Sangha of Auspicious Companions

3 Design Principles for Impact Ecosystems

Humanville — an imaginary city like many real cities — had a problem everyone knew existed but few could measure: gender-based violence hidden in plain sight. When the city’s new mayor convened a randomly selected Citizen Assembly, then gathered leaders across sectors to stop working in silos, something unexpected happened. They stopped competing for funding and started collaborating for impact. The mayor told them: “Step out of the little boxes of your organizations, see the whole problem of [gender-based violence], and come together to make recommendations that reach all of the root causes.” The breakthrough came when they funded organizations not based on proposals, but on demonstrated capabilities. Small community groups suddenly qualified while big institutions didn’t. And when reported violence spiked in year one, no one panicked; they’d designed the system to reveal what had long been hidden. By year five, the numbers began to fall. The city had learned to see the whole ecosystem, not just the fragments. Through a relatable parable, David Bonbright offers new design principles for impact ecosystems trying to solve complex challenges.

Be The Change

Think of one entrenched problem in your community. Identify three groups working on different aspects of it. Then, reach out to ask: What would you need to collaborate rather than compete?