Design Thinking Resources
While design thinking is not a new methodology, it is constantly evolving: tools and techniques are being added, refined, and adapted to handle new challenges and ways of working.
We’ve collected a few of our favourite tools here and we’ll be adding more as time goes on. Enjoy!
Books (Available from your favourite book retailer)
101 Design Methods by Vijay Kumar
Change By Design by Tim Brown
The Design Of Everyday Things by Don Norman
Design Thinking For The Greater Good by Jeanne Liedtka, Randy Salzman & Daisy Azer
The Doodle Revolution by Sunni Brown
Game Storming by Dave Gray, Sunni Brown and James Macanufo
How To Solve Big Problems And Test New Ideas In Just Five Days by Jake Knapp with John Zeratsky & Braden Kowitz
The Design Of Business by Roger Martin
This Is Service Design Doing
This Is Service Design Thinking
Articles
Want to know about the history of design thinking? Check out “Design thinking origin story plus some of the people who made it all happen” by Jo Szczepanska
“Shh! Don’t Tell Them There’s No Magic In Design Thinking” by Jared Spool, is a refreshing look at why design thinking isn’t a fad any more than design is a fad.
An article by Schweitzer, Groeger, and Sobel, entitled “The Design Thinking Mindset: An Assessment of What We Know and What We See in Practice” describes the attitude and mental approach successful design thinkers have.
Websites
Interaction Design Foundation is a Danish non-profit whose goal is to share information about interaction design, human-computer interaction, and design thinking. Definitely have a look at their freely available design thinking resources.
Media
This video, from ABC Nightline, introduces IDEO and their approach to problem-solving through design thinking. While the video is from several years ago, it is a great way to get a feeling for design thinking – its strengths and weaknesses, its goals, and its process – from one of its strongest champions
IDEO U’s Creative Confidence Podcast
People, Companies, and Organizations
IDEO, as well as their Design Kit.
OpenIDEO (the social good, open challenge group created by IDEO).
Stanford d.school is one of the modern champions of design thinking. Not only do they teach and write about design thinking, they continue to develop new mental models around its application, and share tools with the community.
Overlap Associates are a design consultancy, based in Kitchener. They are wonderfully friendly, super smart, and share a great many of their resources!
Forms, Artifacts, and Templates
Download the Design Thinking Poster
Where to start? When to finish? What questions should I ask? This poster outlines the key elements of design thinking and how they relate to each other. Perfect for sharing with your team and hanging up in the office, or keeping in the glove compartment of your car (you know, just in case…).
Understanding how your users feel, what their motivations might be, and how they view the world are steps toward empathy. An empathy map is a simple tool designed to get you seeing through their eyes, feeling their frustrations and better understanding of what they value in a service or product
Feedback can often be too narrow or focused. The Feedback Form adds structure to the process, allows stakeholders to provide more comprehensive and insightful feedback, and guides a conversation through all aspects of potential improvement.
Developing a robust understanding of how we interact with a product or service (or even the world around us) can be tricky. By using a Journey Map, we learn more about the detail of the journey, about both positive and negative interactions, and the relationship between all of the elements of the journey.
Google Grants for Non-Profits
Internet and social media advertising is booming and most organizations are using this platform more than ever. Google Grants in particular is a great way for an organization to advertise and it is essential to learn how Non-Profits can get the most out of Google Grants. Get Resource >
Free Software for Non-Profits
Tech Soup Canada’s Technology Donations Program (Tech Soup web link and catalogue of products)
Non-Profit Technology Best Practices and Trends
2011 Tech Staffing and Investments Report (NTEN, 2011)
CASL
CASL Anti Spam Presentation (Capacity Canada, 2014)
Digital Marketing for Non-Profits
Email Marketing for Nonprofits (Convio, 2010)
Helpful Tech Resources
Board Governance Knowledge Platform
Based on the latest in cognitive research, Capacity Canada has partnered with Axonify to build an innovative board governance knowledge platform that is well-beyond traditional e-learning and webinars. Get Resource >
New Learning Tool
Capacity Canada Board Governance Knowledge Platform
Charitable Compliance
Annual Calendar Checklist for Registered Charities (The Charities File)
Board Agenda Gems Info Sheet (The Charities File)
Good Governance Best Practices
Good Governance Checklist (Capacity Canada)
Ten Practices Module (The Charities File)
Ten Practices Participant Workbook with Info Sheets (The Charities File)
Reviewing Governance in Your Organization (Jane Garthson)
Minute Taking
Minute Style Options (Canadian Society of Corporate Secretaries, 2011)
Committees
Volunteer-Run Non-Profits
Yes, Your Board Can Be Strategic Without Staff! (Jane Garthson, 2013)
CPA 20 Questions: Risk
Not-for-profit organizations are very diverse and range from small all-volunteer groups to large, sophisticated enterprises. This document is primarily intended for organizations with an executive director and staff resources who can manage the organization’s risks with policy direction, approval and support from the board. Get Resource >
Risk
Strategy
CPA 20 Questions: Fiduciary Duty
Not-for-profit organizations are very diverse and range from small all-volunteer groups to large, sophisticated enterprises. This publication will focus on the fiduciary duties of directors of organizations in the corporate form, both those that are registered charities and those that are not. Get Resource >
CRA Compliance
Completing your Charity Return (CRA web link, 2020)
CRA Record Keeping Guidelines (CRA web link, 2016)
GST / HST Information for Charities (Canadian Revenue Agency)
Charity Treasurer
Role Description for a Charity Treasurer (The Charities File)
FAQs from a Treasurers Perspective (The Charities File)
Fiduciary Duty
Mergers: Creating Capacity in a Resource Limited Sector
This merger of four community support service (CSS) agencies in the Kitchener-Waterloo region is used as a background to the ideas and concepts presented in this article. Get Resource >
What the Numbers Say: Transparency Among Canadian Charities (David Lasby and Cathy Barr)
When Good Is Not Good Enough
Leaders of two of the most successful nonprofit organizations argue that the sector needs to shift its attention from modest goals that provide short-term relief to bold goals that, while harder to achieve, provide long-term solutions by tackling the root of social problems. Get Resource >
Capacity Building – Investing in Not-for-Profit Effectiveness (PriceWaterhouseCoopers, 2011)
Deeper Capacity Building for Greater Impact (TCC Group, 2007)
Echoes from the Field (Environmental Support Centre and Innovation Network, 2014)
Effective Capacity Building in Nonprofit Organizations (McKinsey & Company, 2001)
When Good Is Not Good Enough (Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2013)
The Nonprofit Starvation Cycle (Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2009)
Storytelling Guide for Non-Profits
It’s a brand new storytelling world and we have no more excuses. It used to be that the media controlled the message. But today, every organization can be a publisher. This guide is for many of the storytellers in your organization: senior leaders, marketing and communications professionals, evaluation and research professionals. Get Resource >
Non-Profit Storytelling Best Practices
Storytelling Manual (Capacity Canada)
Video Storytelling
Nonprofit Video Playbook (Youtube, 2013)
Driving Change: A Study of Nonprofit Executive Leaders
Is there a leadership deficit? This report examines current perceptions of the executive director role in order to understand the key leadership challenges of note for the sector as a whole. Get Resource >
Succession Planning
Building Leadership Organizations (Annie Casey Foundation, 2008)
Charity Shoe Box Info Sheet (The Charities File)
Organization Shoe Box Checklist
Nonprofit Workforce
Change Work: Valuing Decent Work in the Not-for-profit Sector (ONN, Mowat NFP, TNC, 2015)
Developing Labour Market Information (HR Council for the Nonprofit Sector)
Executive Directors
Fundraiser’s Receipt Book: Receipting Decision Tree
This guide provides you with the steps to determine whether a gift qualifies for a receipt, what type of receipt should be issued, and more. Get Resource >
Tax Receipts
CLIP Tax Receipting Kit (Mark Blumberg, 2011)
Fundraisers Receipt Book – Quiz (The Charities File)
Fundraisers Receipt Book – Receipting Decision Tree (The Charities File)
Fundraisers Receipt Book – Specific Questions about Receipt (The Charities File)
Charitable Compliance
CRA Fundraising Activities (Canadian Revenue Agency, 2012)
Description of Charitable Purpose and Activities (The Charities File)
Fundraisers Info Sheet (The Charities File)
Fundraising Committee
Listing of Fundraising Development Committee Responsibilities (The Charities File)
Social Enterprise
Strategic Philanthropy for a Complex World
The practice of strategic philanthropy has advanced substantially over the past two decades, yet even its most committed theorists and practitioners have often been disappointed by the results. Despite these shortcomings, strategic philanthropy can be effective for certain types of problems. Get Resource >
Developmental Evaluation
A Practitioner’s Guide to Developmental Evaluation (McConnell Foundation, 2010)
Evaluative and Strategic Thinking
Strategic Learning – The Spark Model to Do Good Even Better (Spark Policy Institute, 2012)
Strategic Philanthropy for a Complex World (Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2014)
Design Thinking
An Introduction to Design Thinking: Process Guide (Institute of Design at Stanford, 2010)
Theory of Change
