8 hours to change somebody’s world.
Join our team of psychologists and design thinkers helping the British Red Cross shift the performance of their crisis campaigns.
UPDATE: Interest in this event has been remarkable and we have now reached full capacity. Please register your details to be contacted if more spaces become available.
It’s tough out there.
Global warming. Syria. Myanmar. Job Automation. Election interference. Brexit. Trump — it doesn’t stop. Now imagine being a charity trying to cut through the noise.
Imagine having hours to respond to a new humanitarian crisis because you know, if you’re not the first charity to ‘own’ that short-lived swell of public interest, the chances of you securing life-saving donations fade faster than you can say fake news. Welcome to the daily struggles of the British Red Cross.
What would you do?
So as a charity what are your choices? Well, you can stock pile video footage and photography to help you turn out appeal campaigns in less time. You can organise for agility and get your team focused on innovation to find new ways to get your campaigns seen and heard. You can employ trend watchers to try and get early warning on issues so you’re ready to respond when the issue breaks. All of these innovations have transformed campaign performance. But there’s still more untapped knowledge that could be applied.
Bringing two communities together.
Like two long lost brothers, we want to unite two incredible communities to try and make something incredible happen.
Design Thinking / Service Design / Experience Design
First up is the Design Thinking community. A human-centric, ‘learn by doing’ mindset that emphasises action over discussion, iterative design, smart problem solving and a focus on designing solutions with the people you’re designing for (in this case the donors).
Applied Psychology & Behavioural Economics
The second is Applied Psychology — whether we’re calling it behavioural economics, nudge, social sciences or choice architecture — I’m talking about the process of applying psychological insights to create shifts in people’s behaviour (in this case donating).
So how might we fuse these two fields together to help the British Red Cross shift the performance of their crisis appeals?
Welcome to Mindjam.
The idea is simple. Fill a room with brilliant minds, give them a fast, one-day problem solving process and try to make a dent on a high impact issue for a charity.
Our inaugural Mindjam will focus on the British Red Cross, helping them improve the performance of their crisis appeals.
“We’re thrilled to be working with Sprint Valley on the very first Mindjam. By applying insights from Behavioural Economics and Design Thinking to our donation asks, we not only hope to re-think the way that we approach our work, but the impact on those we help could be immense.”
Ben Cohen, Fundraising Innovation Manager, The British Red Cross
So how exactly is this going to work?
We have space to bring together 40 people to work on this problem. We’re aiming for half psychologists and half design thinkers so if you fit the bill, or know someone who does — get in touch below.
The day will run 9am to 5pm on Friday 2nd February (food, drink and celebratory beers will be provided) and we’ll be using a customised design sprint methodology to help teams:
- Unpack the problem
- Share insights and perspectives
- Develop potential solutions
- Prototype their strongest ideas
- Test them out with real donors at the end of the day
We want to leave the British Red Cross with a raft of fresh thinking, new ideas and a handful of winning solutions with the potential to impact how they raise funds for the people who need it most.
Remember, perfection is the enemy of done, the day’s about sharing knowledge and finding new ways to apply it.
What am I going to get out of it?
You mean other than the warm fuzzy feeling that you might spend the day changing somebody’s world? OK, how about this:
- You’ll get to focus your knowledge like a lazer beam on a high-impact problem
- You’ll meet other inspiring people who want to give up their time to create positive change
- You’ll get to know those people by working together on solving a problem (imagine networking that didn’t suck and was actually exciting, fun, with an altruistic output) — dare I say a few friendships may even be born
- You’ll experience a new way of working you can take back to your day job
- The winning team will receive the (soon to be coveted) Mindjam trophy
That’s it. So are you in?
Hang on, is the charity paying for this?
Nope — it’s a volunteer initiative for people who want to try and help a charity by sharing their knowledge.
Great, it’s sounding pretty exciting, can I take part?
We’d love you to! We’re looking for anyone with experience in applied psychology, user experience design or design thinking. Plus you’ll need to have 8 hours to spare on Friday 2nd February 2018.
- If that’s you, check out the quick apply form here
- If you know someone else who would be interested, please pass this on!
We’ve got a small number of spaces due to the venue (British Red Cross) so we’ll do our best to come back to confirm your spot right away. Please bear with us.
Where and when?
- The British Red Cross, 5 mins walk from Moorgate station
- Friday 2nd February 2018, 9am — 5pm
Do I need to bring anything?
A laptop or smartphone, an open mind, buckets of enthusiasm, a trunkfull of knowledge and we’ll provide the rest.
How do I get involved?
Fill in the quick apply form here and stay tuned for more updates on the run up to Mindjam!
