What’s the big deal about the “meaning” of a product (or a fund-raising proposal)? Roberto Verganti, professor of a leading design school in Milan, Italy says meanings are at the heart of who we are, what we do, and, by extension, what we buy. If we are donors, it is meaning that helps decide what we support.

Meaning and innovation are closely aligned. Verganti in his book Design Driven Innovation, (Harvard Business Press, 2009) explains why, if you want to achieve the big ideas – the ones that make a difference – you have to first dig deep and ferret out new meanings. Yes, new ideas absolutely have to come from new meanings.

Verganti has no time for incremental tweaking – his heroes are people like the late Steve Jobs who was described by one of his managers as starting his day pondering what new technological wrinkle would really wake him up.

Fundraisers take note – Verganti is part of a growing drumbeat on the need to innovate, and the strength of his book is how fully he spells out the need, the process, and the impact. His verdict is salutary: keep producing new ideas, consistently; or run and run and get nowhere.

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Social media guru Clay Shirky tells us in his second book – Cognitive Surplus – how and why we should stop being couch potatoes and get involved.

“Cognitive surplus” is a fancy name for spare time, the kind of time we have been frittering away glued to the television. Pool that surplus and we have “one of the great new opportunities of the age,” to connect with others in meaningful and constructive ways.

Amateur, volunteer – all is good. In fact better, since payment takes away some of the spontaneity and enthusiasm. The power of these collaborations is the new ideas and ways of doing things that business-as-usual can’t match.

“It’s from groups trying new things that the most profound uses of social media have hitherto come and will come in the future.”

When Shirky tries to apply it all to charities I have a problem. In some instances it is true – you can run a small fundraiser on volunteer time alone. But the more complex and socially demanding services are not yet ready to be overrun by this technological marvel.

However, social media offer great possibilities in generating new ideas. Maybe our organizations are already primed to do this. All it needs is a nudge from – you.

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If you have ever grumpily contemplated options A and B, and thought “we can do better than this” – be happy! Roger Martin, author of The Opposable Mind, (Harvard Business School Press, Boston 2007) says, yes, you can. It’s all in your brain.

You have an opposable mind, just as you have an opposable thumb, that useful digit that has allowed us to accomplish marvels of dexterity all the way from stone-age hand-axes to removing a champagne cork. Our opposable minds can hold warring options in tension as we merge their best features into something wholly new.

Martin makes clear that it is one thing to have an opposable mind, it is quite another to use it. To exploit its full potential we have to learn and practise integrative thinking. Isadore (Issy) Sharp, creator of the hugely successful Four Seasons Hotels, is a case in point.

Martin’s book explores in detail how Sharp and others achieve radical innovations, and shows how you too can acquire and apply the critical skills.

Under his guidance you can deconstruct options A and B, analyze their true strengths and weaknesses, and work through multiple models to that elegant solution that is beyond unacceptable trade-offs. Then you will be poised to really make a difference.

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‘Texting’ has been proven an effective means to organize large amounts of people, as seen in the numerous protests, riots and revolutions over the recent months.

Do Something, an organization that encourages youth to volunteer in their communities is looking to increase it’s membership by more than 2 million young people. And it plans to do so via text messages. Read more about their initiative here.

Is texting a good fit for any of your organization’s donor tribes?

When Tim Brown’s book on Change by Design (HarperCollins, NY, 2009) came out it created quite a buzz and not just because it was a different way of looking at design. It was also about thinking.

How to think is new?

In Brown’s hands it is. This is design thinking – a way to innovate so radically that it puts you way ahead of the competition, and keeps you there.

The “thinker” is intensely collaborative, empathic, shaping rapid protoypes to show ideas. And the “design” part is customer-centred, radically new. Things customers don’t know they want – until, like the iPhone, you show it to them. And they love it because suddenly their lives are better.

Not just for profit-makers

What is especially invigorating about this book is that Brown extends his ideas – born in the rough and tumble of commerce – to the world of non-profits.

And he does a great job! He has detailed suggestions on how to go about it, but he pulls no punches on the challenges involved. Design thinking done right will have lasting impact – but it’s a total remake.

A bit like Steve Jobs the second time he invented Apple.

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It’s like a Groupon with non-profits, where everyday a new charity is showcased and users are asked to donate $1 and no more than $10. With the default donation of $1, the people behind Philanthroper hope that users will find it easy giving $1 to another charity the next day, and so on, harnessing a lot of people giving a little to create a large contribution for organizations.

Paypal has teamed up with Philanthroper on this initiative to make giving a habit.
What do you think of the concept?

It’s the culture.

The President was hired but the faculty didn’t like her. She was gone in two years, a victim of the college culture.

Now consultants Dave Logan, John King and Halee Fischer-Wright have produced research to show the enormous importance of culture in the workplace. Their book, Tribal Leadership (Collins Business, 2008) identifies five levels that work groups, or “tribes,” can progress through – from wallowing in self-pity to being highly productive and happy.

The book is aimed at “tribal leaders” and it’s full of tips to help them make that progress happen.

To the authors the word “tribe” means a group of people who have something strongly in common. In the workplace, it’s work.

These tribes coalesce and together can be negative or positive according to which of those five levels they are at.  The Leader has to identify where they are and move them forward. Most tribes are at a middle level so most leaders have work to do.

Ironically, thirty years ago management guru Peter Drucker offered insights on non-profit management that were quite prescient of the Tribal findings. He called “tribes” Value Groups but all those years ago was insisting that if you want to succeed, pay them attention.

Is nothing new?

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Arm your tribes with a digital tool that allows them to share their passions for your cause and your organization.

Johnson & Johnson is offering a free widget for individuals and non-profits. The customizable &you widget offers one central location for information on volunteer and job opportunities, events, news, and donation capabilities. Place the widget on a website, blog, or Facebook and other social media to keep friends and followers updated. We like that it makes volunteer opportunities so easy to find.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs didn’t invent the mp3 player, the portable tablet or the smartphone. He just envisioned these products differently and introduced us to the iPod, iPad, and iPhone.

Facebook wasn’t the first social media platform out the gate. Starbucks didn’t discover the coffee bean. Google didn’t invent search. Walmart didn’t create retail. And McDonald’s arguably does not make the best hamburgers.

Can you see your fundraising programs from another angle? Are you analyzing your donors, their passions and their giving habits, in different ways? How are you and your organization innovating?