Social Impact Strategies with Eric Ressler and Morag Gamble

The work of inspiring people to action is no small effort in today’s highly competitive attention economy, especially in the social impact space. As a guest on the Sense-Making In A Changing World podcast, Eric highlights the most important steps for catalyzing real-world change, from activating people through online platforms to the significance and possibilities of taking a moonshot. Eric underscores the power of an effective brand, offers tactics to empower people to share their proof of impact stories, and shares his ideas for sharpening the tools that will bring more eyes to an organization’s efforts, and then sustain that attention in a way that inspires action.

“People want to support organizations that are making an impact; not organizations that have a good mission but aren’t making an impact.”

Episode Highlights:

• Eric defines social impact work and highlights the key characteristics of the organizations that Cosmic supports. [:10]

• As a designer, Eric’s initial plans didn’t include social impact work or running an agency. [1:37]

• Cosmic’s manifesto highlights the need to perform in today’s attention economy. [4:47]

• The importance of authentic brand building as an impact multiplier for your audience. [11:41]

• A clearly articulated origin story and carefully refined impact story will help organizations present in a modern way for increased effectiveness. [14:45]

• Tactics for addressing the evolving audience in aspirational sustainability conversations. [20:00]

• Empowering people to share their proof of impact stories and content with a campaign in more meaningful ways. [26:29]

• Effective fundraising starts with giving back to your audience in addition to constantly asking more from them. [32:05]

• Eric offers key tips for sharpening the tools that will bring more eyes onto a campaign, and then sustaining that attention. [36:01]

• Crafting a moonshot statement in a way that inspires great achievement but also allows for transparent and graceful failure. [40:40]

• Identifying the platforms that allow for more effective sharing in the right way for your organization. [45:50]

• Eric shares the many sources of his inspiration, including podcasts, LinkedIn and Substack. [48:48]

Quotes:

“If the clear vision and purpose for your organization isn’t clearly defined then it’s really hard to do the rest of the work effectively.” [11:22]

“If you’re building a brand you’re creating a reputation and an emotional connection with the world and people and if you nurture that and tend to it and invest in it it’s an impact multiplier.” [12:30]

“Brand building is not inherently good, but doing good brand building is inherently effective.” [13:16]

“If someone is following your campaign or your brand, you really need to tap into your expertise as an organization and as an educator on the issues.” [28:18]

“People want to support organizations that are making an impact; not organizations that have a good mission but aren’t making an impact.” [30:52]

“There is no one right way to do this. You have to find your own way and you have to approach it from a mindset of curiosity and experimentation.” [38:18]

“If you look at it, understanding the attention economy and figuring out how to do something that’s interesting and different, you will find a path that works for you.” [38:30]

“If you can fail gracefully and transparently, there is no failure. It’s just an experiment and experiments that fail are valuable.” [39:04]

Resources:

Sense-Making in a Changing World