From serving to solving.
The Social Impact Lab (SIL) is a collaboration that was founded by the United Way of Calgary and Area (UWCA) and J5 Design. In early 2018, Karen Young, CEO of United Way of Calgary and Area and John Vardalos, CEO of J5 Design initiated a partnership with a shared vision of moving the social sector from a place of serving to solving (for example, instead of adding more beds in shelters, could we address the root cause of why people end up needing the seek shelter in the first place).
Over time, the SIL has become known as a place to experiment with new services, technologies and business models in collaboration with agency partners, donors, businesses, community members, government, and corporate volunteers. These passionate stakeholders come together at The Lab to collaborate, research, and explore new ways to transform the Calgary community on a wide variety of issues ranging from poverty and mental health to domestic violence.
In 2019, The Lab was recognized by Aspen Family & Community Network for making a significant impact on complex community problems while demonstrating the values of community, empathy, partnership and diversity. This video was created by them to tell our story from their perspective.
We’re proud to be making an impact in our community.
The SIL is a bright and energetic space in the heart of downtown Calgary with a second on the way. It is thoughtfully designed to spark inspiration and relationship building. The walls are adorned by idea-filled sticky notes, conversations between design thinkers, strategists, and community members are lively and the coffee is good — The Lab buzzes with ideas, best practices, and promising opportunities to solve the toughest social challenges facing our society today.
We are proud to work in close collaboration with our UWCA colleagues on a number of projects at any given time and have gotten pretty good at working seamlessly together as one team.
Work from The SIL can take a number of forms: ideas born from co-design with community to directly address their needs, adding a design lens to larger UWCA initiatives, or tapping into larger organizational strategy and capacity building.
An inclusive approach to change.
We’ve been lucky to be part of influencing change in a number of priority areas for UWCA and our communities such as mental health, children and youth and most recently Indigenous matters.
One example of an innovative initiative that has recently come out of The SIL is The Market. After significant research and consultation with community members, we saw an opportunity to complement the charitable food sector and transform how we support those who struggle to afford food by creating an inclusive, and sustainable approach to food insecurity reduction.
Built on the foundations of dignity, access and choice for all customers, The Market works to increase food security in Calgary and cultivate community and social connection by utilizing a pay what you want business model. What makes The Market unique is that the experience is designed for the customer, not the donor, and diverse perspectives were infused in every step of the design process.
A video that explains The Pay What You Can Market.
Tapping into Organization Initiatives
In addition to initiatives born directly out of The SIL, we also work to contribute to other organizational initiatives happening at UWCA. This means we are able to work within multiple teams both internal and externally to the organization to ensure the prioritization of human-centred approaches.
An excellent example of this is our ongoing work in the Planet Youth Calgary to address youth wellbeing through a tried and tested approach. From the beginning of this initiative, The SIL has been responsible for youth engagement and has worked with over 150 youth in Calgary to design of the future of youth wellbeing.
Most recently, The SIL has worked in tandem with Miskanawah Community Services Association and UWCA to host Planet Youth Indigenous Wellbeing Circles specifically to find a way to blend Western design methodology and Indigenous ways of knowing in a program designed specifically for Indigenous Youth.
Large scale capacity building.
J5 thrives when we are able to work not only with an organization’s customers but with their employees and within their business as well. We’ve worked with UWCA on their leadership strategy, donor experience, and design capacity building in house. Working with an organization that is excellent at convening in the way that UWCA is allows us to drive sectoral capacity and change at scale. Whether it’s bringing a community of artists together to showcase art as social impact in our city or facilitating non-profit groups to address shared problems through our Inspire training program, we know that change happens when we all work together.
Unlocking systemic change.
Something truly magical happens when we are able to work with partner over such a long period of time as we have been privileged to do with UWCA: we are able to influence the sector we work in together in a way that goes beyond projects and creates a thread of impact that spins out in unexpected and wonderful ways. Both of our organizations value systemic change: the idea that we can address not only the problems our communities face but the very systems that allowed those issues to come out in the first place. In April of 2022, the Government of Alberta, through the Creative Partnerships Alberta initiative, announced that it has granted $1.75M over four years to United Way of Calgary and Area and J5 Design to scale the offerings of The Social Impact Lab to all non-profits in Alberta.
Where are we headed?
The next phase of the partnership between J5 Design and United Way is about scaling innovation and design-thinking practices to non-profit organizations and engaged citizens across Alberta - providing participants with coaching and mentorship from social innovation experts to build participants’ knowledge and skills to accelerate the progress of social impact initiatives.
The goal is to create new solutions for pressing civil society issues, and contribute to developing a strengthened and transformed social innovation ecosystem as well as enhanced capacity building for individual organizations in civil society.
“Through The Social Impact Lab, we have seen that when we are able to bring people together – from people with knowledge of social issues, to others who have ideas on how to address them in the long-term, great things can happen,”
Karen Young,
President and CEO of United Way of Calgary and Area.
United Way of Calgary and Area has partnered with United Way Capital Region and United Way of Lethbridge & South Western Alberta to establish regional hubs for Social Impact Lab Alberta.
“Unique challenges caused by the pandemic are requiring that we all explore new ways of approaching social issues. We are so pleased to support this initiative, which will bring new approaches and learning opportunities to non-profits across Alberta.”
Rob Yager
President & CEO of United Way of the Alberta Capital Region.
As part of the first year of the program, Social Impact Lab Alberta is calling on non-profit organizations and social impact-focused individuals from across the province to reach out with their innovative ideas and get the conversation started. To learn more, visit The Social Impact Lab Alberta website.
