), 751758.

9 - Blandina, Jennifer. 2023. ServiceLearning: A Tool for Civic Engagement and Empathy Development in University Students. Formare 23 (2): 26673.

10 - Walkington, Zo, Stefanie Ashton Wigman, and David Bowles. 2019. The Impact of Narratives and Transportation on Empathic Responding. Poetics 80 (December): 101425.

11 - Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. Simon & Schuster.

12 - Dalai Lama & Cutler, H. C. (1998). The Art of Happiness. Riverhead Books.

Loving the one is the center of the Social Impact Cycle and drives the rest of the social problem-solving process. This core principle supports the belief that when genuine care for an individual guides the decision-making process, better solutions are built. Focusing on loving the one creates opportunities to build relationships, nurture understanding, and improve social impact strategies.

Loving the one also means striving to understand the one. They are the experts on the issue theyre living with. Their knowledge, perspectives, and suggestions are valuable. By grounding social impact work in the lived experiences of those affected by the social issue, you can clarify need, gain greater insight into how an intervention might affect the local population, and facilitate co-creation.

This chapter addresses how you can learn to love the one within your own work and how embodying this principle plays an important role in laying the foundation for lasting social impact.

Loving the one means your mission is not a distant institutional endeavor but a deeply human one, grounded in genuine care and compassion for each person individually.

It keeps you tethered to those you serve: listening to their personal narratives, empathizing with their experiences, and hoping alongside them as you work toward meaningful change.

Loving the one is at the heart of this work, and is the core principle you must return to in each phase of the Social Impact Cycle.

The act of loving the one cultivates connection and helps you gain insight into the effectiveness of your efforts on an individual scale. It not only shapes the way you approach your work but also sets the standard by which you judge it. Nurturing relationships with those affected by a social problem can give you honest insight into whether your efforts are actually making a difference. This consistent connection helps to build trust, facilitate valuable feedback, and encourage co-creation. Ultimately, the principle of loving the one is powerful because it centers social impact efforts around the needs of real people.

Outlined below are three ways you can deepen your love for the one. These methods work together to help you better understand and address the unique needs of the individuals you serve, while also cultivating a heartfelt commitment to their well-being.

Loving the One Through Personal Connection

Central to any comprehensive social impact approach is recognizing the indispensable power of personal connections.

These connections are vital in gaining a holistic understanding of complex social issues and in discovering meaningful interventions. One way to strengthen your personal connection to individuals and the issue is through personal narratives.

Personal narratives are the life stories of individuals who have been negatively affected by a social issue.

These narratives fuel empathy by expanding your ability to consider the reality of these circumstances. How might you feel if you were dealing with the same problem? How would you act as a result? By listening to the detailed experiences of individuals impacted by the social issue, youre able to connect abstract problems to genuine human experiences. Immersing yourselves in these narratives can help reaffirm your commitment to the cause and strengthen your desire for change.

Personal narratives can be shared and gathered through organic human conversations or formal methods like interviews and focus groups.

Though these qualitative research methods emphasize observation rather than tangible data, they play a critical role in your social impact efforts. Your work should be founded on these human stories. Being intentional in seeking out personal narratives allows you to participate in active engagement (deliberate, nonjudgmental interactions) with people and their experiences.

This active engagement can provide profound insight into the struggles, aspirations, and unique perspectives of the individuals experiencing the problem, allowing you to reframe your understanding of the issue and root your solutions firmly in the reality of human experience.

Loving the One Through Active Listening

Active listening is an essential tool in loving the one. However, because active listening is a skill, it often requires practice. Those involved in social impact work must learn how to suspend judgment, dismiss preconceived notions, and offer their undivided attention to those they are speaking with, particularly those of the affected population. This kind of dedicated attention creates a secure and receptive space where individuals feel empowered to express themselves authentically, being secure in the knowledge that they are genuinely heard.

Active listening builds connection and trust between the listener and the speaker. It also serves as a gateway to discovering unspoken needs and concealed challenges that an individual may be facing.

These needs are often obscured by the large-scale consequences of a social issue. However, the environment created by active listening gives affected individuals the opportunity to discuss concerns and shed light on crucial areas that warrant additional attention and support.

As a result, this emotionally safe space fosters greater love and understanding between both parties.

Loving the One by Increasing Empathy

Empathythe ability to understand another persons emotions or experiences from their perspectivefunctions as a guiding force in your journey through the domain of social impact. It equips you to not only recognize an issue but also delve into its underlying causes and anticipate its broader implications.

Empathy is not a static sentiment; it is a catalyst for meaningful action.

Developing empathy for the one often happens naturally as you actively listen to the personal narratives of the affected population. However, empathy can also be increased through acts of intentional service. Service is a conduit for increasing love. As you actively serve the affected population, your love for them grows, you develop a deeper understanding of the problem, and you learn how to build solutions that will benefit individual people. When solutions are grounded in love and empathy, social impact work becomes heartfelt service for the one.

As you navigate the intricate terrain of social impact, you can use the skills associated with loving the one to magnify your work. Forming personal connections, actively listening, and increasing empathy are not merely soft skills; they are the cornerstones upon which you build your understanding of a social issue and its potential solutions.

The individuals you connect with serve as poignant reminders of why you engage in this demanding field.

It is through these personal connections that you internalize the profound importance of addressing the problems faced by one person. Once you see how a solution changes one persons life, you are better able to scale that solution to benefit a larger population.

Who are some exemplary people in your life who love the one through personal connection, active listening, and empathy?

Think of a specific example where you saw them use these skills.

1 - Loving the One: A Humanizing View of Social Problems. 2026. Ballard Center. April 15, 2026. https://ballardcenter.byu.edu/resources-section/loving-the-one-a-humanizing-view-of-social-problems.

2 - Rogers, C. R. (1957). The Necessary and Sufficient Conditions of Therapeutic Personality Change. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 21(2), 95-103: Eva Witesman

3 - Loving the One: A Humanizing View of Social Problems. 2026. Ballard Center. April 15, 2026. https://ballardcenter.byu.edu/resources-section/loving-the-one-a-humanizing-view-of-social-problems.

4 - Loving the One: A Humanizing View of Social Problems. 2026. Ballard Center. April 15, 2026. https://ballardcenter.byu.edu/resources-section/loving-the-one-a-humanizing-view-of-social-problems.

5 - Loving the One: A Humanizing View of Social Problems. 2026. Ballard Center. April 15, 2026. https://ballardcenter.byu.edu/resources-section/loving-the-one-a-humanizing-view-of-social-problems.

6 - Loving the One: A Humanizing View of Social Problems. 2026. Ballard Center. April 15, 2026. https://ballardcenter.byu.edu/resources-section/loving-the-one-a-humanizing-view-of-social-problems.

7 - Loving the One: A Humanizing View of Social Problems. 2026. Ballard Center. April 15, 2026. https://ballardcenter.byu.edu/resources-section/loving-the-one-a-humanizing-view-of-social-problems.

8 - Brownell, J. (2012). Listening: Attitudes, Principles, and Skills (5th ed.). Pearson.

9 - Loving the One: A Humanizing View of Social Problems. 2026. Ballard Center. April 15, 2026. https://ballardcenter.byu.edu/resources-section/loving-the-one-a-humanizing-view-of-social-problems.

10 - Loving the One: A Humanizing View of Social Problems. 2026. Ballard Center. April 15, 2026. https://ballardcenter.byu.edu/resources-section/loving-the-one-a-humanizing-view-of-social-problems.

11 - Loving the One: A Humanizing View of Social Problems. 2026. Ballard Center. April 15, 2026. https://ballardcenter.byu.edu/resources-section/loving-the-one-a-humanizing-view-of-social-problems.

12 - Loving the One: A Humanizing View of Social Problems. 2026. Ballard Center. April 15, 2026. https://ballardcenter.byu.edu/resources-section/loving-the-one-a-humanizing-view-of-social-problems.

13 - Loving the One: A Humanizing View of Social Problems. 2026. Ballard Center. April 15, 2026. https://ballardcenter.byu.edu/resources-section/loving-the-one-a-humanizing-view-of-social-problems.

14 - Loving the One: A Humanizing View of Social Problems. 2026. Ballard Center. April 15, 2026. https://ballardcenter.byu.edu/resources-section/loving-the-one-a-humanizing-view-of-social-problems.

Creating meaningful social change doesnt happen by accident. It requires purposeful strategy and a deep understanding of the people experiencing the problem. Across sectors and disciplines, practitioners have developed frameworks and methodologies to help individuals and organizations better understand complex social problems and design effective solutions.

These frameworks provide structure for navigating uncertainty, coordinating action, and learning from both success and failure. Many social impact models exist today, and while they may differ in language, emphasis, and application, they share a common goal: to help changemakers act more intentionally, ethically, and effectively in their social impact efforts.

This chapter introduces one such model, the Social Impact Cycle, as a guiding framework for understanding and addressing social problems. The cycle provides a shared language and structure for social impact work while remaining flexible enough to adapt across sectors, cultures, and contexts. Whether you are working in a nonprofit, business, government, or personal capacity, the Social Impact Cycle offers a practical format to move from good intentions to valuable action.

The Social Impact Cycle is a practical framework developed by the Melvin J. Ballard Center for Social Impact, located within the Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University, to help individuals and organizations create lasting, positive change. Its strategy has been continuously refined and improved through years of application and applied feedback from practitioners in the field. As a result, this cycle constitutes a robust, evidence-based approach to social innovation that has proven effective across diverse contexts and scales, with further iterations to come.

The framework breaks social impact work into four essential phases: love the problem, design the change, implement the intervention, and evaluate the outcomes. Underlying each phase is the principle of love the onea commitment to center the people most affected by the issue at every stage of the process. These four areas of focus help changemakers as they build and maintain their foundational understanding of the problem and guide their work toward legitimate, sustainable solutions. By nature, the cycle creates a continuous journey where each phase is revisited with new knowledge and experience rather than acting as a one-time linear process. The Social Impact Cycle further supports the scaling of social impact interventions, beginning with the individual, then expanding to the community, and hopefully the world.

At the heart of the Social Impact Cycle is the concept of

a constant reminder that, even as you seek broader systemic change, your work must remain grounded in caring for the individual. Loving the one emphasizes the importance of focusing on real people and lived experiences, rather than reducing complex realities to abstract problems. Individuals are the experts of their own circumstances, and honoring their expertise requires humility. Their voices, experiences, and insights should guide the work at every stage. Because this mindset is essential to creating lasting change, it serves as a guiding principle for every phase of the Social Impact Cycle.

The Social Impact Cycle begins with learning to love the problem. This foundational phase emphasizes the importance of thoroughly understanding the social issue you want to address rather than jumping straight to potential solutions. It encourages you to invest time in researching the problem, along with who or what it affects, the contributing factors, and its negative consequences. Loving the problem (and the one) includes learning how a specific social issue affects people on a personal level and then utilizing those insights to better approach the problem. If the various pieces of a social issue are not well understood, and a quick, lower-effort solution is implemented, the result is often ineffective or short-term outcomes. Because the goal is to create enduring change, loving the problem is the best place to start.

The idea of loving a problem rather than a solution was popularized by Uri Levine, co-founder of Waze, in his book

, where he emphasizes that innovation stems from deeply understanding a problem faced by people, not by getting attached to a specific solution or product.

It has further been adopted and embraced by many individuals and organizations within the social impact sphere.

The Ballard Center has implemented this mindset as part of its effort to advance research-backed solutions and foster mindfulness in social impact work.

Objective: Thoroughly research a chosen social issue using primary and secondary research methods. Learn about the previous and current efforts to solve the problem, speak with those experiencing the issue, and find the root causes.

Key Activities to Love the Problem:

Move on to the next phase in the cycle when you have a solid understanding of the problem, validated by those experiencing it. This means you can clearly articulate the contributing factors and negative consequences of the social issue, describe the ecosystem of organizations and resources already addressing the issue, and identify gaps in current solutions. Throughout the research process, building relationships with individuals affected by the problem and participating in primary research can play a pivotal role in identifying potential solution gaps and expanding your understanding of the problem. The proper execution of this phase lays the groundwork for success later in the cycle and increases your ability to prevent costly mistakes.

Example Organization: Partners In Health (PIH)

Partners In Health, with their approach to healthcare in Haiti, is a great example of loving the problem. Before implementing healthcare interventions, Dr. Paul Farmer and his colleagues spent years living in rural Haitian communities, learning about the interconnected challenges of poverty, lack of infrastructure, and disease. They listened to community members regarding barriers to care and discovered two concealed problems contributing to the social issue. Patients in Haiti often couldnt afford the bus fare to reach clinics and sometimes lacked the necessary food to take medications safely. This new insight led PIH to develop a comprehensive model that addresses not just medical treatment but also transportation, nutrition, and social support. Their philosophy reflects a commitment to understanding problems from the perspective of those experiencing them and offering aid by walking alongside the patient, rather than behind or in front of them.

Read more about Partners In Health at: https://www.pih.org/

After loving the problem, the next step in the Social Impact Cycle is to design the change. This phase includes a wide range of activities, including brainstorming potential solutions, co-creating interventions, drafting and revising strategy, and building, testing, and refining prototypes. These various steps are all part of developing interventions that are effective, practical, and human-centered. The goal is to create an intervention with the highest likelihood of success based on the research conducted in the first phase. It discourages moving forward with a solution simply because of convenience or a desire to act.

Designing the change, like the other phases in the social impact cycle, begins with loving the one. Based on the experiences of your co-creators, you can work together to design a realistic solution. The interventions discussed may be a product of existing best practices and research, or stem from new insights gained in the first phase of the Social Impact Cycle. Designing the change consists of small-scale, iterative tests paired with evaluation to determine the effectiveness of a potential solution. It starts with a detailed plan of how to test the prototype and collect, measure, and analyze data. Once the groundwork is laid, a small-scale solution is tested. This testing is distinct from large-scale implementation, which is addressed in the next phase of the cycle. After the testing period, an evaluation plan is carried out to process the data collected. This phase is revisited throughout the development of a social impact plan.

Objective: Based on previously gathered information, design a possible solution grounded in real needs and real people. Plan and set goals for success and how success will be measured.

Key Activities to Design the Change:

Move on to the next phase in the cycle when prototyping and testing have validated your solution, stakeholders have confirmed its feasibility and relevance, and a clear theory of change explains how your intervention will create the desired impact.

Example Organization: IDEO.org

IDEO.org demonstrates exceptional design thinking in their work on financial inclusion. When addressing the challenge of savings among low-income communities in Kenya, they didn't begin with preconceived banking solutions. Instead, they conducted extensive research revealing that many people were already saving through informal methodshiding money in mattresses or with trusted shopkeepers. Using this insight, IDEO.org co-designed with M-PESA to create mobile savings features that felt familiar and trustworthy while adding security and accessibility. Their human-centered design process included rapid prototyping, user testing, and continuous iteration with community members. The result was an accessible solution rooted in existing behaviors rather than one imposed from the outside.

Learn more at IDEO.org

Implementing the intervention is the third stage of the Social Impact Cycle and includes the necessary steps to put a previously designed intervention into practice. Implementation transforms ideas into reality through an appropriately scaled iteration of your planned intervention. This phase is about executing your solution in the real world while building the organizational capacity and infrastructure needed for success.

Effective implementation requires project management skills, clear communication, and the wisdom to know when to stick to your pre-determined intervention plan and when to pivot. Knowing when to adjust and when to continue starts with utilizing a staged implementation plan and monitoring the immediate effects of your efforts. If your activities are not leading to the outputs and immediate outcomes you expected, that is a signal to pause and determine why before continuing.

Objective: Implement and test an appropriately scaled iteration of the planned solution or intervention. Start with a scope that allows you to learn effectively without overextending resources or risking harm.

Key Activities to Implementing:

Move on to the next phase in the cycle when your intervention has been operating long enough to generate measurable results, in other words, when outcomes emerge that can be analyzed.

Example Organization: Last Mile Health

Last Mile Health excels at implementation, particularly in training and deploying community health workers in remote areas of Liberia and other countries. After designing their community health worker model, they developed comprehensive capacity-building programs, secured funding from multiple sources, and established partnerships with the Liberian Ministry of Health. They created management systems for supervision, built supply chain infrastructure for medication delivery, and developed legal frameworks for their operations.

During the 2014 Ebola outbreak, their implementation capacity allowed them to rapidly mobilize trained community health workers. They established clear protocols, ensured workers had the necessary supplies and protective equipment, and maintained communication channels even in isolated communities. Their implementation was largely successful because of their attention to operational detailsranging from curriculum development to medication delivery schedulesalong with the flexibility to adapt when challenges arose. Once they observed positive health outcomes in their communities, they moved to rigorous evaluation to measure impact and inform scaling decisions.

Read more about Last Mile Health at https://lastmilehealth.org/

After implementation, the fourth phase of the Social Impact Cycle invites you to evaluate your outcomes. In this phase, evaluation shifts away from anecdotal success stories and pursues clear, measurable outputs (what and how much you do), outcomes (changes in your social issue), and impact (the portion of the outcomes directly brought by your intervention). These targeted measurements provide a systematic tool for analyzing where the implementation is succeeding and where it is falling short. This data should inform your decisions to adjust, scale, continue, or conclude your intervention. Without intentional and rigorous evaluation, you risk continuing ineffective programs or missing valuable opportunities to scale successful ones. The evaluation process, while an effective means to improve your intervention, also ensures accountability to those you serve and those funding or supporting your efforts.

Though evaluation is represented as the final phase of the Social Impact Cycle, measurements, analysis, and adjustments should occur throughout all stages of the cycle whenever appropriate. However, a formalized evaluation should always follow the implementation or improvement of an intervention to verify that intended outcomes are achieved and meaningful improvements are being made. The insights gained in the evaluation phase function as a catalyst for the next rotation of the Social Impact Cycle.

Objective: Evaluate the solution according to the targeted outcomes to determine the level of success. This means assessing whether your intervention achieved the intended goal and understanding the reasons why it did or did not.

Key Activities:

Move on to scaling your impact when you have definitive results. This occurs when you have sufficient data and analysis to make informed decisions about continuing, adjusting, scaling, or concluding your intervention.

Example Organization: BRAC

BRAC (formerly Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee), one of the world's largest NGOs, has built evaluation into its organizational DNA. Its Independent Evaluation and Research Cell (IERC) rigorously studies the effectiveness of BRAC programs across its diverse interventions. This includes BRACs graduation program, designed to help individuals in extreme poverty build sustainable livelihoods. To evaluate the graduation programs effectiveness, it moved beyond anecdotal success stories and conducted randomized controlled trials across multiple countries. These trials established a clear measurement of outputs (number of participants trained), outcomes (income increases, asset acquisition), and impact (long-term poverty reduction). When evaluation revealed certain program components were less effective, BRAC adjusted its model. When results showed strong outcomes, it used the evidence to scale up its program to new regions and influence policy. BRAC's commitment to evaluation and continuous improvement has expanded its ability to generate positive change.

Learn more about BRAC at https://www.bracusa.org/

The Social Impact Cycle graphic not only features the four phases of the cycle but also the three scales of impact. The concentric rings illustrate how social impact work can deepen, expand, and multiply over time. Each ring represents both a level of scale and a distinct approach to scaling social impact.

These rings are not meant to act as strict boundaries, but rather as a visual reminder to consider how you might scale your solution as you move through the Social Impact Cycle. Consider asking questions like: If this solution works, how could we help ten more people? A hundred? A thousand? The goal is to design and implement solutions that remain true to the needs of the individual and can grow while maintaining their efficacy.

Following the Social Impact Cycle offers several critical advantages for changemakers. The cycle:

The framework acknowledges that social change is complex and rarely linear. Real-world social impact work is messy. You might discover during implementation that you need to do more research on the problems contributing factors, or evaluation might reveal that your theory of change was flawed. This isnt failure; it's learning. The cycle embraces this reality, providing structure while allowing flexibility.

The simplicity and adaptability of the Social Impact Cycle make it useful across sectors, cultures, and settings. It could be applied by a nonprofit addressing childhood malnutrition, a politician trying to craft an effective campaign, a business looking to improve daily operations, or an individual working on a personal project. The Social Impact Cycle is a valuable asset in any context where change is the end goal.

These benefits are not theoretical, but rather grounded in real-world practice. Many prominent organizations naturally apply the principles of the Social Impact Cycle in their work because the framework is built on widely accepted best practices in the social impact field. The following example illustrates how a real-world SPSO has effectively applied the Social Impact Cycle to address a social problem.

The Cycle in Practice: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The Gates Foundation's evolution in its global health efforts is a prime example of how organizations cycle through the four phases of the Social Impact Cycle repeatedly. Early on in their work to eradicate malaria, they invested heavily in understanding the problemfunding research on disease transmission, mosquito behavior, and community practices. This informed their design of multi-pronged interventions combining bed nets, new treatments, and indoor spraying. During implementation, they partnered with governments and local organizations to distribute millions of bed nets and increase treatment access. Crucially, they evaluated outcomes by tracking malaria incidence and mortality rates. When data showed certain strategies were more cost-effective than others, they adjusted their funding priorities. They returned to the start of the cycle with new research questions focused on drug resistance and vaccine development. Thereby beginning the cycle anew, but this time with greater insight and experience.

The Social Impact Cycle is a powerful tool to

. By moving thoughtfully through its four phaseslove the problem, design the change, implement the intervention, and evaluate the outcomesyou can create social change that is human-centric, effective, and sustainable. The cycles underlying invitation to love the one serves as a reminder that change starts one person at a time. Though the cycle won't make social impact work easy, it will make your efforts more intentional and increase your likelihood of success.

Remember, the cycle is not a one-time process to complete and check off your list. It's a continuous journey of learning and adjusting. Each iteration builds on the insights of the previous one. When assessed as a whole, the cycles core principle, four phases, and three rings of impact, combine to address the questions: who, how, and at what scale. Whether you're launching your first social venture or leading an established organization, the Social Impact Cycle can guide you toward greater impact.

As you begin your own social impact work, commit to embracing each phase of the cycle fully. Take time to love the problem deeply before rushing to design solutions. Design thoughtfully and collaboratively before moving to implementation. Implement with both excellence and flexibility, as you build your capacity and nurture the partnerships needed for success. Evaluate rigorously, shifting from anecdotes to clear evidence, and learn from the data collected. Then return to the beginning of the cycle, armed with new knowledge, refined understanding, and a renewed commitment to creating meaningful, sustainable change.

1 - Levine, U. (2023). Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution. Matt Holt Books.

2 - Rohrbaugh, S. (2025). Building ideation and innovation into your development process. Harmony Venture Labs Blog.

3 - Behforouz, H. (2009, October 14). Accompaniment could be the key to reforming and transforming health care. Partners In Health.