Q2 update for Founding Supporters

Our second quarterly update about what we’ve been up to

Noam

Published in

Design Club

3 min readNov 14, 2018

A few quick notes

Here is our Q1 update
We’re following the same format as the previous update, covering progress made against the 10 goals listed in our 2018/19 plan
This update is much shorter than the last one!

1. Inspire more children

Introduce at least 1,000 more children to Design Thinking activities

Last update: we reached 200 children
Now: we’re at about 300 children

2. Measure impact

Develop a mechanism for measuring and reporting impact

Last update: We were struggling to find a way to measure impact because the interaction with Design Club was often quite fleeting.
Now: We’re focusing on after school Design Clubs, meaning deeper engagement and better opportunities for measuring impact.

3. Develop partnerships

Work with 4 new delivery partners to reach a broader demographic of children

Last update: We’d worked with one new partner and planned to work with two more: WIRED and Meaning Conference.
Now: We ran a workshop at WIRED Next Gen. We had a great day. We’re now focusing our partnership programme on building relationships with schools through our mentor network.

4. Create mentor processes

Define and produce a toolkit for on-boarding, training, and coordinating mentors

Last update: We’d made a toolkit for lead mentors, run some mentor Meetups and started a Slack channel for mentors.
Now: We’ve restructured the website to prioritise and encourage mentors to sign up to run after school clubs. After registration, mentors access our new Resource Hub with clear signposting to materials.

5. Grow mentor network

Build a network of 150 volunteers to mentor through Design Club

Last update: We had 55 people register through our registration form.
Now: Nearly 180 people have registered. Not all of these are volunteers. 70 people just want to access our resources.

6. Prototype new resources

Make and test at least 2 new techniques to improve the learning experience

Last update: We created a new project for the Institute of Imagination.
Now: We partnered with Newspaper Club to print some cool new workbooks (above). See what our new workbooks look like.

7. Design a framework

Create a free and accessible library of Design Thinking tools for educators

Last update: We had a simple resources page.
Now: We have a curriculum, lesson plans, activities and certificates in our new Resource Hub.

8. Form a legal entity

Turn Design Club into a Community Interest Company

Last update: We’d registered as a CIC limited by guarantee.

9. Explore revenue opportunities

Generate income from 2 different sources

Last update: No real progress had been made.
Now: We’re excited about the idea of a product shop selling mentoring kits containing workbooks, stickers, badges and lanyards. As mentioned in the last update, we hope to make progress by end of Q3.
On a related note, Desigan Chinniah (Dees), joined the team as an advisor aiming to develop partner relationships and fundraising strategies.

10. Apply for further funding

Apply for at least 4 grants to help develop Design Club in 2019 and beyond

Last update: We applied for a grant through The Fore and reached the assessment stage.
Now: We’ve not yet made any breakthroughs with grant funding but we remain positive.

Another big thing we did

We updated the website and focused our message, aiming to help people run their own after school Design Clubs. See the homepage below (or even better visit the site)!

https://designclub.org.uk/