Education United States Project #17280

Enable volunteer consultants tackle global issues

by Development Solutions Organization (DSO)

Project Report | Feb 7, 2019
DSO Report February 2019

By DSO Team | DSO Team

DSO Reunion Celebration

Hello!

In this report, we feature favorite moments and highlights from our student and professional volunteers both across the USA and globally. You will quickly see why we are so excited about our team!

What was the highlight of your DSO experience in the past year:

“As I move into 10+ years of working with DSO my favorite part is still working with the talented and passionate people at DSO. Specifically, I enjoyed more cross hub collaboration this year - from working on DSO strategy, to building the DC hub and working on the Social Justice Project and Watkins. I continue to be inspired and enthused to work and play with team members old and new!”

Anthony Buchanan (A swiss army knife at DSO for 10+ years in addition to being one of DSO’s volunteer CXOs)

“It was a fantastic experience ringing in 2018-2019 with new members of the Stanford DSO chapter during our first meeting. It was inspiring to see so many students energized to participate, learn, and collaborate, and I’m very excited to be part of the Executive Board this year - I can’t wait to see what we do!”

Michelle Li (Part of the Student Executive Board on DSO’s Stanford team and also makes sure all meetings have snacks)

“It was an amazing experience working with the POISE Foundation, who have had so much impact on the underserved community in Pittsburgh. We helped them to better target and sustainably increase their engagement with individuals. In the end, the competition exceeded our expectations in terms of execution, outcomes, and community engagement. It was great to see all the teams come out on a weekend to compete for the benefit of the Pittsburgh community.”

Shubangham Tekriwal (Has played all roles at DSO in the most countries. He’s now looking for interested volunteers to join him in India)

“Working on the POISE engagement and on the Annual DSO Case competition was definitely a highlight of this past year. Not only did I have the opportunity to work with an amazing team of ELs and students, but I was also able to meet them in person. Even better was being able to see all the presentations and ideas/solutions for POISE from the various teams that participated in the Case Competition.The weekend of the Case Competition I felt extremely proud to be part of an organization that gives students the opportunity to learn and grow intellectually, while also giving back to the Pittsburgh Community.”

Maria Rymer (DSO’s #1 comedian and helping out across all of our teams on the East Coast)

“As part of the DC Hub, I got to spend some quality time with DC ELs (Amy, Anthony, Srujana) while eating delightful food. I’m looking forward to growing the DC Hub alongside Anthony and organizing DC group outings on a more regular basis. Excited to continue this tradition and kickstart recruitment!”

Haejin Hwang (She jumps on everything at the intersection of policy and business in addition to volunteering to help grow our DC team)

“One of my passions is being an EL for DSO, where I get to work with and teach the most impressive crop of Stanford students. Connecting with other socially-driven professionals gives me energy and makes me feel like I’m still tied to home.

Deena Kim (DSO’s quantum physicist! She stays up late or wakes up extra early to support our West Coast team all the way from Europe)

“Collaborating with Watkins Elementary School in Washington DC to improve family engagement in the students’ school experience. We immersed in some of the students and family activities and researched family engagement best practices in the U.S. During one of our meetings, a parent asked us if we could join all of their local advisory meetings and the principal shared how helpful the research has been.”

Amy Badiani (She brings the world of magic (Harry Potter) to DSO and is one of DSO’s volunteer CXOs who has managed from both the East and West Coasts)

Join Us

Join us in tackling the world’s challenges, enabling each other to achieve our professional and personal development goals, and boldly pursuing meaningful social impact outside of our day jobs. Your impact potential could include:

Applying the expertise from your day job and other experiences into projects that make a global impact
Enabling nonprofits and social enterprises to make life-changing products that empower those in need
Joining a team of like-minded volunteers driven solely by making an impact, and developing professionally
Making a difference in university students’ careers, through project guidance and mentorship
Growing as a leader in the intersection of social impact, consulting, and technology

If you have any questions about any of the open positions and/or are interested in joining, contact us at inquiries@dsoglobal.org

Poise Foundation Case Competition

Watkins School Garden

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Nov 9, 2018
DSO Report November 2018

By DSO Team | DSO Team

Bridge for Billions Team

Hello and Happy Fall!

In this report, we feature a project from our DC team with Bridge for Billions, a digital ecosystem that connects early-stage entrepreneurs to growth opportunities.

We thank you for your continued support as we grow our impact and nurture the wonderful community we are building together.

Featured Project

Bridge for Billions has a vision of helping social entrepreneurs around the world effectively launch their businesses by providing an online software that is accessible from anywhere in the world. The platform functions as a digital workspace, matching entrepreneurs to subject matter experts, successful practitioners, and professionals. From there, entrepreneurs can share documents and analyze information, utilizing business creation tools to help project development.

Our partnership with Bridge for Billions focused on identifying strategies to scale theirSoftware as a Service (SaaS) platform with corporations, foundations and universities. The team gathered its strategic insights through a customer analysis that included conversations with stakeholders, and surveys of existing and potential Bridge for Billions entrepreneurs. DSO took these insights, analysis of Bridge for Billions’ sales pipeline and platform experience, and an analysis of other best practice examples to develop a set of strategic recommendations and next steps for each market segment -corporations, foundations and universities. These recommendations focused on building better customer and partner relationships, communicating a clear value proposition, and the importance of mentoring. As a result, Bridge for Billions was able to improve its value proposition to business customers and increase the number of entrepreneur partners and champions.

A Testimonial from Bridge for Billions

“Thank you so much for the work you provided us! We really enjoyed working and learning with you. We will recommend DSO to many of our social enterprises.”

– Pablo Santaeufemia , Co-Founder, Bridge for Billions

Join Us

Applying the expertise from your day job and other experiences into projects that make a global impact
Enabling nonprofits and social enterprises to make life-changing products that empower those in need
Joining a team of like-minded volunteers driven solely by making an impact, and developing professionally
Making a difference in university students’ careers, through project guidance and mentorship
Growing as a leader in the intersection of social impact, consulting, and technology

If you have any questions about any of the open positions and/or are interested in joining, contact us at inquiries@dsoglobal.org

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Aug 13, 2018
DSO Report August 2018

By DSO Team | DSO Team

Hello!

The DSO Team wishes everyone a very happy August! We are in the process of starting a new year of exciting partnerships and projects. If you are interested in volunteering at DSO please contact us at inquiries@dsoglobal.org.

In this report we feature how we are continuing to incorporate lessons learned from our projects to improve our approach.

Thanks for your support.

Lessons learned & improvements we are making:

Below we highlight specific examples of how we are improving our approach:

Bringing our best to our partners:

More context: Our partners are experts in what they do with a detailed understanding of their challenges and motivations. DSO brings a broad perspective with members and a network of people with both direct and indirect relevant experience.

What we did: We took advantage of the wide skillset of our broader team and integrated more senior advisors who could talk with our partners at the beginning of the projects to share ideas and build trust. When coupled with the great research and fresh ideas of team members from outside the domain, these advisors really provide a unique resource our partners are happy to have.

Immersing ourselves into our partners work

More context: Our partners want us to immerse in the their work to better understand their end-users and mission.

What we did: In a current partnership with a school, we are immersing in the lives of the students, their families, and teachers. We are participating and co-creating a design challenge with them to help close the student achievement gap. Recently, our teammates took the same assessment that the students take just so we can get a feel for what the students actually experience.

Becoming lifelong partners better understand the partner business:

More context: We heard it was important to take time to know what the partner does and determine how best to help based on this. We also got feedback that our continued support beyond a project engagement is a differentiator.

What we did: We increasingly found ways to engage with our partner before and after project engagements. Examples include attending and participating in partners’ events and initiatives. We also actively follow up with partners after projects to ensure the long-term success of projects and our partners. This usually involves following up on project recommendations,brainstorming solutions to top solutions, providing actionable feedback on new products and initiatives, connecting partners with our network, and amplifying fundraising campaigns.

As we make these improvements, the biggest indicator of project impact is successful implementation of our recommendations. For example, we learned that our partner ScholarshipPlus has updated their website based on our recommendations on how to communicate their stories and impact better and engage young donors and supporters.

We also love when our partners take time to share their personal excitement about the work, invite us to events, recommend us to more social impact organizations, and let us know when they are in town to catch-up!

We will continue to keep improving our approach.

Join Us

Join us in tackling the world’s challenges, enabling each other to achieve our professional and personal development goals, and boldly pursuing meaningful social impact outside of our day jobs.

Your impact potential could include:

Applying the expertise from your day job and other experiences into projects that make a global impact
Enabling nonprofits and social enterprises to make life-changing products that empower those in need
Joining a team of like-minded volunteers driven solely by making an impact, and developing professionally
Making a difference in university students’ careers, through project guidance and mentorship
Growing as a leader in the intersection of social impact, consulting, and technology

If you have any questions about any of the open positions and/or are interested in joining, contact us at inquiries@dsoglobal.org.

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